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Without access to water, there can be no food security. Ensuring universal access to water is vital in order to address food security and improve nutrition, yet recognition of the links between water and food are too often missed.

Without access to water, there can be no food security

A major report on water for food security and nutrition, launched on Friday by the high-level panel of experts on food security and nutrition (HLPE), is the first comprehensive effort to bring together access to water, food security and nutrition. This report goes far beyond the usual focus on water for agriculture. VersoBooks.com. Published in collaboration with WikiLeaks: What Cablegate tells us about US foreign policy.

VersoBooks.com

映画『ハーフ』予告編 Hafu: the mixed-race experience in Japan [Official Trailer] Saudi Arabia Weighs Plans to Defend Aden. The prospect of a ground operation in Yemen carried out by the Saudi-led coalition is a distinct possibility, but the window to safely insert forces into the port city of Aden is closing.

Saudi Arabia Weighs Plans to Defend Aden

As long as the threat from al-Houthi fighters and forces allied with former President Ali Abdullah Saleh persists, all options are on the table. The unkicked addiction. Correction to this article IN JANUARY 2007 Henry Kissinger, George Shultz, William Perry and Sam Nunn—two Republican secretaries of state, a Democratic defence secretary and a Democratic head of the Senate Armed Services Committee—called for a global effort to reduce reliance on nuclear weapons.

The unkicked addiction

The ultimate goal, they wrote in the Wall Street Journal, should be to remove the threat such weapons pose completely. The article generated an astonishing response. Mapping the global battle to protect our planet. In 2012 protests erupted in Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina over the demolition of a much beloved local park to build a business complex.

Mapping the global battle to protect our planet

A movement under the slogan “This Park is Ours” aimed originally at protecting the green space soon broadened into a collective movement aimed against corruption, lack of transparency, economic inequality and dwindling social services. Virunga. Climate Change Complicates Efforts to End Poverty. Yemen Joins List of Collapsed Mideast States. PJmedia, 23/1 This week in Yemen, an Iran-backed Shia militia captured the presidential palace.

Yemen Joins List of Collapsed Mideast States

The president has since resigned. Barack Obama: The Vox Conversation. Years before he was a national figure, Barack Obama delivered a speech at a rally against the proposed invasion of Iraq that became integral to his underdog primary campaign in 2008.

Barack Obama: The Vox Conversation

"I don't oppose all wars," he said. "What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war. " And yet an actual presidential foreign policy is far more complex than a single speech. It’s On: Asia’s New Space Race. For more than five years, U.S. intelligence agencies, counterterrorism operators, and the military have been intensely focused on trying to stop al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the Yemen branch of the global terrorist network, from sneaking hard-to-detect bombs onto airplanes and slaughtering hundreds of people.

It’s On: Asia’s New Space Race

What they got last week was Paris—a completely different kind of attack. In claiming credit for last week’s decidedly lower-tech shooting spree at the offices of Charlie Hebdo, AQAP seems to have flipped its playbook, leading to inevitable questions about whether U.S. officials misjudged the terror group’s capabilities or were too focused on the wrong threat: bombs instead of bullets. All this, despite a slick AQAP magazine that called specifically for shooters—and for Charlie Hebdo to be put in the crosshairs. “Analysts expected that AQAP would launch an attack against aviation, rather than this kind of tactic. Greece's new finance minister Yanis Varoufakis is Valve's former Steam Market economist. The fate of the Eurozone economy could well be in the hands of a man who once monitored the sales of virtual goods via micro-transactions in video games Dota 2 and Counter-Strike.

Greece's new finance minister Yanis Varoufakis is Valve's former Steam Market economist

Yanis Varoufakis was hired by Valve three years ago to oversee the Steam Market and its fledging economy, and now, as confirmed by Sky News political editor Faisal Islam on 27 January, he is Greece's new finance minister. This past weekend Greece voted in left wing anti-austerity party Syriza, who campaigned on a platform of hope for the troubled country and plans to end government cuts.

Conspiracies to make sense of the world

Former CIA acting director offers chilling world view. It doesn’t take a CIA officer to figure out that the world is a rather dangerous and complex place.

Former CIA acting director offers chilling world view

But it’s pretty fascinating to listen to the agency’s former acting director talk about just how dangerous and complex it is. Bottom line up front after listening to Mike Morell talk for more than an hour? Internet at heart of new tactics for Mediterranean people smugglers. BRUSSELS – Migrants dreaming of Europe have their pick of social media sites that work like an online travel agent, advertising fares and offering tips on secure payments. Meanwhile, the traffickers who send them floating across the Mediterranean are buying scrap-yard cargo ships over the Internet. China denies building empire in Africa.

