Food Riots Break Out In Mozambique

Deaths In Mozambique Riots -- Al Jazeera

At least six people are killed as clashes erupt during protests over soaring prices of food and fuel.

At least six people have been shot dead in Mozambique's capital during clashes between police and demonstrators protesting against rising food and fuel prices.

Police opened fire on protesters throwing stones and setting fire to tyres and barriers, but it was not immediately clear whether their bullets were responsible for the deaths.

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More News On The Riots In Mozambique

At least 6 reported killed in Mozambique price riots -- Reuters
Mozambique police fire at crowds protesting prices -- AP
Children Die As Police Fire On Food Protesters -- SKY News
Mozambique police kill 6 in food price protest -- CBC
Deadly riots in Mozambique over rising prices -- BBC
Four dead in Mozambique after police fire on protest -- AFP
Mozambique: Frelimo Appeals for Calm -- allAfrica.com
Factbox: Violence in Mozambique -- Reuters

Will Russia's Wheat Export Ban Threaten Food Riots?

A couple visit the Red Square among thick smog in Moscow, capital of Russia, Aug. 4, 2010. Moscow suffered serious air pollution due to the forest and peat fires. (Xinhua/Lu Jinbo)

Russian Wheat Export Ban Threatens Higher Inflation And Food Riots -- The Independent

The world faces an inflationary time bomb as shortages of food threaten to push prices to fresh all-time highs.

A variety of freakish weather conditions across the world has sent the price of staples including wheat, pork, rice, orange juice, coffee, cocoa and tea to fresh highs in recent weeks. Yesterday's decision by the Russian government to ban the export of wheat to protect home consumers saw grain prices jump 8 per cent on the day, on what was already a two-year high. Meanwhile, the burgeoning demand for foodstuffs and raw material growth in the resurgent economies of China and India has also driven oil, copper and other industrial commodities higher.

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My Comment: I am skeptical on the food riots .... but prices are going to increase, and for some it is going to hurt.

Lack Of Water And Food -- Two Issues That Have Sparked A Number Of Past Wars And Conflicts Are Making A Comback

From CNN -- Riots, Instability Spread As Food Prices Skyrocket

(CNN) -- Riots from Haiti to Bangladesh to Egypt over the soaring costs of basic foods have brought the issue to a boiling point and catapulted it to the forefront of the world's attention, the head of an agency focused on global development said Monday.

"This is the world's big story," said Jeffrey Sachs, director of Columbia University's Earth Institute.

"The finance ministers were in shock, almost in panic this weekend," he said on CNN's "American Morning," in a reference to top economic officials who gathered in Washington. "There are riots all over the world in the poor countries ... and, of course, our own poor are feeling it in the United States."

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My Comment: When I was growing up I learned about mass starvation from my parents. My father grew up in the Ukraine duirng the famine of 1932-1933, and my mother experienced the Second World War in Nazi occupied Russia. Hunger and war have always walked hand in hand, with both "feeding" each other.

Our hunger for energy in the form of bio-fuels may in fact produce a disaster that we are not prepared to acknowledge.

Update: Food Costs Rising Fastest in 17 Years -- Yahoo Finance

2nd Update: Food Riots Lead to Haitian Meltdown -- Time Magazine

3rd Update: Maybe I should not be so pessimistic -- As Other Staples Soar, Potatoes Break New Ground (Reuters)

4th Update: The Real Crisis Is Global Hunger. -- The Guardian