Top food prize goes to trio
who genetically modified crops


Three pioneers in the controversial field of genetically modified crops have won the prestigious World Food Prize, known as the Nobel Prize for agriculture. The award credits the technology they created with increasing the quantity and availability of food, and providing a tool to help meet the challenges of a growing population and a changing climate. But the selection has been criticized by those who say the benefits of modified foods remain to be seen.

In the 1970s, Belgian scientist Marc van Montagu discovered soil bacteria performing a kind of natural genetic engineering. Montagu says the bacteria insert a piece of their DNA into plant cells, which then produce chemicals that are good for the bacteria.

“Once we bacteria can insert DNA to give a new property to a plant, we were able to replace that part of the DNA with DNA that we want that gives new, useful properties to the plant,” van Montagu said.

Thus plant biotechnology was born. Mary-Dell Chilton and Rob Fraley produced the first genetically modified plants using that technology.

Fraley worked at Monsanto, where he is now chief technology officer.

“We were able to introduce genes that made it easier for farmers to control their weeds and to control insects, giving growers new tools,” Fraley said.

Fraley says those new tools let farmers grow more while using fewer or less toxic chemicals.

Farmers quickly embraced the new technology. They were first introduced in 1996. Today, about 12 percent of the entire world’s farmland grows crops that are genetically modified, according to the World Food Prize citation.

Mary-Dell Chilton is now principal scientist at Syngenta Biotechnology. She was amazed how quickly modified crops caught on.

“It really is astounding. And the reason for this acceptance is that the farmer has found that they work. They benefit him,” Ms. Chilton said.

Last year, a record 17.3 million farmers around the world grew genetically modified crops, and more than 90 percent of them were small-scale farmers in developing countries.

With the world expected to add another 2 billion people by 2050, demand for food and clothing will increase by at least 60 percent. 

And biotech crops will help, said U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, announcing the winners.

“It is simply true that biotechnology has dramatically increased crop yields. It has dramatically decreased loss due to pests and disease, and it allows us to feed more people without converting tropical forests or fragile lands in order to do so,” Kerry said.

But more than 15 years after the introduction of these crops, critics still question their safety. Senior scientist Doug Gurian-Sherman with the Union of Concerned Scientists says the technology could have benefits, but whether it will be critical for feeding the world remains to be seen.

“My understanding of the prize is you should be giving it to people that have shown major positive, unequivocally positive accomplishments in world agriculture. And I don’t see, so far, this technology being anywhere near that yet,” Gurian-Sherman said.

Gurian-Sherman says the technology has put too much control over the seed supply in the hands of a few companies like Monsanto and Syngenta - companies that he notes are sponsors of the World Food Prize.

The award will be presented at a ceremony in the midwestern U.S. state of Iowa in October.


FBI director says drones
are in use over United States


The director of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation says the agency is occasionally using drones over the U.S., but did not say what the purpose of the surveillance is.

The U.S. for years has used drones to monitor activity along its southern and northern borders. But at a congressional hearing Wednesday, FBI chief Robert Mueller said the agency is deploying drones over the U.S. for other purposes.

He described the domestic use of the drones as very, very minimal, very seldom. But he said the top U.S. criminal investigative agency is only in the initial stages of developing policies for when drones can be used.

"I will tell you that our footprint is very small. We have very few and of limited use, and we're exploring not only the use but also the necessary guidelines for that use."

As details of U.S. surveillance programs to thwart terrorists have emerged in recent weeks, some lawmakers have voiced staunch support for the government's monitoring of telephone records of Americans and Internet messages sent by foreign nationals. But some critics in Congress have also said that the monitoring has gone too far and is threatening the civil liberties and privacy of Americans.

Mueller said domestic use of the drones is "generally used in a particular incident where you need the capability," but did not indicate when such an occurrence might arise.



Obama urges reduction
in world's nuclear weaponry


U.S. President Barack Obama set forth his vision for advancing toward a world free of nuclear weapons in a speech Wednesday at the historic Brandenburg Gate in Berlin.

Obama said he will seek to reduce deployed nuclear weapons by up to a third and renew talks with Russia to "move beyond Cold War nuclear postures."

He said the cuts in nuclear weapons can be made while at the same time ensuring the security of the U.S. and its allies, and also maintaining "a strong and credible strategic deterrent."

The proposal would mean the United States and Russia would cut their number of strategic nuclear warheads by up to one third below the level they agreed to in the New START Treaty. That agreement, signed in 2010, calls for the two countries to reduce their arsenal to 1,550 deployed strategic warheads by 2018.

