Food prices, which have been rising for over a year, have become a major international political issue in the past few weeks. In many countries the poor have taken to the streets to protest that they can't afford basic foods. A notable example is Haiti, where the prime minister was
sacked
in order to calm rioters. In Egypt, soldiers are now required to bake bread in order to keep costs down, and in Bangladesh, soldiers are being forced to eat potatoes instead of more expensive foods.
There are many reasons for the price increase. Supply is one reason. There have been recent
droughts
in places like Australia, and a wheat virus has been causing problems in some countries. However,
demand
is the major problem. The increased demand in the West for
biofuels
and increased demand in the growing economies of China and India has yet to be made up by an increase in supply. For one, it takes time for farmers to prepare fields and then grow new crops. In addition, farmers are finding it difficult to plant due to the high price of fuel and
fertilizer,
and the difficulty to get credit in order to buy more land.
The good news is that the world seems to be taking the crisis seriously, and that most experts believe that with a little time, supply can be increased to meet the new demand. However, there is a fear that too much food aid for poor countries from the west - while solving the short term problem of hunger - will hurt the developing world farmers in the long run. The problem with food aid is that local farmers cannot compete against
charity;
and the more local farmers that go bankrupt, the more the country becomes
dependent
on food aid. The Economist suggests that a better form of aid would be cash for the poor to buy food. In this case, they could buy what they need from local sources rather than having to rely on imports.
After 61 years in power, the Colorado party has lost the most recent presidential election in the South American country of Paraguay. Fernando Lugo, who is a former Roman Catholic priest, won the election with 41% of the vote. He represented a new center-left party called the Patriotic Alliance for Change, which is a
coalition
of
indigenous
groups, labor unions,
leftist parties and even some conservatives. The Colorado Party's candidate, Blanca Ovelar, received 31% of the vote and would have been the first woman president had she won. Former army chief Lino Oviedo came in third place with 22%. The main reason for the defeat of the Colorado party was Paraguayans dissatisfaction with the widespread poverty in which 40% of the population lives.
Nearly two weeks after anti-Chinese protestors
extinguished
the Olympic flame in Paris, a few thousand pro-Chinese demonstrators took to the French capital's streets to support this year's Olympic host. The demonstrators were mostly Chinese, and their protests were accompanied by similar events in London and Berlin. Later in the week, when the Olympic Torch reached Australia, the number of Chinese flag wavers on the streets outnumbered the Free Tibet signs.
In China, there have been anti-French demonstrations in response to the torch relay protests two weeks ago in Paris, during which a disabled Chinese Olympian was
harassed.
French President Nicholas Sarkozy has tried to
mend fences
with the Chinese by sending a letter to the disabled athlete apologizing for the incident in Paris. Meanwhile, the Paris city council has decided to make the Dalai Lama, who China blames for last month's protests in Tibet, an honorary citizen.
Senator Hillary Clinton won the Democratic Party's
primary
in US state of Pennsylvania on Tuesday. The good news for her was that she won the contest by 10 percentage points and 200,000 votes. The bad news is that she is running out of opportunities to catch her rival Barak Obama in both
popular vote
and total
delegates.
Despite the odds against Clinton winning the Democratic presidential nomination she plans to continue her campaign. The next major primaries are in two weeks in North Carolina, where Obama current enjoys a large lead in the polls, and Indiana, where the two candidates are running
neck and neck.
Although Syria and Israel have been officially in a state of war since 1967, there are some signs that the two countries may agree to a peace deal soon. It seems that Turkey has been operating as a third party in negotiations between the two
adversaries.
Former US president Jimmy Carter, who has recently met with Syrian president Bashar Assad, has said that most of demands made by both countries have been agreed to. The major demands include Israel withdrawing from a strip of land known as the
Golan Heights,
which the Jewish state occupied after the 1967 war, and the Syrians ending all support for militant groups such as Hamas and Hezbullah. The most recent attempt at a peace deal between the two countries was in 2000, which failed due to disagreement over some details, and despite the slight optimism this week, such differences could easily wreck this process.
The Aston Martin DBS car being used in the filming of the next James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace, was crashed into Lake Garda in Northern Italy last weekend. The car was being driven to the filming of a scene by a
stunt driver
when the accident occurred. Although the cause of the crash is unclear, the car was being driven in heavy rain and on a street with many curves. The driver suffered only minor injuries. In a separate incident later in the week, another stunt driver was injured in an accident during filming and is currently in the hospital listed in serious condition.
Former Baywatch Star David Hasselhoff must pay his wife $25,000 per month as a result of a divorce settlement. Hasselhoff and his wife divorced in 2006 after being married for 16 years. They have two children: 17 year-old Taylor and 15 year old Hayley. In a separate incident later in the week, Hasselhoff was admitted to the hospital for surgery to his face, in which something was removed from above his eye.
A court in Santa Anna California has sentenced Bon Jovi guitarist Richie Sambora to three years
probation
for driving under the influence of alcohol. Sambora was arrested last month after police saw him driving erratically. At the time, his girlfriend, daughter, and another unidentified girl were in the auto with him. As a requirement of his probation, he will have to attend alcohol awareness classes and will not be allowed to drink any alcohol.
The car actress Sandra Bullock and her husband Jesse James were riding in was hit by a drunk driver last Friday. Nobody was hurt in the accident which occurred in the sea-side town of Gloucester Massachusetts, where Bullock is working on her next film The Proposal.
Actor John Hurt has said that the new Indiana Jones movie will make its premiere at that
Cannes Film Festival
a few days before its world-wide release on May 22. Hurt plays along star Harrison Ford in the film, which is the most anticipated new release of the summer. It has been 18 years since the last Indiana Jones movie played in the theaters.
