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Food Price Index hit record high in February, UN agency reports


UN News
Sat, 05 Mar 2022 00:00 UTC
Cows
© Unsplash/Jo-Anne McArthurDairy cows in Taiwan
The Food Price Index, which tracks the international prices of a items such as vegetable oils and dairy products, averaged 140.7 points last month, or nearly four per cent up from January. This is also 24.1 per cent over the level a year earlier and 3.1 points higher than in February 2011.

Factors behind food inflation

FAO economist Upali Galketi Aratchilage had this to say:
"Concerns over crop conditions and adequate export availabilities explain only a part of the current global food price increases. A much bigger push for food price inflation comes from outside food production, particularly the energy, fertilizer and feed sectors. All these factors tend to squeeze profit margins of food producers, discouraging them from investing and expanding production."
As the Food Price Index measures average prices over the month, the February reading only partly incorporates market effects stemming from the conflict in Ukraine.

Comment: The omen of things to come...prices up, commodities down.

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Oil Well

Energy Crisis in Europe worsens as natural gas prices double in a week

Julianne Geiger
Oilprice.com
Fri, 04 Mar 2022 11:30 UTC
pipeline
© Getty ImagesNatural Gas
Europe may have dodged the bullet of gas outages for this winter, but surging prices for natural gas in Europe is quickly becoming a worrisome signal for the EU economy.

The front month gas price at the Dutch TTF hub, the benchmark gas price for Europe, has doubled just this week alone, and now sits at $204.32 per MWh as Russian gas supply fears continue to grip the market.

On Thursday, prices were trading at $221 per MWh, which was a new all-time high.

The higher prices come not only as Russia invades Ukraine, but after reports that the flow of Russian gas through the Yamal pipeline had stopped, and as pressures mount on world governments to cease all energy trading with Moscow in light of the invasion.

Comment: These scares and scarcities should propel nations to come to common sense and cooperation.

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Handcuffs

Florida cop-killer given death sentence, previously given just a life sentence for murder of pregnant ex-girlfriend


Law Officer
Sun, 06 Mar 2022 20:25 UTC
Markeith Loyd
Markeith Loyd was arrested in January 2017 after more than a month on the run.
A man convicted of murdering his pregnant ex-girlfriend and then gunning down and executing a police officer while he was on the run was given the death sentence by a judge on Thursday, according to a reports.

In November 2021, Markeith Loyd, 46, was found guilty for the January 2017 murder of Lt. Debra Clayton of the Orlando Police Department. The jury unanimously recommended a death sentence during a hearing in December.

Consequently, Circuit Judge Leticia Marques announced her decision to sentence Loyd to death during a brief hearing Thursday morning, WTOP News reported.

Loyd reportedly went on one of his typical rants as he was escorted from the courtroom following the sentencing, a room filled with many of Clayton's peers.

Comment: It's notable that when found guilty of murdering his pregnant ex-girlfriend he received a life sentence, but following the conviction of murdering a cop he gets the death penalty.

See also:

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Ambulance

Red Cross calls on Russia and Ukraine to agree on civilian corridors after Ukraine forces renege on first agreement, threaten evacuees


RT
Sun, 06 Mar 2022 19:52 UTC
Evacuation bus Ukraine
© Janek Skarzynski/AFPUkrainian refugees from Mariupol arrive at the Polish-Ukrainian border, February 26, 2022.
A second attempt to set up a humanitarian corridor allowing residents of Mariupol and Volnovakha to safely escape the fighting in Ukraine has failed, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) revealed on Sunday.

The Russian Defense Ministry had declared a temporary cease-fire on Saturday morning in order to allow some 200,000 residents of Mariupol, along with 15,000 from Volnovakha, safe passage. That effort collapsed as officials in Mariupol accused Russia of shelling the city, while Moscow accused Ukrainian "nationalists" of not allowing the civilians to leave the cities and using them as human shields.

Comment: Russia tries again:
The Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) said that a safe passage from the surrounded Azov Sea port city of Mariupol and the nearby Volnovakha was opened on Sunday morning.

The DPR, which broke off from Ukraine shortly after the 2014 coup in Kiev, claims Mariupol as its territory. However, for the last eight years, the city has been controlled by Ukraine. It is now surrounded by DPR fighters backed by Russian troops.

