http://www.voanews.com Voice of America is an international news and broadcast organization serving Central and Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, Central Asia, Russia, the Middle East and Balkan countries http://www.voanews.com/img/voa/rssLogo_VOA.gif http://www.voanews.com en-US 2012 - VOA 60 Sun, 19 May 2013 07:19:01 -0400 Pangea CMS – VOA Uncertain access to fresh water is among the world’s greatest security threats. That’s according to the worldwide assessment delivered by U.S. intelligence agencies to Congress earlier in March. Water shortages, increasing pollution, flooding and climate change can all heighten instability within and between countries. But on this World Water Day, March 22, the United Nations says water scarcity offers opportunities for collaboration as well as conflict. A barbed-wired fence divides ... http://www.voanews.com/content/experts-says-cooperation-can-resolve-global-water-scarcities/1626813.html http://www.voanews.com/content/experts-says-cooperation-can-resolve-global-water-scarcities/1626813.html Fri, 22 Mar 2013 12:43:46 -0400 Asia Steve Baragona (Washington, D.C.) Ten top multinational food corporations have received failing grades for their social and environmental policies in the developing world.  That’s according to a new scorecard from the anti-poverty group Oxfam.  While each company had made commitments to certain issues, none received a passing grade overall.  Nestle scored high for transparency and water management. Unilever did well for including more small-scale farmers in its supply chain. These two companies topped the ... http://www.voanews.com/content/globala-food-companies-fail-on-social-environmental-policies/1610732.html http://www.voanews.com/content/globala-food-companies-fail-on-social-environmental-policies/1610732.html Mon, 25 Feb 2013 19:30:30 -0500 USA Steve Baragona (Washington, D.C.) Prices of corn, soybeans and wheat are likely to decline this year, according to the latest forecast from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.  Although farmers are going into this season with the ground still extremely dry after last year’s record-breaking drought, the USDA still expects good yields this year. Weather, like the winter storm which blew through the southern Great Plains this week bringing relief from the drought conditions which have lingered since summer, will be a ... http://www.voanews.com/content/us-crop-prices-drop-outlook/1609111.html http://www.voanews.com/content/us-crop-prices-drop-outlook/1609111.html Fri, 22 Feb 2013 14:20:04 -0500 USA Steve Baragona (Washington, D.C.) http://www.voanews.com/content/us-crop-prices-drop-outlook/1609111.html#relatedInfoContainer The giant American agrichemical and biotech seed company, Monsanto, will be the subject of arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday. It's a case that asks: Who owns the offspring of a product that copies itself? The answer could affect the future of genetically modified organisms, as well as emerging software, medicine, and other new technologies.  Monsanto’s Roundup Ready soybeans are among the most popular crop seeds purchased by American farmers, because they make weed ... http://www.voanews.com/content/biotech-seed-patent-case-goes-to-us-supreme-court/1604832.html http://www.voanews.com/content/biotech-seed-patent-case-goes-to-us-supreme-court/1604832.html Fri, 15 Feb 2013 19:19:42 -0500 USA Steve Baragona (Washington, D.C.) http://www.voanews.com/content/biotech-seed-patent-case-goes-to-us-supreme-court/1604832.html#relatedInfoContainer After nearly four decades of fishing, this season might be David Goethel's last. The New England Fisheries Management Council has cut the amount of cod fishermen like Goethel can catch in the Gulf of Maine by 77 percent. Painful cuts “For us, it basically means we’re all done," Goethel says. Under the new limits, he says he'd reach his quota of cod in just a few days of fishing.  And other fish are effectively off limits, or out of reach, for his kind of boat and ... http://www.voanews.com/content/new-england-fishing-quotas/1598427.html http://www.voanews.com/content/new-england-fishing-quotas/1598427.html Wed, 06 Feb 2013 12:37:26 -0500 USA Steve Baragona (Washington, D.C.) http://www.voanews.com/content/new-england-fishing-quotas/1598427.html#relatedInfoContainer Severely malnourished children are more likely to survive if they receive antibiotics in addition to therapeutic feeding, according to a new study. In the study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, a week’s worth of common antibiotics reduced the death rate among severely malnourished children by 35 percent or more. About 20 million children worldwide are severely malnourished, and malnutrition is a factor in the death of about 1 million every year. So the results are a big ... http://www.voanews.com/content/study-in-malawi-links-microbes-to-malnutrition-deaths/1594383.html http://www.voanews.com/content/study-in-malawi-links-microbes-to-malnutrition-deaths/1594383.html Thu, 31 Jan 2013 09:00:30 -0500 Health Steve Baragona (Washington, D.C.) A second term for President Barack Obama allows Michelle Obama to continue her high-profile campaign against childhood obesity. It's a fight Mrs. Obama took up at the start of her husband's first term and she's expected to use her platform as first lady to continue it into his second.   