Shortly before Obama delivered his speech, Russian President Vladimir Putin was quoted as saying his government would not permit "disturbances to the system of strategic deterrence or a decrease in the effectiveness of Russia's nuclear forces."

Obama returned repeatedly throughout the speech to the theme of peace with justice, praising the free enterprise system as opposed to the kind of top down economic planning pursued by the Communist government of the former East Germany.

He warned Western countries not to turn inward or become"complacent after having won the Cold War, and said they must meet a number of challenges, including global warming, poverty and the spread of AIDS.

He also said he would redouble his efforts to close the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The Brandenburg Gate was the site of two notable addresses by former U.S. leaders. In 1963, president John F. Kennedy declared himself a citizen of a divided Berlin in his speech, and in 1987, president Ronald Reagan demanded that Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev tear down the Berlin Wall.

Before the address, Obama met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel for talks that covered, among other things, U.S. Internet surveillance. 

Ms. Merkel said that while enemies and opponents can use the Internet to threaten democracy, she had stressed to the U.S. president that there should be balance and proportionality between the need to monitor threats and to preserve a liberal order.

Obama called the U.S. Internet surveillance program circumscribed and narrow, insisting that U.S. intelligence agencies are not rifling through ordinary emails of German citizens or American citizens or anyone else and that the Internet and telephone surveillance programs are under federal court supervision.

This is Obama's first visit to Germany as president. He came to Berlin in 2008 as a presidential candidate, but was denied permission to make a speech at the Brandenburg Gate.


'Sopranos' lead,  Gandolfini,
reported to have died in Italy


U.S. film and television actor James Gandolfini, 51, who portrayed an emotionally vulnerable crime boss on the groundbreaking television drama "The Sopranos," has died.

Statements issued by the actor's managers and U.S. cable television network HBO, which aired the series from 1999 through 2007, says Gandolfini died while on vacation in Italy from a possible heart attack. 

Gandolfini won three Emmy Awards for playing Tony Soprano, the violent mobster undergoing psychiatric care in secret.

The New Jersey native's acting career began in 1992 when he starred in a Broadway revival of the classic Tennessee Williams play "A Streetcar Named Desire."  His breakthrough role came as a hit man in the 1993 movie "True Romance."

He went to star in such movies as "The Last Castle" with Robert Redford and "All the King's Men" with Sean Penn.  Last year, Gandolfini played CIA director Leon Panetta in the Osama Bin Laden manhunt movie "Zero Dark Thirty."

Tributes to Gandolfini have been pouring in over Twitter. 

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie mourned Gandolfini's death, calling the actor "a true Jersey guy."

Actress Olivia Wilde, who starred with Gandolfini the recent movie "The Incredible Burt Wonderstone," paid tribute to her co-star as a "kind, funny and wonderful guy."

Actor Steve Carell, who also appeared in the movie, said "What a great loss."

U.S. Sen. John McCain said Gandolfini was "one of the nicest guys I've ever met."


Call center in New York helps
immigrants learn their rights


While the United States Congress continues to wrestle with an immigration reform bill, every day more people become American citizens. In fact, last year the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service swore in almost 700,000 new citizens, including 84,000 in New York State.

The immigration bill is the big issue on the minds of those seeking information about citizenship.

The City University of New York’s call-in phone banks for immigrants draw thousands of inquiries. Volunteers from all walks of life, including brand- new citizens, man the lines, providing information to callers. 

People from many different cultures help answer the concerned immigrant callers.  

"I’m handling Spanish calls and Brazilian, too.  People who speak Portuguese. And we are handling calls from all over New York, but even from Idaho," said a volunteer.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg told the volunteers that this program is really doing something positive.

“This country needs more immigrants.  We’ve got to make sure that immigrants that are here get a chance to participate and build our country.  And Washington’s crazy in terms of trying to keep the very people out that built our country and are our future, so you’re helping a lot," said Bloomberg.

The program has had its impact.  One new citizen is Emma Dyer, who immigrated from Panamá.  She found out about the program on TV.

“Being a citizen, people know, your voice counts, you can make change. That piece of paper means to be a lot of things. Number 1, I can go to the airport - any airport - buy a ticket going to anywhere and coming back with no answer and no question because I have my passport," said Ms. Dyer.

The crowning achievement is that piece of paper.  Almost every week in New York City new citizens are sworn in.  This was a day of joy mixed with tears for 150 new citizens from 32 different countries, including Ghana, France and Venezuela.


