Averting a full-blown global food crisis calls for long-term steps

BEIJING: China, India and other nations that subsidize gasoline and diesel prices may be even less willing to raise prices than they were six months ago, aiding crude's ascent toward $130 even as demand deteriorates elsewhere. While Indonesia appears set to raise prices this month, the world's fastest-growing oil users show little inclination to reduce their subsidy programs and allow fuel prices to rise, as fighting inflation has become their top priority.

Indonesia's health minister said today she would start sharing all genetic information about her country's bird flu virus with a new global database to monitor whether the disease is mutating into a dangerous pandemic strain. China, Russia and other nations, that have long withheld influenza virus samples and DNA sequencing data from international databases, are also taking part in the initiative.

HONG KONG: On the day of the Sichuan earthquake, I happened to be in Bengkulu, the province of Sumatra, Indonesia, which has been experiencing almost weekly quakes that measure about 5 on the Richter scale, following one that measured 8.5 last September. Despite its magnitude, that earthquake killed just 25 people. This raises the question: What combination of nature, chance, human activity and government competence determines the death toll when a cyclone, earthquake or tsunami strikes?

Seeking to secure supply of coal for its upcoming future projects to meet the energy targets, National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), has decided to hunt for coal blocks in South Africa, Mozambique and Indonesia. NTPC's aggressive posture for securing fuel supplies comes close on the heels of its competitors in the private sector Reliance Power and Tata Power having secured coal blocks in Indonesia and exploring similar options in other countries.

Indonesia, the world's biggest palm oil producer, plans to take firm measures aimed at ensuring palm oil firms meet stringent standards before labelling their products as eco-friendly, an industry watchdog said on Wednesday. The rapidly expanding palm oil industry in Southeast Asia has come under attack by green groups for destroying rainforests and wildlife, as well the emission of greenhouse gases.

A landslide has killed 12 illegal copper miners and buried at least nine others in Indonesia's eastern province of Papua, the police said on Tuesday. "The illegal miners were working in an area between two tall cliffs and one side collapsed," local police chief Godhelp told AFP by telephone. "We have found 12 bodies so far and there are at least nine more of them."

Dec 26 2004 TSUNAMI At least 230,000 people are killed and 43,000 are missing after a tsunami sparked by a magnitude 9.15 earthquake smashes into 13 Indian Ocean countries. More than half the victims are Indonesians, with Sri Lanka and India next worst hit. March 2005 INDONESIA Nearly 1,000 people are killed after an earthquake of magnitude 8.7 strikes off the island of Sumatra. July/Aug 2005 INDIA More than 1,000 people are killed after the heaviest rainfall recorded drenches the western state of Maharashtra. Oct 8 2005 PAKISTAN

Indonesia's biofuel sector is not a major force destroying tropical forests or squeezing out land used for food production, a senior industry official told Reuters on Wednesday. The grain and oilseed-based biofuel sector has come under attack from green groups for accelerating the destruction of forests, while some analysts blame it for contributing to soaring world food prices by diverting crops that could be used for food.