Planting seeds for better health It started with the garden. Shortly after moving in four years ago, Michelle Obama dug up a patch of the White House lawn to plant organic vegetables ... http://www.voanews.com/content/new-term-lets-first-lady-press-anti-obesity-fight/1586442.html http://www.voanews.com/content/new-term-lets-first-lady-press-anti-obesity-fight/1586442.html Fri, 18 Jan 2013 09:46:00 -0500 USA Steve Baragona (Washington, D.C.) http://www.voanews.com/content/new-term-lets-first-lady-press-anti-obesity-fight/1586442.html#relatedInfoContainer With flu cases spiking in the U.S. city of Boston, the mayor has taken an unusual step. He has declared a public health emergency and is urging people to get vaccinated. While not everyone believes there is a crisis, the declaration is making many Bostonians take action. Hand washing is a big deal at the Tufts Medical Center emergency room. Nurse Sandy Gibbons said they've seen a surge of flu patients in the last couple weeks . “And it came on very fast. That's what we've ... http://www.voanews.com/content/us_boston_reels_under_flu_influenza_outbreak/1582688.html http://www.voanews.com/content/us_boston_reels_under_flu_influenza_outbreak/1582688.html Sat, 12 Jan 2013 13:27:21 -0500 USA Steve Baragona (Washington, D.C.) http://www.voanews.com/content/us_boston_reels_under_flu_influenza_outbreak/1582688.html#relatedInfoContainer Most people might see cockroaches as good-for-nothing pests, but this germ-ridden insect could be an indirect source of new antibiotics for humans. Cockroaches host the larvae of a parasitic type of wasp, which spend their formative days eating the bacteria-laden body of the cockroach from the inside out. Researchers have discovered the wasp larva secretes chemicals that sanitize the decidedly unsanitary guts of the cockroach. These germ-killing chemicals could eventually be developed for ... http://www.voanews.com/content/germ-ridden-roaches-could-lead-to-new-antibiotics/1579985.html http://www.voanews.com/content/germ-ridden-roaches-could-lead-to-new-antibiotics/1579985.html Tue, 08 Jan 2013 13:39:42 -0500 Science & Technology Steve Baragona (Washington, D.C.) http://www.voanews.com/content/germ-ridden-roaches-could-lead-to-new-antibiotics/1579985.html#relatedInfoContainer New rules hailed as the biggest improvements in U.S. food safety since the 1930s took a step forward Friday. Regulators say the proposals may prevent more than one million cases of foodborne illness each year. They come two years to the day since President Barack Obama signed the Food Safety Modernization Act. They are the first step in implementing that law, which puts the Food and Drug Administration [FDA] in charge of preventing foodborne disease outbreaks. Experts say that’s a change from ... http://www.voanews.com/content/new_us_food_safety_rules_released/1578127.html http://www.voanews.com/content/new_us_food_safety_rules_released/1578127.html Fri, 04 Jan 2013 18:58:30 -0500 USA Steve Baragona (Washington, D.C.) http://www.voanews.com/content/new_us_food_safety_rules_released/1578127.html#relatedInfoContainer A bit of old Russian folk wisdom could produce a crop of new antibiotics. With drug-resistant bacteria a growing public health threat worldwide, a type of frog Russians have used to keep milk fresh could provide a fresh source of germ fighters. Moscow State University chemist Albert Lebedev grew up in a rural part of Russia, where many people kept their own cows. In the days before refrigeration, it was a challenge to keep milk from spoiling. So people enlisted the help of the local ... http://www.voanews.com/content/frogs-could-provide-big-leap-in-antibiotics/1576446.html http://www.voanews.com/content/frogs-could-provide-big-leap-in-antibiotics/1576446.html Wed, 02 Jan 2013 11:19:34 -0500 Health Steve Baragona (Washington, D.C.) http://www.voanews.com/content/frogs-could-provide-big-leap-in-antibiotics/1576446.html#relatedInfoContainer For many Americans, New Year’s Eve focused on the U.S. Congress going over the so-called “fiscal cliff” of massive tax hikes and spending cuts.  But congressional gridlock has produced another precipice, this one in the dairy aisles of U.S. grocery stores. Beginning in the Great Depression of the 1930s, Congress wrote legislation intended to stabilize food supplies and keep struggling farmers in business.  Congress is supposed to rewrite the law every five years or so.  But the ... http://www.voanews.com/content/fiscal-cliff-agreement-to-include-farm-bill-fix/1575629.html http://www.voanews.com/content/fiscal-cliff-agreement-to-include-farm-bill-fix/1575629.html Tue, 01 Jan 2013 04:52:27 -0500 USA Steve Baragona (Washington, D.C.) North Carolina tobacco farmer Billy Carter is a rarity among American farmers. He hires Mexican workers legally, through the government's H-2A visa program. But this year was a good example of its shortcomings. The program requires farmers to set workers' start date months in advance. The weather has its own schedule. A rainy summer meant the harvest arrived early; earlier, in fact, than his harvest crew. And that meant lost tobacco. “You’re looking at a crop that is done, all ... http://www.voanews.com/content/us-farmers-back-immigration-reform/1575124.html http://www.voanews.com/content/us-farmers-back-immigration-reform/1575124.html Mon, 31 Dec 2012 09:24:39 -0500 USA Steve Baragona (Washington, D.C.) http://www.voanews.com/content/us-farmers-back-immigration-reform/1575124.html#relatedInfoContainer The demand for food crops is growing, but experts say the world’s harvests are not keeping pace.  A new study pinpoints exactly where crop yields are falling behind.  The authors describe it as “actionable intelligence” on where more investment is needed to help secure the world’s food supply. The United Nations says there will be 2 billion more people to feed by 2050.  And people are becoming richer and eating more meat, which takes more grain to produce; and demand for ... http://www.voanews.com/content/study-maps-areas-of-stagnating-crop-yields/1568479.html http://www.voanews.com/content/study-maps-areas-of-stagnating-crop-yields/1568479.html Thu, 20 Dec 2012 06:10:14 -0500 Science & Technology Steve Baragona (Washington, D.C.)