The New Economics of Hunger: In Chicago, Minneapolis and Kansas City, traders watched from the pits early last summer as wheat prices spiked amid mediocre harvests in the United States and Europe and signs of prolonged drought in Australia. But within a few weeks, the traders discerned an ominous snowball effect — one that would eventually bring down a prime minister in Haiti, make more children in Mauritania go to bed hungry, even cause American executives at Sam’s Club to restrict sales of large bags of rice. [Washington Post]
Philippines bans ‘transplant tourism’ : The Philippines has banned kidney donations in an attempt to end a booming industry in “transplant tourism” from developed countries including Britain. The move comes after the country was branded a transplant “hot spot” by health experts for selling some of the cheapest kidneys in the world. In 2006, 436 wealthy patients received kidneys from unrelated living donors. [Times]
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