The temporary ceasefire will only cover the stated areas and will not be applied elsewhere, DPR military spokesman Eduard Basurin warned. Basurin later claimed that the Ukrainian side refused to "guarantee" the observation of a ceasefire in Mariupol and Volnovakha.

Mariupol officials confirmed that the evacuation of civilians was scheduled to start at noon. The ceasefire will last from 10am to 9pm local time, they said.

The statement came after a failed attempt to organize a similar evacuation from the besieged cities on Saturday. At the time, Russia and Ukraine agreed on a local ceasefire and several safe routes. However, Mariupol officials later called off the plan after accusing Russia of shelling of the city.

The Russian Defense Ministry, meanwhile, claimed that Ukrainian "nationalists" were preventing civilians from leaving. RT was unable to independently verify the situation on the ground.


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Attention

The New York Times' disgraceful and deceitful attack on RFK Jr

Edward Curtin
Off-Guardian
Sun, 06 Mar 2022 19:29 UTC
RFK JR
© Off-Guardian
The New York Times, floundering in the deep waters of truth and desperately trying to stay afloat in the shallows by continuing its history of lying for its CIA masters, has just published a front page of propaganda worthy of the finest house organs of totalitarian regimes.

Right below its February 26, 2022 headline denouncing Russia and Putin as evil dogs pursuant to the American empire's dictates concerning Ukraine, it posts an unflattering photo of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. sandwiched between American flags with the title of its hit piece, "A Kennedy's Crusade Against Covid Vaccines Anguishes Family and Friends."

It's an exquisite juxtaposition: Putin as Hitler and Kennedy as a junior demon, suggestive of the relationship between CS Lewis's Screwtape and his nephew Wormwood in The Screwtape Letters. Evil personified.

The Times is big into anguish these days, not only for Nazis in Ukraine and upper-class apartment hunters who can't find a place for less than a few million, but for Robert Kennedy Jr's family and friends. It's very touching.

That his sister, Kerry Kennedy, would harshly criticize him once again is genuinely pathetic, but of course she has to add how much she loves him, ostensibly to take the sting out of her inability to remain sisterly silent.

If he is so wrong about his work with Children's Health Defense and his book, The Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health, rather than ripping him to the press, why doesn't she or her siblings, who agree with her, write a comprehensive article or book refuting his facts?

They don't because they can't; so the next best thing is to criticize their brother to media glad for any way to disparage the Kennedys. One senses a very weird masochistic family dynamic at work.
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Cut

New York Metropolitan Opera says it will fire Russian artists if they don't denounce Putin - UPDATE: Met fires Anna Netrebko

Javier C. Hernandez
The New York Times
Sun, 27 Feb 2022 07:18 UTC
Metropolitan Opera
© WireAPMetropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center
The Metropolitan Opera said on Sunday that it would no longer engage with performers or other institutions that have voiced support for President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, becoming the latest cultural organization to seek to distance itself from some Russian artists amid Mr. Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

Peter Gelb, the Met's general manager, said that the Met, which has long employed Russians as top singers and has a producing partnership with the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, had an obligation to show support for the people of Ukraine. Gelb, in a video statement, said:
"While we believe strongly in the warm friendship and cultural exchange that has long existed between the artists and artistic institutions of Russia and the United States, we can no longer engage with artists or institutions that support Putin or are supported by him. The policy would be in effect until the invasion and killing has been stopped, order has been restored, and restitutions have been made."
The Met's decision could affect artists like the superstar soprano Anna Netrebko, who has ties to Mr. Putin and was once pictured holding a flag used by some Russian-backed separatist groups in Ukraine. Ms. Netrebko is scheduled to appear at the Met in Puccini's Turandot beginning on April 30.

Comment: Driven by Western propaganda, the directives are a sad commentary on The Arts.

See also: The purge: Russian conductor told to publicly denounce Putin or lose job

Update 6 March 2022

The Met Opera has fired Anna Netrebko who - despite denouncing Russia's invasion of Ukraine, a number of times, on her Instagram account - failed to explicitly denounce Putin by name, an offense that saw her summarily canceled by the vanguard of the West's Great Leap Forward.

