Jul 21, 2008

Food rise has Bolivia's coca farmers planting rice (AP)

In this Dec. 16, 2005 file photo, a Bolivian saleswomen shows coca leafs in the Coca Market in downtown in La Paz, Bolivia. Soaring food prices may achieve what the United States has spent millions of dollars trying to do: persuade Bolivian farmers to sow their fields with less potent crops than cocaine's raw ingredient. Bolivian President Evo Morales, once the leader of a powerful coca growers' union, is now asking coca farmers to supplement their crops with rice and corn as a way of holding down coca production while helping to feed South America's poorest country. (AP Photo/Marcelo Hernandez, File)AP - Soaring food prices may achieve what the United States has spent millions of dollars trying to do: persuade Bolivian farmers to sow their fields with less potent crops than cocaine's raw ingredient.



Posted by Suzanna on Jul 21, 2008 | Permalink

Jul 21, 2008

Getting lease for oil drilling is just the start (AP)

AP - The national debate over opening more offshore areas to oil and gas exploration has begged the question: Just what are the companies doing with the tens of millions of acres they're already leasing from the federal government?

Posted by Suzanna on Jul 21, 2008 | Permalink

Jul 21, 2008

Rebels clash in SW Pakistan; 36 killed: officials (Reuters)

Pakistani paramilitary soldiers stand alert in a bunker at the Bara Shekhan area of the troubled Khyber tribal district on July 3. Pakistani troops and gunships killed 15 pro-Taliban militants and captured 60 others while clearing a restive northwestern town near the Afghan border.(AFP/File/Tariq Mahmood)Reuters - At least 36 people were killed in clashes between security forces and militants in a part of southwest Pakistan where nationalist rebels have fought a low-level insurgency for years, paramilitary officials said on Monday.



Posted by Suzanna on Jul 21, 2008 | Permalink