Hunger in the News

Today's top headlines:

International
Biofuels Creating Food Crisis, Group Says. The use of biofuels caused a 30 percent increase in the price of food in 2008, an advocacy group said… [UPI]

India Launches New Drive Against Pregnancy Deaths. An Indian woman dies every seven minutes during pregnancy or childbirth. [BBC]

China 'Must Reverse Rich-Poor Gap'. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has said China must reverse its widening income gap between rich and poor. [BBC]

Food Agency Gearing Up for Spring Planting in Haiti. In Haiti, with two weeks to go before the spring planting season begins, the U.N. and its partners are rushing to provide tools and seeds to farmers to help avert a national food crisis. [Relief Web]

Domestic
36K Jobs Lost, 9.7% Unemployment Rate. Nonfarm payrolls decreased by 36,000 in February. The economy has lost almost 3.3 million jobs over the last year, and 8.43 million jobs since the beginning of the current employment recession. [Calculated Risk]

Snow Didn't Skew the Unemployment Rate. But the Census Will. [T]he hiring of more than 500,000 census workers this spring will trim the unemployment rate and boost spending temporarily. [The Christian Science Monitor]

America, the Service Industry? America isn't a country that can survive by offering services. It needs to make – and sell – things. [The Christian Science Monitor]

Off the Job. My first bout of unemployment began in October 2008, about a month after the Lehman Brothers collapse. [The New York Times]

Climate Change/Environment
'Case Stronger' on Climate Change. A review from the U.K. Met Office says it is becoming clearer that human activities are causing climate change. [BBC]

Lawmakers Move to Restrain EPA on Climate Change. On Thursday, Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.) introduced a bill that would put a two-year freeze on the EPA's ability to regulate greenhouse gases from power plants. [The Washington Post]

CEOs Seek Firm Signal on U.S. Climate Change Policy. Global leaders in the energy business say they want some certainty in U.S. climate policy to encourage development of new technologies and other investment, but they do not expect federal legislation to pass this year. [Reuters]