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28 Aug 2011 11:34

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World: Indian anti-corruption campaigner Anna Hazare’s starvation plan succeeds

It took twelve days of starvation, but he won his demands for an independent anti-corruption agency. His first post-strike nourishment? A cup of juice from a five-year-old girl. source

24 Feb 2011 13:02

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World: A bad time (or rather, several generations) to be North Korean

  • YES Kim Jong-Il parties while his people toil in starvation source
  • » Maybe not the biggest surprise. But still, guy’s an jerk, huh? An especially harsh winter season (most North Korean winters being merely normally harsh) has killed somewhere from 50% to 80% of the wheat and barley crop for the spring season, and high food prices have hamstrung the regime as far as import goes. While this might sound like a humanitarian crisis for most governments, Kim Jong-Il’s regime has always been pretty cozy with the idea of starvation and/or malnutrition – a 2009 Washington Post article mentions a U.S. intelligence study that found brain damage by malnutrition derails nearly 1/4th of prospective North Korean soldiers, to say nothing of the estimated 200,000 North Koreans who are wasting away in concentration camps. But, to be fair, you couldn’t ask the Dear Leader to stop spending on things like this.

26 Apr 2009 11:38

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World: Tamil Tigers: We want a cease-fire. Sri Lanka: No.

  • cease In response to a severely weakened position as well as for humanitarian reasons, the Tamil Tigers have asked for a unilateral cease-fire. “We are in full agreement that the humanitarian crisis can only be overcome by declaration of an immediate cease- fire,” the group said.
  • surrender Despite thousands of people suffering and criticism from the UN, the Sri Lankan military says the Tigers must surrender. “They were not fighting with us; they were running from us,” Sri Lankan defense secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa said, calling the cease-fire offer a “joke.” source