The Malaysian Insider

African immigrants drift toward Latin America

no_reply@themalaysianinsider.com (George Sharaad) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 02:05:47 +0000

BUENOS AIRES, Nov 16 — Stowed away on cargo ships and unsure where their dangerous journeys will take them, increasing numbers of African immigrants are arriving in Latin America as European countries tighten border controls.

Some head to Mexico and Guatemala as a stepping stone to the United States, others land in the ports of Argentina and Brazil. Though many arrive in Latin America by chance, once in the region they find governments that are more welcoming than in Europe.

“One night I went to the seaport. I was thinking I was going to Europe. Later I found out I was in Argentina,” said Sierra Leone immigrant Ibrahim Abdoul Rahman, a former child soldier who said he escaped his country’s civil war by sneaking onto a cargo ship for a 35-day voyage.

Men pay huge price for taking more than a wife

no_reply@themalaysianinsider.com (Praba Ganesan) — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 04:03:37 +0000

BANDUNG, Nov 14 — At the age of 24, Basyiroh Cut Mutia received a marriage proposal — from her prospective groom’s first wife.

Thirteen years later, she and his three other wives say they all still live happily together with Dr Abdurahman Riesdam Efendi, an entrepreneur who is now 45.

In fact, all four women say they have always believed that polygamy is good for a family.

Gearing up for the end of cheap food

no_reply@themalaysianinsider.com (Praba Ganesan) — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 03:32:54 +0000

SINGAPORE, Nov 14 — The days of inexpensive food are coming to an end. Because of rising populations, incomes and urbanisation, food demand is expected to grow, and the composition of that demand will change towards higher value and more resource-intensive items, such as meat products. Meanwhile, supply will be constrained by a shortage of land, decelerating yield growth, competition from biofuels, water scarcity and climate change.

To keep prices from soaring out of control and to reverse the rise in global hunger, governments and businesses worldwide will have to find innovative and sustainable ways to boost agricultural output. It is possible to get an idea of what’s on the horizon by looking at the trend in food prices over the past decade. Prices are up almost 80 per cent since their lows in mid-2002.

The United Nations estimates global population is likely to grow by around 35 per cent from the current 6.8 billion by 2050. That means that a 70 per cent increase in food production from 2005-07 levels would be required.

Is Africa selling out its farmers?

no_reply@themalaysianinsider.com (Justin Ong) — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 02:45:27 +0000

JOHANNESBURG, Nov 13 — For centuries, farmers like Berhanu Gudina have eked out a living in Ethiopia’s central lowlands, tending tiny plots of maize, wheat or barley amid the vastness of the lush green plains.

Now, they find themselves working cheek by jowl with high-tech commercial farms stretching over thousands of hectares tilled by state-of-the-art tractors — and owned and operated by foreigners.

Food: Is Monsanto the answer or the problem?

no_reply@themalaysianinsider.com (Zakiah) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 13:58:20 +0000

ST. LOUIS, Nov 12 — Norman Borlaug, the father of the Green Revolution of the 1960s and 1970s, had only months to live when he received a visit from an old friend, Rob Fraley, chief of technology for Monsanto Co.

Borlaug, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for his work increasing food production in starving areas of the globe, welcomed Fraley to his Dallas home, where the two men sipped coffee and tea and discussed a subject dear to their hearts: the future of agriculture and the latest challenges of feeding the human race.

Fraley, who first met Borlaug 20 years earlier, when they served as founding board members for an agricultural group that works with developing nations, said he showed his friend photos of new types of corn that Monsanto was developing. Using biotechnology and genetic transfers, Monsanto, the world’s largest seed company, hoped to create a corn variety that could grow well in dry conditions, even in drought-prone Africa, helping to alleviate hunger and poverty ? and fatten its bottom line.

Passions run high over Belgian bridge plan

no_reply@themalaysianinsider.com (George Sharaad) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 07:20:19 +0000

ANTWERP, Nov 12 — The Lange Wapper is a mischievous shape-shifting giant who in Flemish folklore taunts the people of Antwerp. So it was perhaps not the most fortunate choice of name for a planned major bridge for the city.

The 2.5 billion euro (RM12.6 billion) plan has support from many companies around Europe’s second largest port: Antwerp’s Chamber of Commerce says 95 per cent of its members back it. It would attract private capital in partnership.

But despite being touted by proponents as an opportunity to create a landmark for Antwerp to rival the likes of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge and Sydney’s Harbour Bridge, the plan to span the old harbour sits on a political faultline.

South Africans dream of World Cup bonanza

no_reply@themalaysianinsider.com (Len Pasqual) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 03:29:51 +0000

JOHANNESBURG, Nov 12 — From the opulent millionaires' row on Cape Town's beachfront to the modest homes of Soweto township, South Africans are dreaming of a bonanza of cash from next year's World Cup.

Some are preparing to move out of their homes in the hope of renting them to well-heeled visitors for a one-month flood of foreign cash.

Prices for some private apartments in Johannesburg and elsewhere have rocketed recently to three, four and even six times normal, even before most fans have decided where to stay.

In Singapore, nature reborn as art

no_reply@themalaysianinsider.com (Len Pasqual) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 02:27:46 +0000

By Sonia Kolesnikov Jessop

SINGAPORE, Nov 11 — From a distance, the patch of gray sunflowers glistening under the tropical sun in the middle of large grassy setting is arresting. A small note next to the plastic flowers explains that the art installation, by the Singaporean art collective Vertical Submarine, is a reference to Chien Swee-Teng’s poem about a sunflower plantation owner’s Faustian pact: He gives up his sense of colour for the success of his business.

Training doctors for ‘best in world’ care

no_reply@themalaysianinsider.com (Justin Ong) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:40:54 +0000

SINGAPORE, Nov 11 — On Saturday morning, oncologist John Wong saw what for him was a typical patient.

The 66-year-old woman had a history of three different cancers, on top of diabetes, high blood pressure and cholesterol, heart damage, asthma, osteoporosis and kidney problems.

Singapore’s ageing population means that he is treating more patients like her.

Boy who fled Vietnam War returns as US officer

no_reply@themalaysianinsider.com (Justin Ong) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 03:52:07 +0000

DANANG, Vietnam, Nov 10 — Commander HB Le, the first Vietnamese-American to command a United States Navy destroyer, had just stepped ashore on a formal port call, making an emotional return to Vietnam for the first time since he fled as a boy on a fishing boat at the end of the war in 1975.

A youthful and smiling man of 39, he bore on his shoulders the weight of the symbolism of cautiously warming military ties between Vietnam and the United States in the latest of fewer than a dozen naval port calls since 2003.