Africa

The Next Generation: Giant Locust Armies Of “Biblical Proportions” Threaten To Cause Mass Starvation In Africa

Even before COVID-19 became the biggest public health crisis to hit the globe in decades, enormous swarms of locusts the size of major cities were devouring crops throughout eastern Africa, across the Middle East and even in some parts of Asia.  Now a new generation that officials are describing as “20 times bigger” has emerged, and the devastation that this new generation of locusts is causing is extremely alarming.  These colossal locust swarms can travel up to 90 miles a day, and as you will see below, when they descend upon a field they can literally eat everything there in as little as 30 seconds.  This new generation of locusts has been spotted as far south as Congo, as far north as Iran and as far east as India.  In other words, the food supplies of billions of people are at risk.

Yesterday, I reported that the UN had used the phrase “biblical proportions” to describe the famines that are starting to happen around the globe as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

Well, the phrase “biblical proportions” is also being used to describe these giant armies of locusts…

While much of the world focuses on the coronavirus pandemic that has infected more than 1.6 million people across the globe, East Africa is battling the worst invasion of desert locusts in decades — a months-long “scourge of biblical proportions” that experts warn could get worse with a larger second wave already arriving in parts of the region.

Heavy rains last month created ideal conditions for this next generation of locusts, and we are being told that the new swarms are “particularly severe in Kenya, Ethiopia, and Somalia”…

And now, at the worst time, a second wave of locusts 20 times bigger than the first has descended on the region, thanks to heavy rains late last month, according to the FAO. The swarms have infiltrated Yemen and firmly established themselves across the Persian Gulf, having laid eggs along 560 miles of Iran’s coastline. New swarms are particularly severe in Kenya, Ethiopia, and Somalia.

Unfortunately, this is a really, really bad time for a new generation of locusts to show up, because this is the time of the year when farmers are planting their fields.

When the locusts invade a new area, all the farmers can do is watch as all their hard work is destroyed.  The following is how one FAO official is describing the current state of affairs…

“The timing is really horrendous, because the farmers are just planting, and the seedlings are just coming up now since it’s the beginning of the rainy season,” says Keith Cressman, senior locust forecasting officer with the FAO. “And it’s right at the same time when you have an increasing number of swarms in Kenya and in Ethiopia. There’s already pictures and reports of the seedlings getting hammered by the swarms. So basically that’s it for the farmers’ crops.“

Here in the United States we have never experienced anything like this, and so most Americans don’t really understand how destructive these locusts can be.

As I noted above, when they come storming into a field they can literally eat all the crops there “in as little as 30 seconds”…

Massive swarms of locusts are devouring entire fields of crops in as little as 30 seconds – fuelling fears of a major food crisis in some of the world’s poorest countries, international aid organisation Concern Worldwide has warned.

The charity said communities in Pakistan, Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia are facing alarming food shortages, with the crops they grow to survive being eaten in seconds by the flying desert locusts.

The United Nations is calling these locust armies “an unprecedented threat” to global food security.

Of course the exact same thing could be said about the coronavirus.

And let us not forget that African Swine Fever has already wiped out approximately one-fourth of all the pigs in the world.

This truly has become a “perfect storm” for global food production, and many believe that what we have seen so far is just the beginning.

And please don’t be tempted to think that this is just a problem that Africa is dealing with.  All the way over in Pakistan, officials are using the word “disaster” to describe the threat posed by these locusts.  The following comes from a Pakistani news source…

Parliamentary leader of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and Balochistan Minister for Secondary Education Sardar Yar Muhammad Rind has expressed deep concern over the procreation of locusts across the province, stressing upon anti-locust spray on urgent basis.

“If procreation of locusts does not stop it would badly affect crops and will also lead to nutritional disaster in Balochistan,” Rind noted, adding that due to consecutive attacks, growers and farmers are facing extreme difficulties as widespread destruction of crops is feared due to procreation of locusts.

And after everything that they have already been through, farmers in Australia are facing an enormous invasion of locusts as well, although it is a different species that they are dealing with…

After a year of battling drought, fire, dust, flood and disease, farmers in far western New South Wales are now facing a plague locust infestation.

The Australian plague locust species, if not controlled, can cause significant damage to crops and pastures by consuming all in their path.

In the post-World War II era, can you point to another time when the world was facing so many major problems all at once?

As I write this article, I can’t seem to think of one.

In the days ahead, the coronavirus pandemic will continue to dominate the headlines, and the global death toll will soon cross the 200,000 mark.

But this plague of locusts should also be receiving a tremendous amount of attention, because it is wiping out farms at a blinding pace and countless numbers of people could face severe food shortages as a result.

