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Three weeks after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, the war is starting to have devastating effects not only on the ground, but in many countries that rely on Ukraine’s important wheat production. The United Nations has warned of a “hunger hurricane”, which is already starting to be felt in Northern Africa. FRANCE 24 takes a closer look. On March 14, the UN’s Secretary-General Antonio Guterres issued a stark warning about the wider threats of the war in Ukraine: world hunger. “We must do everything possible to avert a hurricane of hunger and a meltdown of the global food system,”...

Soaring energy and food prices triggered by Russia's invasion of Ukraine could exacerbate existing food security concerns in the Middle East and Africa, and may fuel growing social unrest, World Bank chief economist Carmen Reinhart said. Germany will host a virtual meeting of agriculture ministers from the Group of Seven (G7) advanced economies on Friday to discuss the impact of the invasion amid growing concerns about stabilizing food markets. "There will be important ramifications for the Middle East, for Africa, North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa, in particular," which had already been experiencing food insecurity, Reinhart told Reuters in an interview....

A plague of locusts that struck Africa hard has returned with a vengeance and like the archetypal plague in Egypt. Billions of young locusts are spreading out from their breeding grounds in Somalia, newly hatched after seasonal rains, eating more than the older insects that passed through already. A wave of locusts swept through East Africa last year but the current wave is estimated to be 20 times larger and is described as the worst in 70 years. This wave very much resembles the Biblical plague in this respect, coming as part of a wave of catastrophes that left the...

JERUSALEM — A plague of locusts considered “extremely alarming” is headed toward Africa and the Middle East but is likely to bypass Israel. ...The swarms represent “an unprecedented threat to food security,” according to the Locust Watch website. Among the countries expected to be the hardest hit are Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia, Iran, Pakistan and Sudan, according to the report.

The main threats are in East Africa and Yemen, as well the Gulf states, Iran, Pakistan and India. Most recently, locusts have been seen in the Democratic Republic of Congo and swarms have arrived in Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar and along the coast of Iran. According to reports, China is ready to send 100,000 ducks to its border to devour the insects, telling the birds were “biological weapons,” capable of eating more than 200 locusts a day (chickens can ‘only’ eat about 70 locusts in one day.

China could be facing a locust invasion, a government body warned on Monday, urging local authorities to prepare for the arrival of the voracious insects that are already in neighboring Pakistan and India.

A historic desert locust infestation in East Africa could cause the next major famine as people in the region are already struggling with hunger after droughts were followed by cyclone flooding, one of the world’s leading evangelical charities has warned. A growing spread of city-sized swarms of locusts has reached seven East African countries in recent months. The invasion has been described as something similar to an account from the book of Exodus as the grasshoppers have torn through crops, grass and other green vegetation. Experts say the crisis might be the result of exceptionally wet weather from rare cyclones...

A massive swarm of locusts plagued Mecca, Saudi Arabia, earlier this week, prompting authorities at Islam’s holiest site to launch a cleaning operation to remove them. Videos posted to social media showed the insects swarming around cleaners and worshipers in the city’s Grand Mosque, where millions of Muslim pilgrims congregate every year. “Specialized teams have been directed to work in the fight to eliminate these insects,” authorities in Mecca said, according to the Al-Araby Al-Jadeed news site. “We have harnessed all efforts available to speed up the eradication of the insects in the interest of the safety and comfort of...

Generally speaking, the Israelites of Christ’s time were frugal eaters. Frankly until about 100 years ago, frugality in eating was more imposed than chosen. The food was more scarce and less convenient than today. It’s availability was seasonable, and all the elements needed to be made from scratch, including hauling in the water from wells etc.Bread was the essential, basic food. So basic was it that in Hebrew “to eat bread” and “to have a meal” in the same thing. Bread was treated with great respect and many rules existed to preserve that reverence. Any crumbs of over the size...

Dogs and Locusts: Name-Calling Feud Between Hong Kongers and Mainlanders Ho Ai Li - Straits Times Indonesia | January 27, 2012 Beijing. A Peking University scholar angered Hong Kongers by comparing many of them to dogs. Now Hong Kongers are fighting back in a campaign against the mainlanders, whom they dub “locusts,” as a long simmering feud between the two sides threatens to boil over. Some Hong Kongers are raising funds for a newspaper advertisement against Chinese from the mainland, who have descended on the crowded former British territory in recent years, incurring the resentment of many locals. Members of...

The parents met in acting class in California?

China in major battle against locusts; hopes to prevent migration to Beijing BEIJING - More than 33,000 exterminators have been dispatched to battle a locust infestation in northern China. The official Xinhua news agency says officials hope the effort will prevent a potentially disastrous migration to the Beijing area during next month's Olympic Games. The insects, which devour crops, routinely plague Inner Mongolia, which is home to one-fifth of China's grasslands. Xinhua quotes one top agriculture official as saying China has launched a `full prevention plan' to prevent locust migration during the Games. Under the plan, some 200 tonnes of...

BEIJING (AFP) - Huge swarms of locusts have destroyed summer crops in northern and eastern China, forcing officials to take urgent measures to fight the plague, state media reported. Some one million hectares (2.47 million acres) of farmland in Inner Mongolia has been hit by massive infestations since late May, said Xinhua news agency. Drought in the region during May and June led to a shortage of natural food for locusts such as weeds and reeds, forcing the insects to turn to crops instead, it said. More huge swarms are rapidly chewing their way through summer crops on 12,000 hectares...

Most of the millions of red locusts that swarmed through Cairo had flown east by Thursday but the government announced that President Hosni Mubarak was still closely following the efforts to control the swarm that had invaded northern Egypt a day before. Locusts can eat up to two times their body weight a day, leaving crops like these bare

Washington, DC Concluding a 10-day tour of Senegal, Mauritania and Mali, Roger Winter, Assistant Administrator for the Bureau of Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance at the U.S. Agency for International Development, announced that the U.S. Government has approved $3.2 million in immediate assistance to protect crops and fight locust invasions in the region. The new funding will allow the dispatch of six aircraft, pesticides and logistical equipment as part of a regional approach to combat the locusts, and builds on the $3.6 million channeled earlier through the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and bilaterally with regional governments to...

Amber Alert Issued for 6 Year Old North Carolina Boy Posted: Saturday 12/13/03 8:34 PM CST The Locust North Carolina Police Department issued the Amber Alert after the boy went missing while playing with his dog on Saturday afternoon. Chance Smith went missing in Locust North Carolina on Saturday afternoon December 13. He is 6 yrs., 4', 45 lbs. with brown hair and eyes and a light complection. He was last seen wearing a camouflage jacket, a green toboggan, and mustard colored pants. Police are looking for a red truck, possibly a small pick up, seen in the area. Locust...