World entering era of global food insecurity with malnutrition and obesity side by side within countries, says leading food expert

  Exclusive: A British team is to examine how factors such as climate change will distort global diets and health

STEVE CONNOR   SCIENCE EDITOR  Sunday 12 July 2015

The world is entering an era of global food insecurity which is already leading to the “double burden” of both obesity and malnutrition occurring side by side within countries and even within the same families, a leading food expert has warned.

It will become increasingly common to see obese parents in some developing countries raising underweight and stunted children because high-calorie food is cheaper and more readily available than the nutritious food needed for healthy growth, said Alan Dangour of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

  Angela’s Ashes: How Merkel Failed Greece and Europe

   Angela Merkel relishes her reputation as queen of Europe. But she hasn’t learned how to use her power, instead allowing a bad situation to heat up to the boiling point. Her inability to take unpopular stances badly exacerbated the Greek crisis.

By Peter Müller and René Pfister

Angela Merkel was already leaving for the weekend when she received the call that would change everything. The chancellor had just had a grueling day, spending all of it in meetings with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras — sometimes as part of a larger group, and others with only him and French President François Hollande.

They discussed debt restructuring and billions of euros in additional investments. When it comes to issues important to him, Tsipras can be exhaustingly stubborn. In the end, though, Merkel was left with the feeling the EU summit was the milestone that could quite possibly mark a turn for the better.

 Bangladesh completes garmet factory collapse probe

  Court set to decide whether to put building owners and several officials on trial for deaths of 1,200 workers in 2013.

28 Jun 2015 06:42 GMT

The investigation into the deadly collapse of a garment factory in Bangladesh in 2013 has been completed.

Nearly 1,200 garment workers were killed when the Rana Plaza building came crashing down.

A court is about to decide whether it will put the building owners and a number of government officials on trial.

Meanwhile, survivors recall their tragic experiences as they continue to suffer from their injuries and feel neglected.

Al Jazeera’s Maher Sattar reports from Dhaka.

 Charleston shootings: Emanuel AME church to reopen

   

BBC

The African-American church in which nine parishioners were shot dead in South Carolina is to reopen for services on Sunday.

Members of Emanuel AME church met again on Saturday in the room where their friends died on Wednesday.

Many more people are expected to attend the service at 09:00 (13:00 GMT).

Meanwhile, police are investigating an online post, possibly by the gunman, that appears to outline his motivation for the attack.

One of those who attended Saturday’s meeting, Harold Washington, said the church’s doors would be open to all on Sunday.

“We’re gonna have people come by that we’ve never seen before and will probably never see again, and that’s OK,” he said.

 Revealed: how the world turned its back on rape victims of Congo

    A year ago a global summit hosted by Angelina Jolie and William Hague vowed to end army sexual violence in Africa. But women are still threatened and funds are drying up

Mark Townsend in Minova

On an imposing hill above the town of Minova, at the end of a trail down which rivulets of rainwater run past tarpaulin-tented homes, a small women’s refuge can be found.

Here, groups of women silently till the land. Others stare warily over Lake Kivu towards the distant mountains, waiting for news of the fighting.

Three years have passed since a column of Congolese soldiers entered Minova after being defeated and ousted by M23 rebels from the nearby city of Goma. Many were drunk, firing their guns in frustration towards the sky, but mostly they were humiliated. Over the next three days they took their defeat out on the women and girls of Minova.

 Fifa corruption: Documents show details of Jack Warner ‘bribes’

   

 By Ed Thomas BBC News, Trinidad

A BBC investigation has seen evidence that details what happened to the $10m sent from Fifa to accounts controlled by former vice-president Jack Warner.

The money, sent on behalf of South Africa, was meant to be used for its Caribbean diaspora legacy programme.

But documents suggest Mr Warner used the payment for cash withdrawals, personal loans and to launder money.

The 72-year-old, who has been indicted by the FBI for corruption, denies all claims of wrongdoing.

 Kansas college student killed in mosque attack called a ‘hero

   

By Kevin Conlon and Greg Botelho, CNN

He was a Kansas college student who had returned home in order to get married.

And then after that, Abduljaleel Alarbash planned to leave Saudi Arabia and head back to Wichita State University, where the electrical engineering major was an honor roll student.

It appeared like it was nothing but good times ahead for “Jalil,” as his college buddies called him.

Until Friday, when the 22-year-old’s life was cut short by a suicide bomber outside of a mosque in Dammam in eastern Saudi Arabia.

ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack, its second on a Shiite mosque in as many weeks.

The blast also killed Jalil’s brother, Mohammed, and their cousin, Alarbash’s father, speaking in Arabic, said in a video posted Saturday.

 Church in Ireland needs ‘reality check’ after gay marriage vote

   

BBC

One of Ireland’s most senior Catholic clerics has called for the Church to take a “reality check” following the country’s overwhelming vote in favour of same-sex marriage.

The first gay marriages are now likely to take place in the early autumn.

Diarmuid Martin, the archbishop of Dublin, said the Church in Ireland needed to reconnect with young people.

The referendum found 62% were in favour of changing the constitution to allow gay and lesbian couples to marry.

 China Making Some Missiles More Powerful

   

By DAVID E. SANGER and WILLIAM J. BROAD

After decades of maintaining a minimal nuclear force, China has re-engineered many of its long-range ballistic missiles to carry multiple warheads, a step that federal officials and policy analysts say appears designed to give pause to the United States as it prepares to deploy more robust missile defenses in the Pacific.

What makes China’s decision particularly notable is that the technology of miniaturizing warheads and putting three or more atop a single missile has been in Chinese hands for decades. But a succession of Chinese leaders deliberately let it sit unused; they were not interested in getting into the kind of arms race that characterized the Cold War nuclear competition between the United States and the Soviet Union.

 Air strikes target ex-Yemen president Saleh’s residence

    Former leader and his family believed to be safe after fresh attacks as Houthi rebels hint at ceasefire.

10 May 2015 06:14 GMT

Warplanes from the coalition led by Saudi Arabia has bombed the residence of Ali Abdullah Saleh in the capital, Sanaa, but Yemen’s former president is believed to be safe, witnesses have said.

Three air strikes hit Saleh’s residence early on Sunday morning, but the president and his family are “well”, Yemeni news agency Khabar said, according to the Reuters news agency.

Plumes of smoke were seen rising from the area in the latest strike in Sanaa following a night of intensive air raids against rebel positions after rebels shelled Saudi border town on Thursday.