Efforts will continue to be made to spray these locust swarms with pesticides, but when you are talking about swarms that are the size of major cities, the truth is that spraying really doesn’t make that much of a dent.

It truly is a plague of “biblical proportions”, and despite all of our advanced technology we are powerless to stop it.

About the Author: I am a voice crying out for change in a society that generally seems content to stay asleep. My name is Michael Snyder and I am the publisher of The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe. I have written four books that are available on Amazon.com including The Beginning Of The End, Get Prepared Now, and Living A Life That Really Matters. (#CommissionsEarned) By purchasing those books you help to support my work. I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but due to government regulations I need those that republish my articles to include this “About the Author” section with each article. In order to comply with those government regulations, I need to tell you that the controversial opinions in this article are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of the websites where my work is republished. The material contained in this article is for general information purposes only, and readers should consult licensed professionals before making any legal, business, financial or health decisions. Those responding to this article by making comments are solely responsible for their viewpoints, and those viewpoints do not necessarily represent the viewpoints of Michael Snyder or the operators of the websites where my work is republished. I encourage you to follow me on social media on Facebook and Twitter, and any way that you can share these articles with others is a great help.  During these very challenging times, people will need hope more than ever before, and it is our goal to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with all many people as we possibly can.

Global Crop Failures Continue: In Australia This Is Going To Be The WORST HARVEST Ever Recorded

Global food production is being hit from seemingly every side. Thanks to absolutely crazy weather patterns, giant locust armies in Africa and the Middle East, and an unprecedented outbreak of African Swine Fever in China, a lot less food is being produced around the world than originally anticipated. Even during the best of years we really struggle to feed everyone on the planet, and so a lot of people are wondering what is going to happen as global food supplies become tighter and tighter. The mainstream media in the United States is so obsessed with politics right now that they haven’t been paying much attention to this emerging crisis, but the truth is that this growing nightmare is only going to intensify in the months ahead.

In Australia, conditions have been extremely hot and extremely dry, and that helped to fuel the horrific wildfires that we recently witnessed.

And everyone knew that agricultural production in Australia was going to be disappointing this year, but it turns out that it is actually going to be the worst ever recorded…

Australia’s hottest and driest year on record has slashed crop production, with summer output expected to fall to the lowest levels on record, according to official projections released Tuesday.

The country’s agriculture department said it expects production of crops like sorghum, cotton and rice to fall 66 percent — the lowest levels since records began in 1980-81.

The continent of Australia is considered to be one of the breadbaskets of the world. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in 2018/19 Australia exported over 9 million tons of wheat to the rest of the world.

But thanks to relentless crop failures, Australia has started to import wheat, and that is likely to continue for the foreseeable future.

So instead of helping to feed the rest of the world, Australia is now relying on the rest of us to help feed them.

And what is happening this year didn’t just barely break the old records. In fact, one senior economist says that this will be the worst summer crop production the country has ever seen “by a large margin”…

“It is the lowest summer crop production in this period by a large margin,” Peter Collins, a senior economist with the department’s statistical body ABARES told AFP.

Of course if the rest of the world was doing great we could certainly survive a downturn in Australia.

Unfortunately, that is definitely not the case.

Right now, billions upon billions of locusts are voraciously devouring farms in eastern Africa and the Middle East. As I detailed the other day, giant armies of locusts the size of large cities are traveling up to 100 miles per day as they search for food. When they descend on a farm, all the crops can be consumed literally within 30 seconds. It is a nightmare of epic proportions, and UN officials are telling us that this crisis is only going to get worse over the next couple of months.

In Uganda, the army has been called out to help fight this locust plague, but it is making very little difference…

Under a warm morning sun scores of weary soldiers stare as millions of yellow locusts rise into the northern Ugandan sky, despite hours spent spraying vegetation with chemicals in an attempt to kill them.

From the tops of shea trees, fields of pea plants and tall grass savanna, the insects rise in a hypnotic murmuration, disappearing quickly to wreak devastation elsewhere.

The most effective way of fighting these locust swarms is to spray insecticide on them from the air, but even that only produces very limited results.

However, at least it is better than doing nothing.

The UN is trying to raise a lot more money to get more planes into the air, because if nothing is done the number of locusts “could grow up to 500 times by June”…

The U.N. has said $76 million is needed immediately. On Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during a visit to Ethiopia said the U.S. would donate another $8 million to the effort. That follows an earlier $800,000.

The number of overall locusts could grow up to 500 times by June, when drier weather begins, experts have said. Until then, the fear is that more rains in the coming weeks will bring fresh vegetation to feed a new generation of the voracious insects.

