Nation

Where Have all the Songbirds Gone?

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Songbirds fly thousands of miles to return to the northern hemisphere every spring, just as regularly as the sun comes up every morning. Or, that’s how it’s supposed to be. But the numbers of migratory birds reaching the north from their winter grounds in the south have plummeted in recent years. One British study found numbers of migratory birds down by 20 percent in just four years, according to the Telegraph newspaper. A five-year study just concluded in Vermont found 17 new species since the last time an atlas was taken, in the 1970s, but other species have dwindled or disappeared altogether, according to the Burlington Free Press.

Nation

Look, up in the Sky! Urban Farming Puts Down Roots

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UPDATE: According to the Las Vegas Sun, the NextEnergryNews story about a proposed agricultural skyscraper in Las Vegas is not true. — The Editors
Urban farming can be as simple as a backyard vegetable patch or as complicated as a proposed agricultural skyscraper in Las Vegas. Yes, you read that right. NextEnergryNews reports that plans are afoot for a 30-story, $200 million building which will feature crops growing on many of its floors — and the building will go up in the notoriously environmentally unfriendly city of Las Vegas. According to the article, the project could reportedly make up to $25 million a year through selling food to nearby casinos, with perhaps another $15 million generated through tourism at the site — and the project could be completed as early as 2010.

Economy

Virtual water and real thirst

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The recent hike in the price of food worldwide is usually blamed on the price of oil or the conversion of food crops to biofuels. But a handful of experts have pointed to a simpler cause: a shortage of water. “The two underlying causes of the world food crisis are falling supplies and rising demand on the international market,” writes environmental consultant and author Fred Pearce in the London Telegraph. “Why falling supplies? Because of major droughts in Australia, one of the world’s big three suppliers, and Ukraine, another major exporter.

Democracy & Civics

Yemen Steps, Uneasy, From Past to Future

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Yemen — the ancestral home of Osama bin Laden, bordered by Saudi Arabia and the Red Sea — is opening up culturally as the Internet and wireless technologies knock down barriers to communication. Yet water shortages, civil war, semi-autonomous tribal militias, drug trafficking, an al Qaeda presence and state-owned media add up to an uncertain future. Most recently, the Yemen Post reported that a Pakistani ship carrying ten tons of drugs, including hashish, heroin and “pills,” was intercepted by the Yemeni Coast Guard. Yemen has become a “transit country” for drug smuggling into the Persian Gulf region, according to the newspaper. Terrorism and civil strife also abound, according to a string of articles from the Associated Press.

Democracy & Civics

Broadband: BBC calls for Market 'Intervention'

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Citing inclusion and civic participation as trumping private profit, the British Broadcasting Corporation is making a case for government “intervention” in the broadband market to ensure universal access to affordable, high-speed Internet services. In doing so, the BBC wades into the increasingly heated waters of the “Net Neutrality” debate. At issue is whether the commercial owners of the telecom networks that propagate the Internet worldwide should be able to influence what is transmitted, and charge fees for higher speeds or prioritization of certain types of online content. The BBC, as a “public service provider,” says its mission requires it to vault “all digital divides,” including social, geographic, age and ability. This would ensure delivery of broadband Internet to communities that would benefit most from it, but which currently lack access — for example, in sparsely populated regions where demand is lower, making an investment in infrastructure less profitable to a commercial operation.

Democracy & Civics

Ghana’s Oil — Blessing or Curse?

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With the discovery that Ghana is sitting atop an estimated three billion barrels of oil, the impoverished West African nation is facing not just a flood of new wealth, but also its potential “undoing.” So said President John Kufuor at an extractive industries forum in March. His words echo widespread concerns that the unrelenting poverty and corruption that plague other African oil nations could easily take hold in Ghana. According to the United Nations news service, Ghanian officials say managing the flow of oil and revenue, expected to kick off in 2010 at 100,000 barrels a day, is the country’s greatest challenge since its independence 51 years ago. The “Nigeria Scenario” is considered the benchmark to avoid.

Democracy & Civics

A Political Resurrection in Malaysia

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Almost 10 years after he was driven out of office by a bizarre series of corruption and sodomy charges, Malaysia’s former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim returned to politics this week with a big rally and big plans. Anwar, who like many Malaysians goes by his given name, celebrated the expiration of a five-year ban on political activity with a midnight rally in Kuala Lumpur, the Malaysian capital. According to the New Straits Times, 10,000 people showed up to the unauthorized rally Monday night before it was shut down by police. According to Australia’s ABC online, Anwar dispersed the crowd by saying, “The police chief has asked us to stop so we are stopping, but remain peaceful, because soon we will be running this country.” Anwar also officially requested that Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi open an investigation into alleged abuses of power by the former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.

Democracy & Civics

Israel: Homelessness Spikes for Girls

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The percentage of homeless teenage girls in Israel jumped from 15 to 25 percent last year, driven by the social stresses of immigration and family discord, the Jerusalem Post reports. The problem includes not just homeless youth, but also teens who “loiter” on the streets, many of whom are from immigrant families whose parents work multiple jobs and are rarely home. Left in charge of their younger siblings by absent parents, the teens take their brothers and sisters with them onto the streets in search of food and other necessities. Some girls, in need of shelter, may opt to go home with an adult male, trading sex for a roof over their heads. One critic said that 99 percent of young homeless females in Israel eventually find their way into the sex industry.

Democracy & Civics

Cultivating Change in Lebanon

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Caught between warring militias and Israeli reprisal, Lebanon’s farmers have a hardscrabble life that is only exacerbated by the threat of unexploded munitions littering the fields, forests and mountain slopes. Radio Netherlands reports that support for rural communities is “scant,” and blamed a “clannish and corrupt” government of elites for their plight. Enter Rami Zurayk, a professor at the American University in Beirut, whose small aid group Land and People provides technical assistance, marketing support and more to rural communities in need. This includes programs to shift from chemical fertilizers to banana-leaf compost, and financial aid to purchase a mechanical shredder vital for the composting process. Land and People also helped a women’s baking cooperative market its goods, and supports soapmaking operations using wild berries in the bombed-out village of Ayta al Shaab.

Economy

King Tobacco, Balkan Crime Lord

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Cigarette counterfeiting and smuggling in the Balkans is one of the primary drivers of crime and corruption in the region, according to a coalition of investigative reporting projects. Bosnia-Herzegovina alone is estimated to lose $200 million each year in tax revenue from tobacco smuggling, a sum that could approach billions worldwide. The Organized Crime & Corruption Reporting Project, with bureaus and partners in Sarajevo, Albania, Bulgaria, Ukraine and else- where, has assembled a massive investigative package on tobacco smuggling, and particularly the involvement of government officials in the region. High prices and taxes on tobacco in the West are driving the smuggling boom, with a packet of cigarettes purchased in Ukraine for less than a euro selling for seven euros in London. Extortion, murder are common, and a variety of dubious and notorious public figures are implicated, according to the report.