World Banks seeks rollback
of global warming trend


Present warming trends could roll back decades of development and exacerbate poverty in some of the world’s poorest regions in South Asia, South East Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, according to a new World Bank study, which calls for urgent action to reverse global warming because the window for action is narrowing rapidly.
     
From declining food production to water shortages, more extreme heat waves to floods, the picture painted by the new World Bank report is grim.

The report called "Turn Down the Heat," follows up on an earlier study that found Earth could be warmer by two degrees centigrade in the space of one generation, and by four degrees by the end of this century, if action is not taken to reduce carbon emissions. Today's temperatures are 0.8 degrees centigrade above pre-industrial levels.
 
The report focuses on the impact of such warming in the regions that will be hardest hit: South Asia, South East Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.

It finds that, in Sub-Saharan Africa, warming by two degrees centigrade will significantly reduce crop yields, impacting food security. Loss of savanna grasslands will threaten pastoral livelihoods.

In South Asia, the monsoon will become unpredictable and the region could suffer more extreme droughts and floods. Water in major river basins such as the Indus and the Ganges will reduce further, impacting food security for some 63 million people. Coastal cities such as Kolkata and Mumbai and Bangladesh are “potential impact hotspots” threatened by floods due to rising river and sea levels.

Across South East Asia rising sea levels, more intense and tropical cyclones and loss of marine ecosystems will adversely impact rural livelihoods. The World Bank country director in India, says the impact of global warming will fall hardest on the poor.
 
“The real point to us is that the poor are even more vulnerable than the not so poor because they are simply less able to protect themselves," Onno Ruhl said. "That is the sad part of the story, the most vulnerable will be hit the most.”

The World Bank is urging individuals and governments to make all choices through a climate lens and work toward aggressive national carbon-emission-reduction targets.

Officials say individuals, for example, should buy the most energy efficient gadgets, instead of those that look the glossiest.

Ruhl says climate change is getting higher on their list of priorities of policy makers in India and other countries, but much more remains to be done.

“Most governments when you talk to them about it, they will recognize it is a problem.  When they make choices they do the same as we do with the refrigerator, they just buy whatever looks the glossiest," Ruhl said. "I think that is where the challenge is.”
 
The report calls for countries to take urgent action to build resilience through climate-smart agriculture, flood defenses, drought and heat resistant crops, improved ground water management, and coastal infrastructure.


Firms worldwide explore
protein extracted from bugs


French start-up company Ynsect has identified a cheap, nourishing and locally produced alternative to soybeans as a vital source of protein in animal feed. The clue is in its name.

Ynsect is not alone in looking to invertebrates to meet a jump in demand for meat and fish, and so for feed, in coming decades.

Black soldier flies, common housefly larvae, silkworms and yellow mealworms were named as among the most promising species for industrial feed output in a report last month by the United Nations food agency.

“Given insects' natural role as food for a number of farmed livestock species, it is worth reconsidering their role as feed for specific poultry and fish species,” the Food and Agriculture Organization's report said.

Jean-Gabriel Levon, co-founder of Ynsect, said new protein sources were essential in a market where costs are set to climb.

“Insects are an interesting source which can be bred locally,” said Levon. “We are in the same situation as oil, with resources getting scarcer and more expensive.”

According to the food agency, protein such as meat meal, fishmeal and soymeal make up 60 to 70 percent of the price of feed.

Soybean prices have more than doubled over the past decade due to soaring demand and fishmeal prices have also jumped.

The two-year-old company has been developing an insect-based meal that could make up five to 30 percent of feed products, according to Levon.

Ynsect, which has around 10 rivals globally, is now raising funds to build the first European insect meal production unit by 2014-2015. One well-heated part of the plant would breed insects and the other would crush them into powder.

It aims to focus on using flies and beetles and Levon says a great advantage is that they can eat just about anything - for example human food leftovers such as potato peelings.

Once crushed, co-products such as shells can be used in the pharmaceutical sector, for cosmetics and wastewater treatments.

What is more, insect droppings make great fertilizer.

“Insects drink very little water. Their droppings are very dry. They're like sand and have all the qualities needed for a classic fertilizers,” Levon said.

Stephane Radet, who heads France's animal feed industry lobby, said he was cautious, as the protein product would have to prove itself to feed makers and win public acceptance.

“For new material to enter the manufacturing chain, it has to meet four major criteria: safety, quality, competitiveness and acceptability in the food sector, processors and at the bottom of the chain, the consumer,” said Radet.