Overall, these locusts are affecting nations “with a combined population of nearly 2 billion”, and the amount of food that these locusts are destroying is unprecedented.

Meanwhile, China has been dealing with the worst outbreak of African Swine Fever in history.

African Swine Fever does not affect humans, but it sweeps through herds of pigs like wildfire. There is no vaccine, there is no cure, and once African Swine Fever starts infecting pigs in a certain area the only thing that can be done is to kill the rest of the pigs to keep it from spreading anywhere else.

Unfortunately, China has not been able to get this outbreak under control, and the losses have been staggering.

According to the New York Times, the number of pigs that have been wiped out in China already is equivalent to “nearly one-quarter of all the world’s pigs”…

The disease was first reported in Shenyang, Liaoning Province, in early August 2018. By the end of August 2019, the entire pig population of China had dropped by about 40 percent. China accounted for more than half of the global pig population in 2018, and the epidemic there alone has killed nearly one-quarter of all the world’s pigs.

But of course China is not the only one dealing with African Swine Fever.

In fact, cases of African Swine Fever have now been identified “in 50 countries”, and U.S. pig farmers are deathly afraid of what would happen if this disease starts spreading here.

As a result of this crisis, pork prices in China have gone through the roof, and many families are no longer able to eat pork at all.

Never before in the modern era have we seen so many major threats to global food production emerge simultaneously.

There are more than 7 billion people living on our planet today, and we need to be able to grow enough food to feed everyone.

If we aren’t able to do that, food prices will start to get really high, and people in the poorest areas simply will not have enough food to feed their families.

About the Author: I am a voice crying out for change in a society that generally seems content to stay asleep. My name is Michael Snyder and I am the publisher of The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe. I have written four books that are available on Amazon.com including The Beginning Of The End, Get Prepared Now, and Living A Life That Really Matters. (#CommissionsEarned) By purchasing those books you help to support my work. I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but due to government regulations I need those that republish my articles to include this “About the Author” section with each article. In order to comply with those government regulations, I need to tell you that the controversial opinions in this article are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of the websites where my work is republished. This article may contain opinions on political matters, but it is not intended to promote the candidacy of any particular political candidate. The material contained in this article is for general information purposes only, and readers should consult licensed professionals before making any legal, business, financial or health decisions. Those responding to this article by making comments are solely responsible for their viewpoints, and those viewpoints do not necessarily represent the viewpoints of Michael Snyder or the operators of the websites where my work is republished. I encourage you to follow me on social media on Facebook and Twitter, and any way that you can share these articles with others is a great help.

“Like Something Out Of The Book Of Exodus”: Locust Armies Are Devouring Entire Farms In Kenya “In As Little As 30 Seconds”

Locust armies numbering in the billions are absolutely ravaging large portions of eastern Africa and vast stretches of the Middle East. We are being told that these locust armies “are unprecedented in size and scope”, which means that we have never seen anything like this before. And as you will see below, the UN continues to warn that the number of locusts could get “500 times bigger” by June. But even if this plague ended right now, millions of people would still be facing a devastating famine in the months ahead. These locusts travel in swarms up to 40 miles wide, each one can eat the equivalent of its own body weight every day, and the swarms can travel close to 100 miles in a 24 hour period. This is a nightmare of epic proportions, and it is just getting started.

National Geographic has never been known to sensationalize news stories, but even they are saying that this plague is “like something out of the Book of Exodus”…

East Africa is in the midst of a crisis that sounds like something out of the Book of Exodus: A plague of locusts is spreading across the region, threatening the food supply of tens of millions. City-sized swarms of the dreaded pests are wreaking havoc as they descend on crops and pasturelands, devouring everything in a matter of hours. The scale of the locust outbreak, which now affects seven East African countries, is like nothing in recent memory.

Some of the largest swarms are actually bigger than any city on the entire planet, and when they arrive in an area they start going to work immediately.

In fact, it is being reported that some farms in Kenya “are being devoured in as little as 30 seconds”…

The locusts are so bad in some parts of Kenya that entire fields of crops are being devoured in as little as 30 seconds.

Moses Omondi, a program officer at Farm Radio, a charity that works with to bring information and news to farmers, says that in Kitui County, in eastern Kenya, there were no locusts this time last week. Now, entire farms have been destroyed.

Could you imagine working extremely hard on a farm all year long and then seeing it completely consumed by locusts in less than a minute?

One Kenyan farmer that had his farm destroyed by the locusts openly admitted that he is considering committing suicide…

He is affected psychologically to the extent of telling me that, ‘If worst comes to worst, I can even commit suicide.’ The reason being, this is the source of his income. He’s been taking his kid to school using farm produce. He’s been paying bills using farm produce. So according to him, he [says], ‘Moses, if this continues — if the government is not coming to act — then I’m thinking of committing suicide.’

