It’s the news with Kandy Korrespondent!

On Tuesday, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon opened the UN Aids conference in New York with the grim announcement that the world is losing the fight against HIV-AIDS. He noted that drug innovation is not keeping up with the growing numbers of new infected– 2.5 million people became infected with HIV last year while only one million began using antiretroviral drugs. UN figures suggest that at least 33 million people have HIV worldwide.

Bill Clinton, also in attendance, took the opportunity to highlight the impact of the current economic crisis upon the distribution of aid.

“This oil price spike has taken away 100 per cent of the value of foreign aid and debt relief to very many countries […] It has dramatically increased the cost of producing food, and it has increased therefore the number of people who are at risk of these diseases.”

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And Now the News with Kandy Korrespondent.

As the average price of gas rose to $3.80 nationally, Congress made further attempts to placate their angry constituents. Also on Tuesday, the House of Representatives approved legislation that will allow the Department of Justice to sue the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) for conspiring to restrict supplies and/or drive up prices. It goes without saying that such legislation is mainly symbolic. Even if the DOJ were to sue OPEC, there would be no way to enforce any ruling upon the countries.

On Wednesday, with oil at a record-breaking $134/barrel, congress summoned oil executives to the Hill and demanded answers.

The executives responded that they were doing all they could to aid renewable energy and help the country through the current crisis.

It should be noted that, ConocoPillips executive John Lowe received cash compensation of $5.7 million in 2007. Peter Robertson of Chevron received $14.2 million. Exxon Mobil exec Stephen Simon received $12.5 million. Yet, as Robertson stated, “I’m a regular person.” Read More »

Bye-bye Hillary… As more and more news outlets and political insiders come out in support of Senator Barack Obama as the democratic presidential nominee, pressure is mounting for Clinton to drop out so that the democratic party can turn their focus onto defeating McCain—whom many are calling Bush III.

This week’s Economist led with an article entitled “Almost there: Barack Obama deserves the nomination. It is not yet clear whether he deserves the presidency”. The article went on to state:

“As The Economist went to press, Mrs Clinton was publicly still promising to keep on fighting right the way to the Denver convention. That remains her right. But it is hard to see what she, her party or her country can gain from the struggle.”

The New York Times—who had endorsed Senator Clinton– posted a rather scathing editorial in which all but call upon her to drop out, stating that while it is her right to continue the fight,

“Mrs. Clinton will be making a terrible mistake — for herself, her party and for the nation — if she continues to press her candidacy through negative campaigning with disturbing racial undertones.” Read More »

According to the World Bank, global food prices have increased by 75% since 2005 and 45% in the last nine months. In the past two months, the cost of rice, a staple food for over half of the world’s population, rose by 75%. The price of wheat has risen 120% during the past year.

Deadly protests and rioting over these increasing costs are occurring throughout Africa and Asia.

In Haiti, where 80% of the population survives on less than $2 a day, mass demonstrations turned deadly. Rioting in Les Cayes killed 4 and wounded at least 20. A few days later Haitians attempted to storm the presidential palace in Port-au- Prince shouting “We are hungry!”

In Egypt, where over 33% of the population live on around $2 a day, police took over a textiles plant to prevent a widespread strike over rising food costs. The military has been enlisted to bake bread to curb the growing anger. Read More »