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X

PayPal suspends services in Russia over Ukraine invasion

Leonardo Briceno
The Post Millennial
Sun, 06 Mar 2022 05:01 UTC
PayPal
Russians increasingly find themselves pinned between a growing list of services they cannot use and a shrinking number of ways to access markets that are still open to them. PayPal, the US-based payment exchange app, became the most recent company to suspend its services in Russia in opposition to Russian hostilities in Ukraine. PayPal joins a handful of companies such as Apple, Samsung, Warner Brothers, Exon, Shell, IKEA, Nike, among others.

Dan Schulman, the chief executive of the company, made the direction public on Saturday morning: "Under the current circumstances, we are suspending PayPal services in Russia," Schulman told outlets. "[Paypal] stands with the international community in condemning Russia's violent military aggression in Ukraine."

An unprecedented number of private-sector companies have decided to shun Russian markets following Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of the country of Ukraine. The decision of these individual corporations has placed unexpected pressure on the Russian leader to stifle his aggressions as the economic fallout — from the state and private level — continues to mount.


Comment: Considering how long they've been keeping an eye on things, it is hardly 'unexpected'.


Comment: As with all these other sanctions and boycotts, they only serve to hurt the everyday person.

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Arrow Up

Best of the Web: FAO report: World food prices hit record in February


teleSUR
Sat, 05 Mar 2022 11:53 UTC
shopping cart groceries
© Twitter @pnagovphThe Food and Agriculture Organization said its food price index averaged 140.7 points in February, up 3.9% from January - a significant increase of 24.1% from a year ago.
In the second month of the year, the price index averaged 3.9 percent higher than in January and 24.1 percent above its level a year ago, which represented a new all-time high, the FAO said.

World food prices reached a record in February, driven by vegetable oils and dairy products, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) reported.

In the second month of the year, the price index averaged 3.9 percent higher than in January and 24.1 percent above its level a year ago, which represented a new all-time high, the FAO said.

In that same month there was also a rise in the prices of cereals and meat, while the sub-index of sugar values ​​fell for the third consecutive month.

According to the monthly report of the UN specialized agency, this indicator in cereals averaged three percent more than in the previous month and 14.8 percent higher than the same period a year ago.

Comment: See also:

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Cult

Best of the Web: Western cancel culture has gone nuclear in targeting an entire country

Rachel Marsden
RT
Sat, 05 Mar 2022 18:53 UTC
man dogs dog show
© Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty ImagesAn exhibitor at the Crufts Dog Show rests with his German Shorthaired Pointers
The West doesn't seem to have considered the campaign's collateral damage, or how persecution could be expected to promote peace

By now, we're all used to righteous people pitching fits and ganging up, mean-girl style, on those they feel have committed transgressions against the status quo. But amid the conflict in Ukraine, some are actually trying to deplatform the world's largest country by attacking anyone and anything even remotely associated with it.

Back in 2003, in the run-up to the Iraq War, when I was working in Washington, DC as the director of a think tank associated with the George W. Bush administration, I recall the moment when "French fries" were suddenly renamed "freedom fries" in the Congressional cafeteria. It was an attempt by the Republicans to stick it to the French, who had opposed the invasion of Iraq.

French products were also subsequently boycotted over Paris' refusal to support the US invasion, but such measures are almost quaint and sensible compared to the utter hysterical lunacy that's transpiring today, as Russia and NATO member countries face off over Ukraine.
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Heart - Black

Russia lashes out at 'illegal' Beijing Paralympics ban


RT
Thu, 03 Mar 2022 10:21 UTC
Andrew Parsons
© Getty ImagesAndrew Parsons
In a stunning reversal, Russian and Belarusian athletes have been banned from the Winter Paralympic Games for their countries' roles in the war in Ukraine, the International Paralympic Committee said Thursday in Beijing.

The about-face comes less than 24 hours after the IPC on Wednesday announced it would allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete when the Games open on Friday, but only as neutral athletes with colors, flags and other national symbols removed.

The IPC received immediate criticism for its initial decision. It was termed a betrayal that sent the wrong message to Russia's leadership. The IPC also said it was evident that many athletes would refuse to compete against Russians or Belarusians, creating chaos for the Paralympics and damaging the reputation.

Comment: The pile on has begun as other sports organizations join the exodus, letting politics and perceptions guide their decisions:
The ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes from the Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympics is "illegal" and violates the principle of separating sport from politics, Russian officials have said.