Of course suicide is never the solution to anything. But it is easy to understand the utter despair that these farmers are feeling now that everything that they have worked for has been completely wiped out.

If you held a single desert locust in your hand you might think that it is cute. But the truth is that these are extremely voracious little creatures, and the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization’s Keith Cressman says that even a “medium-size swarm” can eat an astounding amount of food…

A medium-size swarm of locusts can eat the same amount of food as the entire population of Kenya, Cressman said, and “that swarm in one day can eat the same amount of food as everybody here in the tri-state area, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York. So not taking action in time – you can see the consequences.”

Ultimately what all of this means is that we are going to see famine.

And I am not just talking about the sort of famine where a few thousand people starve. Right now, these locusts are affecting countries “with a combined population of nearly 2 billion”…

The numbers involved, the UN has warned, are “unprecedented”. If they are not contained, their appetites will trigger famine, destroy livelihoods for local farmers and undermine the food security of a group of countries with a combined population of nearly 2 billion.

I keep writing about “the perfect storm” that humanity is facing, but because most people in the western world are still living very cushy lifestyles I think that a lot of them don’t really grasp when I am trying to tell them. Sadly, the truth is that we have entered a time when one major crisis after another is erupting, and things are only going to get worse as time rolls along.

Due to unusually wet weather and a couple of giant cyclones, conditions have been perfect for desert locusts to breed. According to National Geographic, this is what has caused these colossal swarms of locusts…

Desert locusts live for about three months. After a generation matures, the adults lay their eggs which, under the right conditions, can hatch to form a new generation up to 20 times larger than the previous one. In this way, desert locusts can increase their population size exponentially over successive generations, Cressman says. Ultimately, these two 2018 cyclones enabled three generations of wildly successful locust breeding in just nine months, increasing the number of insects buzzing over the Arabian desert roughly 8,000-fold.

Unfortunately, officials are telling us that what we have seen so far is just the beginning.

If you can believe it, the UN continues to warn that the number of locusts “could grow 500 times bigger by June”…

Dozens of countries are on alert following a biblical-scale invasion of locusts the UN has described as “unprecedented” and “devastating”.

The swarms of the food-devouring insects could grow 500 times bigger by June according to the astonishing UN Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) report.

I know that I have been writing about the coronavirus outbreak a lot lately. And that story is definitely very important, but this locust plague could easily end up killing far more people.

Global events are really starting to accelerate, and things are only going to get crazier in the months ahead.

So buckle up and hold on tight, because the ride ahead is going to be extremely wild.

About the Author: I am a voice crying out for change in a society that generally seems content to stay asleep. My name is Michael Snyder and I am the publisher of The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe. I have written four books that are available on Amazon.com including The Beginning Of The End, Get Prepared Now, and Living A Life That Really Matters. (#CommissionsEarned) By purchasing those books you help to support my work. I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but due to government regulations I need those that republish my articles to include this “About the Author” section with each article. In order to comply with those government regulations, I need to tell you that the controversial opinions in this article are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of the websites where my work is republished. This article may contain opinions on political matters, but it is not intended to promote the candidacy of any particular political candidate. The material contained in this article is for general information purposes only, and readers should consult licensed professionals before making any legal, business, financial or health decisions. Those responding to this article by making comments are solely responsible for their viewpoints, and those viewpoints do not necessarily represent the viewpoints of Michael Snyder or the operators of the websites where my work is republished. I encourage you to follow me on social media on Facebook and Twitter, and any way that you can share these articles with others is a great help.

360 Billion Locusts And Growing – A Plague Of ‘Biblical Proportions’ Is Destroying Crops Across The Middle East And Africa

What we are witnessing in east Africa and across much of the Middle East right now is hard to believe. 360 billion locusts are eating everything in sight, and UN officials are warning that this plague of “Biblical proportions” could get many times worse over the next several months. Desert locusts can travel up to 93 miles a day, and each adult can consume the equivalent of its own weight in food every 24 hours. These voracious little creatures are traveling in absolutely colossal swarms that are up to 40 miles wide, and they continue to push into new areas. If urgent action is not taken on a massive scale, millions upon millions of people could soon have next to nothing to eat.

I have previously written about the horrors that this plague is causing in east Africa, but many people don’t realize that this plague is devastating crops throughout the Middle East as well.

In fact, the government of Pakistan just declared a national emergency because of these locusts…

A locust plague is wreaking havoc in Pakistan as ‘unprecedented and alarming’ swarms ravage crops as shocking video shows millions of the insects sweeping through Saudi Arabia.