China has adamantly denied the oft-repeated charge that it is building an empire in Africa just as the European powers did in the late 19th century. Beijing is Africa’s biggest trade partner and has frequently been accused of an ethically deaf “resource colonialism” – extracting the continent’s mineral wealth at knockdown prices to propel its economic growth. But foreign minister Wang Yi, on a five-nation tour of Africa, insisted: “Politically, we always speak up for African countries and uphold justice. Economically, we help African countries to enhance development to achieve prosperity. “In China’s exchanges and cooperation with Africa, we want to see mutual benefit and win-win results. U.S. opening of oil export tap widens battle for global market.

GcFzost.jpg (JPEG Image, 3686 × 2957 pixels) - Scaled (27%) Will Fracking, Climate Change, Solar Reshape US Security? Energy sources and related commodities have driven national security issues ever since the modern nation-state was born with the Peace of Westphalia. Oak made Spain and England’s stout sailing ships. Water energy and wind drove mills and moved water. Wood and coal moved steamships. Then came the almost magical commodity of oil, packed with energy. World War II brought us the wonder and terror of nuclear energy.

The global oil market is going through an upheaval, with non-OPEC production led by North American producers surging while OPEC’s traditional price-setting role changes. Shrinking rivers reshape rituals in Bangladesh. India considers carbon peak for “2035-2050″ With the US keen on a joint declaration when Barack Obama visits New Delhi late January, India is mulling an announcement of which year it will peak its carbon emissions Two developments, one on the opening day of the climate summit in Lima and one the previous week, have led India to seriously consider an announcement when US President Barack Obama visits New Delhi late January. Putin's Thesis (Raw Text) In Pursuit of Prosperity: US Foreign Policy in an Era of Resource Scarcity - World Affairs Council. A\J – Canada's Environmental Voice. TtxuIwf.

Tracks Large-Scale Russian Air Activity in Europe. Four Russian Aircraft Intercepted over Black Sea on 29 October 2014 During the afternoon of 29 October, NATO radars detected and tracked four Russian aircraft flying over the Black Sea in international air space, including 2 Tu-95 Bear-H bombers and 2 Su-27 Flanker fighter jets. Fighters from the Turkish Air Force have intercepted the Russian aircraft and NATO is continuing to track them in international airspace.

Chinese mining transparency announcement sends a clear signal to US regulators. Tougher Greenhouse Goals Could Cut EU’s Gas Imports in Half. Later this week, the European Council will decide on a target to further reduce the European Union’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2030. At issue is whether the Council will decide to reduce emissions by “at least 40 percent” from 1990 levels—leaving the door open to increase ambition in negotiation with other countries—or cap reductions at just 40 percent, locking in a lower goal and possibly influencing other countries to do the same. As the Council weighs its options, new analysis demonstrates that a more aggressive GHG target—achieved through energy efficiency and renewable energy improvements—could also deliver critical energy security gains by reducing reliance on natural gas imports. The European Union currently derives about one-third of its power from natural gas, much of it imported from other countries.

Asian Highway Network. Asian Highway Route Sign. World GDP should double by 2030 and World Trade, Shipping, Ports and Supply Chain will match. According to the Global Marine Trends 2030 report, China will continue to grow, prosper and evolve into the role of a dominant world superpower, particularly with regards to the commercial maritime shipping industry. Whatever Happened to the End of History? After Russia’s annexation of Crimea in March 2014, history is back. It turns out the Cold War was not, in fact, the cold war to end all cold wars but a mere prelude to a second cold war. Asymmetric Escalation of Conflict in South Asia. N. Korea No. 2 visits South for rare talks. Dalai Lama marks Nobel anniversary as Western support wanes.

Coal India solar. World’s largest coal miner to invest $1.2 billion in solar power. The US is now involved in 134 wars or none, depending on your definition of 'war' Ralph Straumann sur Twitter : "President of Switzerland, Didier Burkhalter, waiting for train among commuters. No, no bodyguards. RT @magaliphilip. BRICS countries are building about 75% of the worlds new nuclear reactors and are forming a new BRICS energy association.

'State Of The Climate' Report: Continued Disruption. For most of us, global warming has become 'normal' climate. DFu4ever comments on Russia effectively at war with Europe: Lithuanian president. Burning Donetsk. World peace? These are the only 11 countries in the world that are actually free from conflict - World Politics. The International Security Program. Chinese Special Envoy Meets with Iraqi PM, Vows 'Steadfast' Support against ISIS. Un universitaire égyptien prédit l’effondrement du monde musulman. Twenty-first-century energy wars. Has globalization peaked? The best of capitalism is over for rich countries – and for the poor ones it will be over by 2060.

Migration crisis

Africa. Russia crisis. China. Asian Tensions. Conflicts. Jihad. The 4 Seas great geostrategic game. Seven Conflicts of Concern for the U.S. Military. Dystopia. Water wars. The dark side of Switzerland. NK What's next. Pirates, Drugs, Russian Nukes? The Great Digital Divide. The condition of Women. Celebrity humanitarian. Wikileaks.