UN alarmed at lack of global support for Haiti’s immediate agricultural needs

United Nations agencies voiced alarm today at the lack of global support for Haiti’s immediate agricultural needs, such as seed and fertilizers to ensure food from the next planting season, while stressing that disaster mitigation techniques must figure fully in the country’s reconstruction from last month’s devastating earthquake.

The answer to everything: more summits

It seems that yesterday was a rather gruelling day for EU leaders with hours of squabbling over how to handle the looming Greek tragedy. Then cue left enters EU President, Van Rompuy, who, we assume, wanting to lighten the atmosphere, decided to announce that he wants to triple the number of Commission summits from four to 12 a year!

Why oh why must the EU’s answer to everything be to call a pow-wow at which they can take yet another group picture to set on their mantelpieces?

It is a frustratingly common trend for European leaders to equate summits with power. Remember that rotating Spanish President Zapatero is organising no less than fourteen of them for his six month stint. But there comes a time to admit that quality and not quantity should be the key - as the by now infamous ‘Obama snub’ made embarassingly clear.

By the way, Van Rompuy seems to be on a bit of a roll, holding court in an old library and calling for an EU ‘economic government’, in addition to costing EU taxpayers some £20 million a year.

As we’ve argued before, it would be a mistake to write this guy off as a non-factor in the EU elite’s pursuit of ever closer union.

Today on New Scientist: 12 February 2010

All today’s stories on newscientist.com at a glance, including: the mystery of Martian sheen, how the climategate inquiry stumbled on the start line, and why entangled photons love a bumpy ride

Hizballah - A Greater Threat To Israel Than Ever

From Basil & Spice Opinion

The Shi’a Islamic fundamentalist group Hizballah has emerged as the key power broker in Lebanon. It has been fully re-armed by its Iranian and Syrian sponsors after its war with Israel in 2006, its militia has been legitimized by the Lebanese government, and the group has veto power over any legislation introduced in the Lebanese parliament.

Hizballah, instead of being marginalized by the 2006 war and the resultant United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, is now a greater threat to Israel than at any time in its 28-year history. UNSCR 1701 required that the Lebanese government prevent the re-arming of Hizballah, and that Beirut deploy the virtually useless Lebanese army to the country’s southern border with Israel to keep Hizballah fighters out of the area south of the Litani River. The resolution also expands the mandate of the largely ineffective United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon - “interim” since its creation in 1978. Hizballah is now back in the area in force.

In a December 2009 vote, Lebanon’s newly-formed government granted Hizballah the legal right to maintain its militia forces, and the authority to employ those forces against Israel. This action confirmed an existing policy which authorized the army and “the resistance” (the Lebanese idiomatic term for Hizballah) to liberate what Lebanon and Syria label as the Israeli-occupied Shaba’ Farms. It is fiction - the Shaba’ Farms are part of Syria (Israeli occupied), not part of Lebanon, but it provides a “fig-leaf” to justify Hizballah’s militia.

The major threat to Israel from Hizballah is its replenished rocket inventory. Despite the passage of UNSCR 1701, the Syrians and Iranians have not only completely re-equipped Hizballah to levels in excess of the inventory prior to the war in 2006, but, but have also increased the quality of the group’s arsenal. The older short-range rockets have been replaced with longer-range rockets capable of carrying larger warheads. When there are future Hizballah rocket attacks on Israel - and there will be future attacks – the warheads will reach much farther into the Jewish state, this time not only threatening the areas just south of Haifa, but probably Tel Aviv as well.

This new reality, thanks to the ineffectiveness of the United Nations and the duplicity of Syria and Iran, must be taken into consideration by the Israelis. They have to be prepared to defend the northern half of the country should for any reason Hizballah decide to launch rockets at Israel.

Like an Israeli strike on Iran’s nuclear research facilities, perhaps?

Parties to Western Sahara dispute commit to further UN-backed talks

The parties in the dispute over the status of Western Sahara have wrapped up two days of United Nations-backed talks in upstate New York by reiterating their commitment to continue their negotiations as soon as possible.

UN agency ramping up aid efforts as clashes drive more Somalis from capital

The United Nations refugee agency is stepping up efforts to provide emergency relief to civilians displaced by the latest surge in fighting in the Somali capital, where some 24 people have reportedly been killed and another 40 injured since Wednesday.

Roadblocks remain in quest to achieve Middle East peace, says Ban

Daunting challenges remain in the search for lasting peace in the Middle East, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today, calling for the prompt resumption of political talks and the swift delivery of concrete results.

Medical advice for the heartbroken

Nothing happened this Valentine’s day? Comfort yourself that heartbreak is now a recognised medical condition, says Rowan Hooper

Why whooping cough’s making a comeback

Infections are on the rise in rich countries, despite longstanding vaccination programmes - now there is an explanation, says Wendy Zukerman

Becoming vegetarian ‘can harm the environment’

Adopting a vegetarian diet based around meat substitutes such as tofu can cause more damage to the environment, according to a new study.

By Nick CollinsPublished: 7:33AM GMT 12 Feb 2010

It has often been claimed that avoiding red meat is beneficial to the environment, because it lowers emissions and less land is used to produce alternatives.
But a study by Cranfield University, commissioned by WWF, the environmental group, found a substantial number of meat substitutes – such as soy, chickpeas and lentils – were more harmful to the environment because they were imported into Britain from overseas.

The study concluded: “A switch from beef and milk to highly refined livestock product analogues such as tofu could actually increase the quantity of arable land needed to supply the UK.”
The results showed that the amount of foreign land required to produce the substitute products – and the potential destruction of forests to make way for farmland – outweighed the negatives of rearing beef and lamb in the UK.
An increase in vegetarianism could result in the collapse of British farming, the study warned, causing meat production to move overseas where there may be less legal protection of forests and uncultivated land.
Meat substitutes were also found to be highly processed, often requiring large amounts of energy to produce. The study recognised that the environmental merits of vegetarianism depended largely on which types of foods were consumed as an alternative to meat.
Donal Murphy-Bokern, one of the authors of the study and former farming and science coordinator at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, told a newspaper: “For some people, tofu and other meat substitutes symbolise environmental friendliness but they are not necessarily the badge of merit people claim.
“Simply eating more bread, pasta and potatoes instead of meat is more environmentally friendly.”
Lord Stern of Bradford, the climate change economist, claimed last October that a vegetarian diet was beneficial to the planet.
He told a newspaper: “Meat is a wasteful use of water and creates a lot of greenhouse gases. It puts enormous pressure on the world’s resources. A vegetarian diet is better.”
Liz O’Neill, spokeswoman for the Vegetarian Society, told The Times: “The figures used in the report are based on a number of questionable assumptions about how vegetarians balance their diet and how the food industry might respond to increased demand.
“If you’re aiming to reduce your environmental impact by going vegetarian then it’s obviously not a good idea to rely on highly processed products, but that doesn’t undermine the fact that the livestock industry causes enormous damage.”
The National Farmers’ Union said the study shower that general arguments about vegetarianism being beneficial to the environment were too simplistic