Pakistan’s government declared a national emergency at the weekend after an infestation of desert locusts arrived in eastern Pakistan.

In Saudi Arabia, the swarms have been so thick at times that they have completely blocked out the sun, and video footage coming out of that country is getting attention all over the world…

Meanwhile swarms of locusts have been milling the skies in Saudi Arabia, with one video circulating online showing the sky saturated with the insects.

Another shows a tree in Saudi Arabia crawling with desert locusts, which consume their own bodyweight in food each day.

But of course east Africa remains the hardest hit region, and UN officials are warning that a horrible famine could rapidly develop as a result of this plague. The following comes from Scientific American…

Locust swarms of biblical proportions are threatening crops across a wide swath of Africa and southwest Asia—spurring alarm among top international officials.

A major concern is famine. The United Nations is warning that mass swarms of desert locusts are endangering food supplies in eastern Africa. In response, officials in Rome mobilized an emergency briefing yesterday in a bid to raise money—noting the situation has a high potential to devolve into a full-blown crisis.

It would be incredibly difficult for me to overstate the scale of this crisis.

According to the Daily Mail, the number of locusts has now reached 360 billion…

A locust plague decimating crops and livestock pastureland in east Africa, including swarms 40 miles wide, threatens to trigger a humanitarian crisis, the UN has warned.

The horde of 360 billion insects has laid waste to farmland across Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, caused damage in Dijibouti and Eritrea, posing an unprecedented threat to food security.

There are less than 8 billion people living on the entire planet.

So this swarm of locusts outnumbers us by a margin of more than 45 to 1.

And what these locusts want more than anything else is food. If you doubt the destructive power of these swarms, please consider what the FAO’s senior agriculture officer recently had to say…

“It’s certainly the most dangerous migratory pest in the world, desert locust,” said Keith Cressman, FAO’s senior agriculture officer. “A swarm the size of Rome can eat enough food in one day as everybody in Kenya.”

And some of these swarms are actually bigger than the city of Rome.

I know that may be difficult to believe, but it is true.

In Somalia, officials are calling this crisis “a national emergency” as the locusts consume “huge amounts of crops”…

Somalia’s agriculture ministry on Sunday called the outbreak a national emergency and major threat to the country’s fragile food security, saying the “uncommonly large” locust swarms are consuming huge amounts of crops.

Over in Kenya, things are even worse. At this point the only viable way to combat these swarms is to spray them, and the UN is desperately asking for financial help to aid in that effort…

Just five planes are currently spraying as Kenyan and other authorities try to stop the locusts from spreading to neighboring Uganda and South Sudan. The United Nations has said $76 million is needed immediately to widen such efforts across East Africa.

A fast response is crucial. Experts warn that if left unchecked, the number of locusts could grow by 500 times by June, when drier weather will help bring the outbreak under control.

UN officials keep claiming that the number of locusts could get 500 times larger over the next few months, but I am having a really hard time believing that this plague could possibly get much worse than it is now.

Unfortunately, conditions are very favorable for breeding, and these locusts are constantly searching for new sources of food. They will continue to migrate in new directions, and they will eat crops everywhere they go.

According to Scientific American, the breeding cycles over the next couple of months could push the locust swarms as far as India…

Cyclones that struck the driest parts of the Arabian Peninsula last year triggered the current crisis, creating ideal conditions for the desert locust species to multiply. Left to breed in isolated corners of Saudi Arabia and Yemen, the locust swarms crossed to the Horn of Africa where they were given further support by another cyclone.

More breeding cycles are expected. The swarms increase in size twentyfold with each successive generation and could reach India by June.

When I first told my wife about this locust plague she was absolutely horrified.

She wondered what all those people would eat if all their crops were gone. Of course the truth is that they aren’t going to have much of anything to eat.

These locusts are going to create a famine, and the more they eat the worse the famine will become.

We have never seen anything like this before, and this is yet another “unprecedented crisis” that we can add to all the others that we are currently facing.

Our planet is changing, global weather patterns are going absolutely nuts, and worldwide events are really starting to spiral out of control.

And at this point we are just a little over one month into 2020. If you think that things are bad so far, just wait until you see what is coming over the course of the rest of the year.