IPC President Andrew Parsons:
"At the IPC we are very firm believers that sport and politics should not mix. However, by no fault of its own the war [in Ukraine] has now come to these Games and behind the scenes many governments are having an influence on our cherished event."
In a strongly-worded statement, the RPC said the organization and Russian athletes were being seen as culprits, when in reality they have done
"nothing that could in any way be interpreted as participating in the current political complications. On the contrary, in full accordance with the decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), the RPC removed from its governing bodies any persons who had any relation to political structures.

"In this regard, the RPC considers the decision of the IPC illegal and reserves the right to defend the rights and interests of Russian Paralympic athletes in sports and other judicial instances.

"Of course, the RPC will continue to work on the development of domestic physical culture and sports among people with disabilities and the creation of all necessary conditions for this."
Reacting to the Paralympic ban, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called it
"horrible. This is a shame for the International Paralympic Committee. I can't say otherwise. Yesterday, one decision was made, today this decision was changed, so, of course, we strongly condemn the International Paralympic Committee."
Russian State Duma Deputy Boris Paykin, who is a member of the Committee on Physical Culture and Sport, said the country could organize its own event for Paralympic athletes.
"These days we are no longer surprised that politics has taken over sport and its most important principles. But the decision of the International Paralympic Committee, which only yesterday announced that Russians and Belarusians will be able to take part in the Beijing Games, but today in a cowardly way and under obvious pressure, is changing its position - this is the height of cynicism and double standards.

"Our Paralympic athletes are people of special courage, they have enough inner strength not only to overcome illnesses, but also to realize their potential in the sports arena... I think that for Belarusian and Russian athletes we should organize a sports festival here, in Russia."
https://www.rt.com/sport/551125-russia-response-paralympic-ban/
But wait...there's more:
Video game giant EA Sports has removed Russian teams from its popular FIFA video game series, the company has confirmed.

Football governing bodies FIFA and UEFA are among the organizations to follow the IOC's calls, and Russia's sporting exclusion has now been extended to video games.


"EA Sports has initiated processes to remove the Russian national team and all Russian clubs from EA Sports FIFA products including: FIFA 22, FIFA Mobile and FIFA Online. We're also actively evaluating related changes to other areas of our games. We will keep our communities up to date on any actions taken, and thank players for their patience as we work through these updates."

Formula 1 falls in line:
Days after it was revealed that this season's Sochi Grand Prix was to be shelved following Russia's conflict in Ukraine, Formula 1 chiefs have announced that they have terminated their contract in Russia after determining that racing in the country is no longer viable.

The Russian Grand Prix was due to move to St. Petersburg in 2023, with this no longer happening despite it reportedly being one of the most financially lucrative races on the F1 annual calendar.

Russian President Vladimir Putin was key in establishing the race in 2014 in Sochi after the Winter Olympic Games were held in the region, but the decision means that F1 will now leave Russia for an indeterminate period.

The decision comes shortly after the FIA announced that it would continue to allow Russian drivers to compete in global motorsports, and represents a rare difference of opinion between Formula 1 and its governing body. Russian drivers such as Haas' Nikita Mazepin will be forced to race under a neutral flag.

It also comes days after the UK's national motorsport authority announced a ban on all Russian drivers.

However, this week the IOC - to which the FIA has official links - introduced a wave of new measures to punish Russian and Belarusian athletes, saying on Tuesday that
"event organizers not invite or allow the participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes and officials in international competitions... in order to protect the integrity of global sports competitions and for the safety of all participants."
Olympic champion cites 'gross hypocrisy' of sports federations:
Kabaeva
© Visual China Group/Getty ImagesOlympic Champion Alina Kabaeva
The sweeping sanctions being placed on Russian athletes amounts to the "most disgraceful page in the history of world sports," former rhythmic gymnastics Olympic champion Alina Kabaeva has said.

Governing sports federations from football to canoeing have since heeded that call by either suspending athletes from the two countries altogether or insisting that they compete as neutrals.

Former Olympic rhythmic gymnastics all-around gold medalist Kabaeva described the situation as shameful, as she hit out at the measures and questioned why Russians were being punished for a military conflict when athletes from other nations had escaped anything similar in past years. The nine-time world champion told TASS;
"I believe there has never been a more disgraceful page in the history of world sports. The leadership of many international sports organizations has long been engaged in completely unsportsmanlike affairs under various pretexts. Now it is no longer hidden."


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