Worldwide there are 170 million children under 5 years whose development is affected by malnutrition. In Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, Peru and Nigeria (countries hosting half of malnourished children in the world), rising prices for food compel parents to reduce food rations for their children already affected by famine.

The report A Life Free from Hunger ( A life without hunger ), that address malnutrition globally, one third of parents surveyed said their children complain that not enough food. One in six parents can not afford to buy meat, milk or vegetables. This explains why six out of ten children in Afghanistan do not get enough food to avoid problems of normal growth slowdown.

The report notes that, unless measures are taken in the next 15 years half a billion children have physical and mental problems of hunger. In the last five years, food prices increased worldwide due to extreme weather conditions, food speculative transactions, the use of arable land for crops for the production of biofuels and the global financial crisis. The most serious is that those most affected are poor people whose income is not large enough to buy necessary food.

25% of parents of the investigated states were forced to cut food rations for the family, and one in six parents were forced to withdraw their children from schools to send them to work. Food prices in Afghanistan increased by 25% in 2011 and 40 percent in Kenya. In India, half the children have growth problems due to malnutrition.

Save the Children campaign describes malnutrition as a “silent killer” because often, it is not registered as a certified cause of death, which leads to a lack of action by the world. If we intervene early, problems of physical and mental slowing, due to malnutrition, can be directed.

At 7 months, Mohammed Jan, a boy in northern Afghanistan, was only half the weight of an ordinary child. Fortunately, he was taken by a volunteer and sent to hospital Khulm near Mazar-e-Sharif, but it is an isolated case. Many children in similar situations fail to survive.

Although one third of children die from malnutrition, the problem is not as well publicized as AIDS or malaria. In the past 11 years, malaria deaths fell by one third, while cases of malnutrition in Africa fell by only 0.3 percent per year.

More than 30,000 children in Afghanistan die annually from malnutrition. However, most children affected by this problem, almost 85% of them do not die, but neither can develop normally.

From an economic perspective, malnutrition affects developing countries in transition. Bank estimates that malnutrition reduces World GDP in developing countries two to three percent, since these children have problems that make them have an IQ of 15 points lower than other children.

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta ordered further investigation into the case of some members of the U.S. Marines in Afghanistan to take pictures with the background of a flag bearing the Nazi SS.
Head of the U.S. Marine Corps, James Amos, apologized for the photo pose immortalized in 2010 in southern Afghanistan. He confirmed that it will take disciplinary action against them. It guarantees not likely to recur.
A preliminary investigation concluded the Marine Corps, pose photographs that happens because of a lack of understanding about the history of black soldiers Nazi SS troops and the lack of discipline.
Photo sparked outrage after loaded and spread on the internet. Various community groups called for the investigation of this case, because it was feared the influence of Nazi ideology in the U.S. armed forces.

An independent watchdog group concerned with issues of discrimination in the body of the U.S. armed forces, concerned about the image. ”In the picture they look proudly posing with Nazi SS emblem, which symbolizes the evil ideology of Hitler fascism,” said the chairman of the group, Michael Weinstein.
The photo shows ten members of the U.S. Marines, a full uniform, posing flanked by U.S. flags on it and there is a dark blue banner in which there is writing two letters S similar images “lightning”.
Image is then regarded as a symbol of Schutzstaffel (commonly abbreviated as SS), the name for the Nazi paramilitary group that was instrumental in the practice of violence, such as the Holocaust, during World War II.
The first time the case is sticking to the surface, a spokesman for the Marine Sergeant Mark Oliva said, “they do not realize that they associate themselves with something that is racist, fascist”.
“They see that SS stands for ’scout sniper’ than Nazi-related symbols,” said Oliva. Furthermore, Oliva said, it’s time to educate members of the Marines to know “the history of the Nazi” and “the power of a symbol”

This was confirmed by a spokesman for the U.S. unit, Lieutenant Colonel Stewart Upton on Thursday in San Diego. The Marine Corps had dealt with the problem. The soldiers who were seen on the photo circulating on the Internet were no longer on the unit. The photo was taken in September 2010 in the Afghan province of Afghanistan.
Supposedly a symbol of “Scout Snipers”

The uproar forced the Marine Corps to further limit the damage. The use of the symbol was “not acceptable”, it was said in a statement. The soldiers were loud but 20min.ch not punished because it had simply been a “naive mistake”. The SS symbol stands for “Scout Sniper”, a sniper unit of the Marine Corps.

Furthermore, take the recent outcry in the Maldives where incumbent President Nasheed was forced to resign by gunpoint.  The follow-up and ascension of the Vice President was constitutionally sound; hence, internal manipulation and a legitimization of an effective coup.  What we have in cases such as these is an emerging trend toward hypodermic democracies; democracies by title and manipulation, but not by actual nature; a fact further complicated in that no reliable model for a democracy exists, no way to effectively export one exists, as seen in Afghanistan and Iraq, and democracy, and, arguably, in its finest form it’s nothing more than political utopianism.   Yet as Twain illustrates- “democracy is bludgeoning of the people, for the people, by the people.” A transparent, actual participatory democracy in these times would devolve into dystopia.    