While another pioneering company, South Africa's AgriProtein Technologies, is rearing house flies and using insect flour for cattle feed, this is not allowed in the European Union where the mad cow disease crisis of the late 1990s has led to caution over the use of processed animal proteins.

Processed animal proteins  particularly when cattle were given bovine protein, were blamed for the bovine spongiform encephalopathy outbreak.

The European Commission has approved the use of processed animal proteins to feed fish from June 1, which includes insect meal. It may allow their use in pig and poultry feed from 2014, lifting a ban on animal by-products imposed during the mad cow outbreak.

The EU imports about 70 percent of its protein-rich material for animal feed. According to European Feed Manufacturer's Federation Fefac, Europe's market for processed animal feed is worth around 45 billion euros ($60 billion) a year.

Ynsect aims to start with fish feed, where insect-based meal could replace increasingly scarce fishmeal and fish oil.

According to the the Food and Agriculture Organization, fish farming is the fastest-growing animal food producing sector and will need to expand sustainably to keep up with increasing demand.

Trials on certain fish species showed that diets where up to 50 percent of fishmeal was replaced with grass hopper meal produced equally good results as fishmeal only, the Food and Agriculture Organization added.

A further step one day might be to rear insects for direct human consumption. The Food and Agriculture Organization said insects already feed more than two billion humans in Africa, Asia and South America.


Occupy film among others
at human rights festival


"Ninety-nine Percent," the Occupy Wall Street collaborative film, a portrait of the protest movement that began in 2011 in New York’s financial district, is one of the more unusual of 20 new offerings at this year’s Human Rights Watch Film Festival in New York. It was shot by teams around the United States, and anyone who wanted to participate could do so.

“We thought it was important to have as many viewpoints as possible,” said Nina Krstic, one of four co-directors with Aaron Aites, Audrey Ewell and Lucian Read. “There are veterans from Pittsburgh, students from Philadelphia, media people in New York, the San Francisco Occupation, Zuccotti Park, obviously,” she said. “These are regular people who have been affected by political, social and economic inequality. One goal of the film is to paint them as real people.”

Women’s rights, gay rights and disability rights are the subjects of more than half the films in the festival, co-presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center and IFC Center.  In Jeremy Teicher’s "Tall as the Baobab Tree," one of two feature films at the festival, a girl in Senegal tries to save her 11-year-old sister from being sold into marriage. "Salma," by British documentarian Kim Longinotto, is about the well-known Tamil writer of poetry and fiction who spent 25 years as a virtual prisoner, first in her parents’ home, and then in her husband’s. Her poems, smuggled to publishers with the aid of her mother, eventually led to her independence.

"Born This Way," by Shaun Kadlec and Deb Tullmann, explores the difficult lives of four young gay people in Cameroon, where there are more arrests for homosexuality than in any other country in the world. "In the Shadow of the Sun," by Harry Freeland, tells the stories of two Tanzanian men who face prejudice and even violence because of their albinism.

Two films from East Asia portray almost unimaginable horrors. "Camp 14 - Total Control Zone" by German documentarian Marc Wiese, is the story of Shin Dong Huyk, who was born and grew up inside a North Korean prison camp, where cruelty and near-starvation led even children and parents to betray each other. The film, which mixes a single long interview with animated scenes of Shin's life, garnered Wiese the Festival’s Nestor Almendros award for courage in filmmaking.

"The Act of Killing" by Joshua Oppenheimer revisits the never-prosecuted murders of up to 1 million leftists, ethnic Chinese and intellectuals in Indonesia in 1965 to1967 by death squads operating at the behest of then-General Suharto. Oppenheimer invited several of the killers, who still live openly in Indonesian society and call themselves gangsters after their Hollywood heroes, to reenact their crimes for the camera. This they proudly do, costuming themselves as drag queens, gangsters and cowboys in scenes of breathtaking surreality.

The 2013 Festival’s centerpiece film is Haitian-born director Raoul Peck’s "Fatal Assistance" about the failure of international aid in rebuilding Haiti after the 2010 earthquake. “It is an absolutely devastating film,” says festival director John Biaggi, that shows “how NGO money and money from the world community that go to all these different disasters are really the money is spent in a very haphazard, very unstructured way, and in some cases actually damaging to the population.”

Not all the films are bleak. A feature film from Serbia, "The Parade," by Srdjan Dragojevic, is a comedy about a group’s effort to hold a Gay Pride march in Belgrade, where authorities have previously banned such parades and participants are frequently attacked.