About the Author: I am a voice crying out for change in a society that generally seems content to stay asleep. My name is Michael Snyder and I am the publisher of The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe. I have written four books that are available on Amazon.com including The Beginning Of The End, Get Prepared Now, and Living A Life That Really Matters. (#CommissionsEarned) By purchasing those books you help to support my work. I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but due to government regulations I need those that republish my articles to include this “About the Author” section with each article. In order to comply with those government regulations, I need to tell you that the controversial opinions in this article are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of the websites where my work is republished. This article may contain opinions on political matters, but it is not intended to promote the candidacy of any particular political candidate. The material contained in this article is for general information purposes only, and readers should consult licensed professionals before making any legal, business, financial or health decisions. Those responding to this article by making comments are solely responsible for their viewpoints, and those viewpoints do not necessarily represent the viewpoints of Michael Snyder or the operators of the websites where my work is republished. I encourage you to follow me on social media on Facebook and Twitter, and any way that you can share these articles with others is a great help.

A Plague Of “Billions” Of Locusts Threatens To Create A Horrific End Times Famine All Over Africa

Billions of locusts are eating everything in sight in east Africa right now, and every single day many more farms are being completely wiped out. Unfortunately, authorities are telling us that what we have seen so far is just the tip of the iceberg. In fact, if extreme measures are not implemented immediately, authorities are claiming that this locust plague could literally get “500 times” worse in a few months. But it is difficult to imagine conditions getting any worse than they are at this moment. Ravenous locust swarms that are “the size of cities” are consuming crops at a staggering pace, and this could potentially cause famine on the African continent that is unlike anything we have ever seen before.

It can be difficult to imagine a plague of “billions” of locusts. After all, there are only about 7 billion people living on the entire planet.

But this is actually happening. Right now “billions of locusts” are absolutely devastating east Africa, and each one can eat “its own weight in food every day”…

Billions of locusts swarming through East Africa could prove disastrous for a region still reeling from drought and deadly floods, experts have warned, amid increasing calls for international help.

Dense clouds of the ravenous insects, each of which consumes its own weight in food every day, have spread from Ethiopia and Somalia into Kenya, in the region’s worse infestation in decades.

It would be hard to overstate what this is going to mean for the region. According to the FAO, this plague is an “unprecedented threat to food security and livelihoods in the Horn of Africa”…

The United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organisation has described the situation as “extremely alarming,” representing an “unprecedented threat to food security and livelihoods in the Horn of Africa.”

We have seen starvation in Africa before. In fact, there was a time when our airwaves were filled with images of starving African children.

But if this plague continues to get even worse, the stage is being set for a famine that is far greater than anything that any of us have ever witnessed.

The density of some of these locust swarms is absolutely crazy. According to officials, a single locust swarm can have “up to 150 million locusts per square kilometer”…

“A typical desert locust swarm can contain up to 150 million locusts per square kilometer,” the East African regional body, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, has said. “Swarms migrate with the wind and can cover 62 to 93 miles in a day. An average swarm can destroy as much food crops in a day as is sufficient to feed 2,500 people.”

And it is important to note that some of these swarms are many times that size.

In fact, one of the largest swarms in northeastern Kenya was measures to be “60 kilometers long by 40 kilometers wide”.

In other words, that swarm was far larger than any major city on the entire planet.

Spraying these locusts only has limited effectiveness, but it is one of the only things that can be done at this point.

Unfortunately, Kenya only has four planes currently flying, and the same goes for Ethiopia.

The UN is going to step in with 10 million dollars of additional funding, but that won’t really go too far…

The UN on Wednesday allocated $10 million for aerial spraying, with humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock saying families across the region “now face the prospect of watching as their crops are destroyed before their eyes.”

The truly frightening part of this story is that we are being told that the worst is yet to come.

If you can believe it, and I know that this sounds absolutely nuts, but UN officials are actually warning that this plague of locusts could get “500 times” larger when warmer weather arrives…

When rains arrive in March and bring new vegetation across much of the region, the numbers of the fast-breeding locusts could grow 500 times before drier weather in June curbs their spread, the United Nations says.

If what the UN is telling us is accurate, and I have no reason to believe that it isn’t, then Africa is facing a nightmare of almost unbelievable proportions. Yes, I keep warning that “the perfect storm” is here, but the scale of the plague that Africa is potentially facing is very hard to imagine.

With hundreds of billions of locusts potentially eating crops all across Africa, what will be left for people to eat?

Needless to say, many relief organizations are fearing the worst…

Save the Children’s Regional Director for East and Southern Africa, Ian Vale, said in a statement that their staff in Kenya are battling swarms so thick they can barely see through them.

“The impact on crops and pastureland will be severe. We are very concerned that this will place vulnerable children even closer to the brink of starvation,” he said.

Even before 2020 began, millions upon millions of Africans were dealing with “acute hunger”, and the outlook for the coming year was grim.

But now nobody has any idea how there will possibly be enough food for everyone.

1.2 billion people live in Africa. That is a lot of mouths to feed, and right now the locusts are stripping farm after farm completely bare.

