Los Angeles Times - June 3, 2011

Internet access is a human right, according to a United Nations report released on Friday.

"Given that the Internet has become an indispensable tool for realizing a range of human rights, combating inequality, and accelerating development and human progress, ensuring universal access to the Internet should be a priority for all states," said the report from Frank La Rue, a special rapporteur to the United Nations, who wrote the document "on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression."

La Rue said in his report that access to the Internet is particularly important during times of political unrest, as demonstrated by the recent "Arab Spring" uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, among other countries.

From the report:

The Special Rapporteur believes that the Internet is one of the most powerful instruments of the 21st century for increasing transparency in the conduct of the powerful, access to information, and for facilitating active citizen participation in building democratic societies.

submitted by Stuart Leiderman

The Code of Practice for the Hygienic Production of Sprouted Seeds, developed with the sprout industry’s input in 2001 and amended in February 2007, continues to be the current Canadian regulatory guideline used to assess sprout manufacturers’ compliance with Canada’s Food and Drugs Act and Regulations. The HACCP Generic Model for Sprouts Grown in Water and its companion document, Food Safety Practices Guidance for Sprout Manufacturers (FSPGSM), were developed by a committee consisting of representatives from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and Health Canada. These documents are intended to be food safety resources for the sprout industry.

CFIA - Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) - (a 42 page .PDF file)

http://www.sproutnet.com/Reports/CFIA_HACCP_EN.pdf

CFIA - Food Safety Practices Guidance For Sprout Manufacturers (FSPGSM) - (a 79 page .PDF file)

http://www.sproutnet.com/Reports/CFIA_FSPG_EN.pdf

The Guardian holds a periodic news round up and forums under their "Poverty Matters" series.

Below is a sample of the issues now being discussed:

Rising commodity prices, a changing climate and a growing population have combined to push food security to the top of the international agenda, and have also dominated coverage on the Global development site this week.

Our Global food crisis interactive highlights the big issues in the current food debate, through blogs, features, video, galleries and audio reports.

submitted by:  Mary Suzanne Kivlighan

A webcast of a May 25 Kaiser Family Foundation briefing that explored the rollout of the U.S. government's Global Health Initiative (GHI) on the ground, with a particular focus on the recently released GHI country-level strategies. The briefing examined progress and challenges that arise when translating the GHI in the field.

Panelists included:

    * Lois Quam, GHI executive director
    * Mamadi Yilla, former PEPFAR country coordinator and GHI Planning lead for Malawi and current senior public health advisor for Sustainability and Integration, Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator, Department of State
    * Bethanne Moskov, health team leader in Mali, USAID
    * Kayla Laserson, director, KEMRI Research Station in Kenya, CDC
    * Mark Green, senior director at the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition and former ambassador to Tanzania
    * Karl Hofmann, president and CEO of PSI and former ambassador to the Republic of Togo
    * Jen Kates (moderator), vice president and director, Global Health and HIV Policy, Kaiser Family Foundation

By YURI KAGEYAMA and JUSTIN PRITCHARD, Associated Press 

TOKYO – Japanese nuclear regulators trusted that the reactors at the Fukushima Dai-ichi complex were safe from the worst waves an earthquake could muster based on a single-page memo from the plant operator nearly a decade ago. In the Dec. 19, 2001, document — one double-sized page obtained by The Associated Press under Japan's public records law — Tokyo Electric Power Co. rules out the possibility of a tsunami large enough to knock the plant offline and gives scant details to justify this conclusion, which proved to be wildly optimistic.

If world governments could turn to a central information source on natural disasters, many lives could be saved through better preparedness

Devastating natural disasters have killed close to a million people and caused billions of pounds of damage in the past few years. Despite its sophisticated technology, humanity remains hugely vulnerable to earthquakes, hurricanes, volcanic eruptions and other calamities. The danger is only likely to increase, say geologists and weather experts. Earth's swelling numbers are forcing more and more people to live in geological and meteorological danger zones. As a result, death tolls are destined to rise.

submitted by: Albert Gomez

Good - May 23, 2011

The African country of Liberia is blessed with lush rainforests full of pygmy hippos, Diana monkeys, duikers, and lots of valuable trees. But when Charles Taylor started plundering the forests to fund his forces in the country's civil war, the UN placed sanctions on Liberian timber.

Now President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf wants to establish a legitimate timber trade to boost the Liberian economy. To that end, she has signed a deal with the European Union that would require companies bringing Liberian lumber into the EU to have proof that it's legal. To make that possible, every legally harvestable tree and every cut log would have to carry a barcode that makes it traceable. Helveta, a British company that specializes in timber supply chain management, has invented the tracking system.

While many feared radiation from a stricken Japanese nuclear facility would drift across the Pacific and settle on the United States, fallout of a different kind certainly has—deep concern about the safety of nuclear reactors.

The belated brouhaha follows a series of disasters at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, which lost power and experienced what’s thought to be a partial meltdown of two reactor cores after the country was struck by a massive earthquake and subsequent tsunami on March 11.

In the days that followed the catastrophe, conflicting reports about the causes of explosions, the amount of radiation released, and the prospects of ending the threats helped fuel confusion and shine a spotlight on the issue of nuclear safety and preparedness. Americans and others worldwide began asking that age-old question, “Can it happen here?”