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May 2 Pakistanis are complaining of no electricity for long periods of time. They are complaining about their utility bills and about food prices that have affected their eating habits. There is concern that the judges whom Musharraf dismissed have not yet been restored. There is widespread disappointment with the new government. One Pakistani who was interviewed said that life is becoming unlivable. People are talking about emigrating.
May 2 Another exceptionally powerful wind disaster has occurred, this time a cyclone that has hit Burma.
May 3 An article in the May issue of Vanity Fair reports: "Monsanto already dominates America’s food chain with its genetically modified seeds. Now it has targeted milk production. Just as frightening as the corporation’s tactics–ruthless legal battles against small farmers–is its decades-long history of toxic contamination."
May 3 In Cuba, a law against owning a home computer has been lifted. In recent weeks, thousands of Cubans have been spending their savings on other previously banned goods, such as mobile telephones and DVD players.
May 4 In describing troublesome trends that distinguish the 21st century from the 20th, General Michael V. Hayden, director of the Central Intelligence Agency, puts exploding populations at the top of his list.
May 7 In Lebanon, rifle and grenade fire has broken out between opponents and supporters of the Western and Saudi backed government. Opponents are largely Hezbollah supporters. Driving the opponents are protests against rising feul and food prices.
May 7 In an English court of law, the People's Mujahedin of Iran (Mujahedin e-Kalq) has won removal from England's list of terrorist organizations. The organization is listed as a terrorist group by the European Union and the United States.
May 8 The government of Burma states that 22,000 have died as a result of the cyclone that struck on May 2. Estimates by other observors are that the dead will rise to more that 100,000. (Hurricane Katrina, which hit New Orleans in 2005, killed 1,836.) The cyclone has damaged much of Burma's rice growing region, putting more pressure on the food supply.
May 11 Rice production in Uganda has increased as a result of tariffs on imported rice. Rice prices in Uganda have improved, unlike elsewhere in the world. Ugandan importers have moved their investments into Ugandan rice growing. Importing rice from Pakistan, Vietnam and the United States had been inhibiting the development of Uganda's rice industry. (See G. Pascal Zachary, Foreign Policy magazine.)
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Copyright © 2008 by Frank E. Smitha. All rights reserved.
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