Hypodermic democracies are further aggravated and induced by lofty concepts like national identity, which are entirely artificial to begin with.  The irony is that national identity, which is considered a solvent for conflict, has actually become a rallying cry for militants and armed groups, i.e. Somalia.  Militants use the concept of national identity to further entrench their movements and portray them, not as seditious or factional, but as an alternative form of national identity to that imposed on the populace by external authorities, i.e. the UN, attempting to solidify borders and keep peace. 

Combined, it’s all a bloody mess.  Democracy, national identity, and other political taglines used as objectives in stabilizing Afghanistan and Iraq totally backfired.  Democracy is a non-tradition, national identity is irrelevant, and now, through reform attempts, both have become further utilities for despotic groups to justify either their regimes or quarreling.  The solution is to begin a global approach that doesn’t attempt to recreate antique concepts or powder up abstract macro-ideals, but focus on the actual: human identity and basic needs.  All else is without measurement by default. 

“The unfortunate and untimely death of Brigadier General Hildner was a shock to our unit and Families,” Col. Knowles Atchison, 13th ESC rear commander, said in a statement posted on the Foot Hood website. “Both forward deployed elements and we at home station are deeply saddened by this loss. We will all pull together through this difficult period and care for one another.”

The circumstances surrounding his death are under investigation, the statement said.

Afghanistan (Photo credit: The U.S. Army)

Hildner graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1984 and attended the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College in 1997. A Connecticut native, he listed his home in Fairfax, Virginia.

In 2003, Hildner assumed command of the 13th Corps Support Command’s Special Troops Battalion at Fort Hood. That battalion conducted two operational deployments during his years in command — the first in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, the second in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Previously, Hildner served in Iraq during Operation Desert Storm and participated in the last U.S. patrol along the East-West German border before its reunification.

    Scientists from the   National Physical Laboratory were used for the first electron microscope to analyze Viking sword. Much to their surprise, the findings indicate that Viking warriors imported their best steel for swords in Afghanistan.

   ”Manufacture of Viking swords were very important,” said Dr. Alan Willliams, an archaeologist at the Wallace Collection, London which houses a museum of art objects made ​​of various metals. ”In their travels, the Vikings were forced to find new methods and improve technology manufacturing swords, but until now, the source material was a mystery to us. Laboratory results confirm for the first time that those materials were brought by the Vikings in the Middle East and the Baltic area, bringing new valuable information about trade routes in use in the eleventh century, 

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, speaking on Wednesday, said the United States would stop combat operations before the end of 2013 as it winds down its longest war.

“A decision to push this a year earlier throws out the whole transition plan. The transition has been planned against a timetable and this makes us rush all our preparations,” a senior Afghan security official, who could not be named because he was not authorized to speak on the matter, told Reuters on Thursday.

“If the Americans withdraw from combat, it will certainly have an effect on our readiness and training, and on equipping the police force,” the official said, adding that his government had not been informed of the change in plans.

The United States, which led the NATO invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, has previously said it would withdraw most combat troops by the end of 2014.

Panetta said the U.S. troops would shift next year to a supporting role, training and advising Afghan troops who would take charge of a country that has been at war for more than three decades.

A faster end to U.S. combat in Afghanistan could give Obama an election-year lift.

The announcement immediately drew criticism from Obama’s most likely opponent in this year’s race for the White House, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

“Why (in) the world do you go to the people that you’re fighting with and tell them the day you’re pulling out your troops? It makes absolutely no sense,” Romney told a rally.

Panetta has also been criticized by some lawmakers for moving too swiftly to extract U.S. troops.

“Our goal is to complete all of that transition in 2013 and then hopefully by mid- to the latter part of 2013 we’ll be able to make a transition from a combat role to a training, advise-and-assist role,” Panetta told reporters on his plane to Brussels for a NATO defense ministers’ meeting.

The announcement came as allies like France are themselves looking for a quick exit from Afghanistan. French President Nicolas Sarkozy, facing a tough re-election campaign of his own, announced he would pull out French troops by the end of next year.

He urged other members of the North Atlantic alliance to do the same, threatening to upend a well-settled strategy approved at a summit in Lisbon two years ago that calls for the transition to Afghan security leadership by the end of 2014.

The United States has been trying to draw the Taliban into reconciliation talks with the Afghan government of President Hamid Karzai. But a key part of its strategy has been to increase military pressure on the Taliban to persuade it to join peace talks.

TALIBAN CONFIDENT ON CONTROL

In a classified report obtained by British media, NATO said that the Taliban, backed by Pakistan, remained confident despite a decade of NATO efforts that it would retake control of Afghanistan.

