Hunger in the News

International
Afghan Officials Want to Direct More Foreign Aid. Tired of their backseat role, Afghan government officials are increasingly standing up to Washington and other foreign capitals… [AP]

India Raises Poverty-Rate Estimate. India's top policy-planning body raised its estimate of the nation's official poverty rate to 37.2% of the population from 27.5%, a key development as the government drafts legislation to give the poorest Indians a right to state-subsidized food grains. [The Wall Street Journal]

UK Water Imports 'Unsustainable'. The amount of water used to produce food and goods imported by developed countries is worsening water shortages in the developing world... [BBC]

A Troubling Trend in a Prosperous Society. The suicide rate [in South Korea] has doubled in the past decade and is now the highest in the industrialized world. [The Washington Post]

Domestic
Trust In Government? Poll Finds Nearly 80% of Americans Don't. America's "Great Compromiser" Henry Clay called government "the great trust," but most Americans today have little faith in Washington's ability to deal with the nation's problems. [Huffington Post]

Poll: Obama Slips, Other Dems Slide, Too. President Barack Obama's national standing has slipped to a new low after his victory on the historic health care overhaul, even in the face of growing signs of economic revival… [AP]

New Deal Safety Net Not Catching Today's Middle Class. The social safety net established as part of the New Deal in the 1930s is missing a huge swath of today's middle class... [Huffington Post]

Middle Class No More: New Jersey Family Scrapes By on Half its Former Income. Two years ago, Ben and Jennifer Agins of Somerset County, New Jersey, thought they were on track to finally purchase their first house. [Huffington Post]

Climate Change/Environment
Bolivia Hosts Mother Earth Talks. Delegates are gathering in the Bolivian city of Cochabamba for a grassroots alternative to last year's UN climate change summit in Copenhagen. [BBC]

U.N.-U.S. Split is Brewing over Climate Talks. A document accidentally left on a European hotel computer and passed to the Guardian reveals the US government's increasingly controversial strategy in the global UN climate talks. [Guardian]