Titles:

• World Bank Reports 44 Million Now Impoverished by High Food Prices
• Britain home to nearly 400 war crimes suspects
• US Taxpayers Give $150 Million to Post-Revolutionary Egypt
• $40 billion ‘missing’ from Iraq accounts
• Pakistan intelligence confirms Davis is CIA guy
• U.S. Navy Commander Addresses China’s Rise

News Details:

World Bank Reports 44 Million Now Impoverished by High Food Prices
Eventually, the global food shortage will catch up with everybody. However, at present, it’s developing countries that are paying the price. According to a new report from the World Bank, the rise in food prices have pushed approximately forty-four million people into poverty in developing countries since June of 2010. And as food costs begin to near what they were in their peak in 2008, that number could begin to get even worse and, yes, creep westwardly. Similar to the numbers revealed by the UN’s food price index recently, the World Bank’s food price index jumped fifteen percent between October 2010 and January 2011. It’s twenty-nine percent higher than a year ago and only a small three percent lower than its peak in 2008.

Britain home to nearly 400 war crimes suspects
Hundreds of suspected war criminals are living in Britain, despite recommendations by a UK Border Agency unit that action be taken against them. A special war crimes unit within the immigration agency has recommended action against 495 individuals in the last five years believed to have taken part in torture, genocide, crimes against humanity or other war crimes. But, according to figures provided to the all-party parliamentary group on genocide by the agency, only a fifth have been refused entry, removed or have left voluntarily, leaving 383 suspects at large. Allegations against 47 individuals were believed by the agency to merit further investigation by Scotland Yard, police confirmed. The 383 suspects include 105 from Iraq, 75 from Afghanistan, 73 from Sri Lanka, 39 from Rwanda, 32 from Zimbabwe and 26 from the Democratic Republic of Congo. They are believed to include senior officials from Saddam Hussein’s regime, a senior Afghan intelligence service official alleged to be involved in torture and a former police chief from the Democratic Republic of Congo, who confessed in a radio interview to overseeing torture. Despite the introduction of laws to enable more domestic prosecutions of suspected war criminals, not a single case has been prosecuted in the UK courts. There have been no investigations of suspected war criminals since the laws came into force last year, according to the Metropolitan police.

US Taxpayers Give $150 Million to Post-Revolutionary Egypt
According to AFP, “The United States gave Egypt $150 million in crucial economic assistance to help the key US ally transition towards democracy following the overthrow of longtime president Hosni Mubarak.” I am pleased to announce today that we will be reprogramming $150 million for Egypt to put ourselves in a position to support the transition there and assist with their economic recovery,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said.

$40 billion ‘missing’ from Iraq accounts
Around $40 billion are “missing” from a post-Gulf War fund that Iraq maintains to protect the money from foreign claims, its parliamentary speaker said on Monday. “There is missing money, we do not know where it has gone,” Osama al-Nujaifi said at a news conference in Baghdad. “The money is around $40 billion in total.It may have been spent somewhere, but it does not appear in our accounts, so parliament will investigate where this money has gone.” Nujaifi did not say when or how the discovery had been made regarding the missing money. He said two investigative committees had been formed to track down the cash.The Development Fund for Iraq (DFI), which was set up after the 2003 war to handle oil and other revenues, has been protected against claims by a UN resolution that expires on June 30.On December 15, the UN Security Council ended key international sanctions imposed on Iraq following now-executed dictator Saddam Hussein’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait in a major move toward bringing closure on the Saddam era.

Pakistan intelligence confirms Davis is CIA guy
A Pakistani intelligence official said Monday that an American in custody for killing two men was an undercover CIA contractor, in remarks likely to inflame a crisis with the United States. Washington insists that Raymond Davis, who says he acted in self-defence, is a member of its Islamabad embassy’s “administrative and technical staff” who has diplomatic immunity and should be released immediately. “It is beyond any shadow of a doubt that he was working for CIA,” an official from Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency told AFP on condition of anonymity. “He’s on contract. He’s not a regular CIA guy, but he’s working for CIA. That’s confirmed,” the Pakistani official said. Local analysts suggested Pakistani intelligence had deliberately decided to complicate the case in order to put pressure on the government and the United States, with whom relations have been troubled over the war in Afghanistan. “This would be seen as a kind of deliberate attempt to make the situation more difficult and complex to handle, and this provides additional material to the militant groups to adopt a hardline stance,” said analyst Hasan Askari. “These (intelligence) groups are not happy with the way America was building pressure on Pakistan on the war on terrorism. “If it goes to the street and massive agitation, all political parties will find it a good opportunity to knock the PPP out of power,” he said. The Pakistani intelligence official said the Davis case had soured relations with the Central Intelligence Agency. “Our relations with the CIA are now sort of pretty dicey. It has affected our relationship,” the official told AFP.

U.S. Navy Commander Addresses China’s Rise
The top U.S. naval commander for the Asian-Pacific region called on China to be “responsible and constructive” as it prepares to deploy its first aircraft carrier, while stressing that America retains substantial firepower and surveillance capabilities in the region. “It is our sincere hope that as China continues to develop a blue-water navy-one that may soon include an aircraft carrier-it will employ that navy in a way that is responsible and constructive,” Vice Adm. Scott Van Buskirk, commander of the U.S. Seventh Fleet, said in prepared remarks Monday to a forum in Hong Kong. The admiral ran down a laundry list of improvements meant to reassure Washington’s allies that the U.S. navy wasn’t lowering its profile in the region. These included weapons that appear specifically targeted at potential threats from China and North Korea, including new sonar to better detect quiet submarines and antimine equipment. “Some worry that the U.S., with our sluggish economy and continued military engagement in Afghanistan, is weakening its position and its commitment to Asia,” Adm. Van Buskirk said. “From where I sit as the U.S. Seventh Fleet commander, I can tell you that our commitment to this region has never been stronger.” China’s rising economic power and growing military strength have raised alarms among neighbors such as India, Japan and Vietnam at a time when U.S. economic problems are prompting cuts in Washington’s defense spending. Besides developing a diesel-powered aircraft carrier that allows it to project force far beyond its borders for the first time, China recently tested a prototype stealth jet fighter just as U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates arrived in Beijing in January for talks.