“Taliban commanders, along with rank and file members, increasingly believe their control of Afghanistan is inevitable. Though the Taliban suffered severely in 2011, its strength, motivation, funding and tactical proficiency remains intact,” according to an excerpt of the report, published by the Times of London and the BBC.

Panetta insisted that the new timetable was in line with a previous NATO strategy agreed in Lisbon.

“In the Lisbon discussions, it was always clear that there would come a point which we would make that transition and then be able to hopefully consolidate those gains in 2014,” he said.

“So the bottom line is: No, this isn’t a new strategy. It’s basically implementing what Lisbon is all about.”

He said his key message to the NATO allies as they meet on Thursday and Friday to prepare for a Chicago summit in May was that the coalition in Afghanistan needed to unite behind the goals agreed on in Lisbon.

Image via Wikipedia

Image via Wikipedia

“Apache helicopter and Bradley vehicles also use this projectile in the gun,” he said. Activists also noted that 62.7 percent of the population of Afghanistan have been targeted by a dangerous radioactive ammunition. Miraki explained that a group of researchers collected urine samples from the population of Afghanistan and found uranium isotopes in their urine which was about 300 percent to 2000 percent higher than normal levels. He further said that many people in Afghanistan have been identified with a strange disease that is different. Diseases such as skin disease, sudden death, spontaneous abortion among women as well as permanent disability and cancer.

He also said the U.S. used depleted uranium weapons, means the country is against international law and U.S. law itself. Meanwhile, U.S. officials criticized Miraki and puppet President Hamid Karzai not to investigate crimes committed by the U.S. government. We are continuing reports (us) to the U.S. State Department three years ago and from U.S. officials we only get lip service. The Afghan government is the same, because it has no control, they just installed a regime, “he said.

Washington – U.S. President Barack Obama has conceded for the first time the controversial use of drones to fight insurgents in tribal areas bordering Afghanistan. “Generally, it is very precise strikes against al-Qaida and its allies and we are very careful in their use,” said the U.S. president during a chat with voters.

The idea that there was a pile of indiscriminate attacks in Pakistan, is wrong. It is important that all understand that the stakes would be checked very carefully, said Obama. When asked about the civilian casualties, he said he wanted to clarify that cause the attacks of the unmanned aircraft, “no large number of civilian casualties.”

The U.S. government has confirmed the use of drones in Pakistan has not officially. He is fiercely debated in the country, because time and again innocent people are killed.

On Friday, about 100,000 people demonstrated in Karachi. In view of the protests, the government in Islamabad varies between the tacit toleration and public condemnation. While in Afghanistan, the drones are controlled by the U.S. Army, is responsible in the Pakistani tribal areas of the U.S. foreign intelligence service CIA.

Only recently, a drone to the terrorist leader Aslam Awan killed. Previously the U.S. had suspended its drone operations in Pakistan for almost two months after the end of November had been killed in a NATO air strike in the border area with Afghanistan mistakenly 24 Pakistani soldiers.

The Coastal regions of Kenya is one place where graying is becoming a recipe for instant death and interestingly, it is normally the blood relatives that turn around and unleash brutalities on their greying fathers and mothers. A man survived death at the hands of his own two sons when all his children at the instigation of his wife, were persuaded to believe that their own 69 year old father with a heavy gray hair was indeed, a witch practicing dark arts.

He was rounded up recently by his own sons who tied him with a firm sisal rope before they started beating him like he was no longer a human being. He was so brutally beaten up that he lost nearly all his teeth and had several fractures around his body. He pleaded with his sons to spare his life but they would never listen, they constantly accused him of being a gray-haired witch who must die. They completely lost cognizance of the fact that the man they were intent on killing was the very one who gave them life.

When their bloody father was convinced he was going to be killed, he just allowed them to beat him until his death. Somehow, they stopped beating and dragged him to a nearby hut with the intention of setting him ablaze in the middle of the night. He was securely tied but by some good fortune, he disentangled the rope from his limbs and escaped in good time to the local authorities who came and effected arrest of the entire family members to who were promptly charged with attempted murder.

Along the coastal districts of Kenya, about 20  men and women with gray hair have so far been reportedly lynched by their own relatives and the number of those killed could even be more because some killings have gone unreported. Many more are fleeing from their families who are the very ones tormenting them. The problem has become so serious that government and other civil society organizations are beginning to set up camps for the horrified gray haired men and women being accused of witchcraft.

Gray hair used to be a sign of honor and wisdom among African societies. Today, you can only move about with your grey hair in the coastal districts of Malindi at your own peril. What is happening to our world? I think the end of the world has come close because, as I begin to gray myself, this story is sending a chill through my spine-will my two sons soon round me up and accuse me of being a witch? This is one story that has kept me thinking very pensively and the more I think about it, the more I get very confused!

Read more: http://trifter.com/africa/kenya/why-men-and-women-with-gray-hair-are-endangered-species-in-kenya-today/#ixzz1kwikx4Wo