I know that I have been writing about the coronavirus outbreak a lot in recent days, but this crisis could potentially kill far more people. We have reached a time when global events have really started to accelerate, and the months ahead promise to be quite challenging for all of us.

About the Author: I am a voice crying out for change in a society that generally seems content to stay asleep. My name is Michael Snyder and I am the publisher of The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe. I have written four books that are available on Amazon.com including The Beginning Of The End, Get Prepared Now, and Living A Life That Really Matters. (#CommissionsEarned) By purchasing those books you help to support my work. I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but due to government regulations I need those that republish my articles to include this “About the Author” section with each article. In order to comply with those government regulations, I need to tell you that the controversial opinions in this article are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of the websites where my work is republished. This article may contain opinions on political matters, but it is not intended to promote the candidacy of any particular political candidate. The material contained in this article is for general information purposes only, and readers should consult licensed professionals before making any legal, business, financial or health decisions. Those responding to this article by making comments are solely responsible for their viewpoints, and those viewpoints do not necessarily represent the viewpoints of Michael Snyder or the operators of the websites where my work is republished. I encourage you to follow me on social media on Facebook and Twitter, and any way that you can share these articles with others is a great help.

The Takeover: China Is Building Enormous Self-Sustaining Chinese Cities All Over The African Continent

During colonial times, European powers exploited Africa for the vast resources that it possesses. But what China is doing today is actually much worse. Yes, the Chinese greatly desire African resources, but ultimately what they want is Africa itself. But instead of conquering Africa using military force, China is using economics instead. Today, more than 10,000 Chinese-owned firms are operating in Africa, and virtually every major road, bridge, railway and skyscraper is being built by the Chinese. As a result, most African nations are very deeply indebted to China at this point. And as you will see below, when those debts go bad that gives the Chinese a tremendous amount of leverage.

Many people believe that the endgame for China is to make a whole lot more money and to gain control over a whole lot more resources. And China is undoubtedly pursuing those goals, but as Forbes has noted, ultimately what this is about is turning Africa “into another Chinese continent”…

The reason Chinese corporations are in Africa is simple; to exploit the people and take their resources. It’s the same thing European colonists did during mercantile times, except worse. The Chinese corporations are trying to turn Africa into another Chinese continent. They are squeezing Africa for everything it is worth.

Right now, approximately two million Chinese citizens already live in Africa, and that number is steadily rising with each passing month.

These days, it is difficult to find a major construction project on the continent that is not being handled by the Chinese, and this has enabled them to put their imprint on some of the largest African cities. For example, just check out what is happening in Nairobi, Kenya…

On the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya, a small sign points to “Beijing Road,” where a new housing development called the Great Wall Apartments looks like the concrete towers you’d find in a Chinese city.

Across Africa, Chinese developers are building highways, light rail systems, apartment buildings, and entire cities.

Most of the “cities” that China is building are known as “special economic zones”. These “special economic zones” are essentially enormous self-sustaining Chinese cities that have been dropped right into some of the most strategic parts of Africa. For example, one of the biggest has been built right next to Lagos, Nigeria…

Next to Lagos, Nigeria, Chinese developers have built a walled-off “special economic zone”–basically a separate city, with separate rules designed to attract investors–based on a model they’ve used inside China for the last 30 years. After Shenzhen became a special economic zone in the 1980s, it went from a small town of 20,000 to, by some counts, 15 million today.

In these “special economic zones”, you will find Chinese factories staffed with Chinese managers that are supervising Chinese workers that are using Chinese equipment to make their products.

And the size of some of these projects is absolutely staggering. Just check out what has been planned for an area along the coast of Tanzania…

Bagamoyo, if the project goes ahead as planned, will be transformed into the largest port in Africa. That is looking ever more likely: after years of delay, the Tanzanian government says it is in the final stages of talks with state-run China Merchants Holdings International.

The lagoon will be dredged, to allow access to the vast cargo ships that will queue many miles out to sea. As for the special economic zone, the original masterplan shows factories in a fenced-off industrial area, and apartment blocks to accommodate the estimated future population of 75,000. There is even talk of an international airport. Many of the villagers have already accepted compensation for the loss of their homes.

Of course Chinese development is definitely not limited to these “special economic zones”. In Ethiopia, the capital city of the entire nation is literally becoming known as “the city that China built”…

Cars chug through the city on smooth Chinese roads, Chinese cranes lift the skyline, sewing machines hum in Chinese factories in Chinese-owned industrial parks, tourists arrive at the Chinese-upgraded airport and commuters ride modern Chinese trains to work.

Simply put, Addis Ababa is becoming the city that China built — but at what diplomatic and economic cost?

Are you starting to get the picture?

As the western world sleeps, the Chinese are literally taking over an entire continent.

And as they increasingly dominate the landscape economically, they are bringing their culture with them as well…

Chinese influence also goes beyond physical infrastructure. Now it’s possible to pick up a copy of China Daily, China’s state-run newspaper, in some African cities, and watch CCTV, China’s state-run news channel. Some cities have Chinese language schools, and some African students are given grants to go study in China.

Apologists for China could point out that all of this development has pulled millions of Africans out of poverty.

And that is true.

But all of this development also carries with it a very hefty price tag…

China is now Africa’s biggest trade partner, with Sino-African trade topping $200 billion per year. According to McKinsey, over 10,000 Chinese-owned firms are currently operating throughout the African continent, and the value of Chinese business there since 2005 amounts to more than $2 trillion, with $300 billion in investment currently on the table. Africa has also eclipsed Asia as the largest market for China’s overseas construction contracts. To keep this momentum building, Beijing recently announced a $1 billion Belt and Road Africa infrastructure development fund and, in 2018, a whopping $60 billion African aid package, so expect Africa to continuing swaying to the east as economic ties with China become more numerous and robust.

Needless to say, the Chinese are not doing all of this out of the goodness of their hearts. African governments are going very deep into debt in order to afford all of this infrastructure, and several of them are now in way over their heads…

There have already been warning signs: the $4 Addis Ababa-Djibouti Railway ended up costing Ethiopia nearly a quarter of it’s total 2016 budget, Nigeria had to renegotiate a deal with their Chinese contractor due to their failure to pay, and Kenya’s 80% Chinese-financed railway from Mombasa to Nairobi has already gone four times over budget, costing the country upwards of 6% of it’s GDP.

This is the sort of predatory lending that western powers once did so well, but now China has taken things to an entirely new level.

And once China has an African government by the throat, they can be absolutely ruthless…

There have been credible reports of talks between the Zambian government and China on handing over the country’s national electricity company, ZESCO to the Chinese due to the inability of Zambia to meet its loan repayment promises. This is expected as China is already in control of the country’s broadcasting company, ZNBC. There are also fears the main airport in Lusaka could be the next target.

Obliviously, Zambia is in trouble. And for other African beneficiaries of Chinese loans, they should prepare for the same possibility in the eventuality that they aren’t able to repay China.

Basically, Zambia is in the process of becoming totally owned by China.

And this is going to happen in country after country until someone stops them.

But who is going to stop them?

After all, the U.S. is about a trillion dollars in debt to the Chinese at this point.

When it comes to foreign policy, China is playing chess while most of the western powers are playing checkers.

They are literally running circles around us, and we are so clueless that we don’t even understand what is happening.

About the Author: I am a voice crying out for change in a society that generally seems content to stay asleep. My name is Michael Snyder and I am the publisher of The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and the articles that I publish on those sites are republished on dozens of other prominent websites all over the globe. I have written four books that are available on Amazon.com including The Beginning Of The End, Get Prepared Now, and Living A Life That Really Matters. (#CommissionsEarned) By purchasing those books you help to support my work. I always freely and happily allow others to republish my articles on their own websites, but due to government regulations I need those that republish my articles to include this “About the Author” section with each article. In order to comply with those government regulations, I need to tell you that the controversial opinions in this article are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of the websites where my work is republished. This article may contain opinions on political matters, but it is not intended to promote the candidacy of any particular political candidate. The material contained in this article is for general information purposes only, and readers should consult licensed professionals before making any legal, business, financial or health decisions. Those responding to this article by making comments are solely responsible for their viewpoints, and those viewpoints do not necessarily represent the viewpoints of Michael Snyder or the operators of the websites where my work is republished. I encourage you to follow me on social media on Facebook and Twitter, and any way that you can share these articles with others is a great help.

Experts Brace For An Apocalyptic Future As Earth’s Forests Burn To The Ground

A world without forests would be an apocalyptic wasteland, and right now we are losing our forests at an astounding rate. As you read this article, more than 10,000 wildfires are ripping through forested areas of South America and Africa, and global leaders seem powerless to do anything about it. Most of the media attention has been on the horrific wildfires in the Amazon rainforest, and we are being told that the number of fires in Brazil is up 85 percent compared to last year. But the number of fires is actually much higher in Africa. In fact, it is being reported that there are “approximately five times as many wildfires burning in Africa than in the Amazon” at this point. Our planet is literally being destroyed right in front of our eyes, and a lot of people don’t seem to care.

Let’s talk about what is going on in the Amazon first. In a previous article, I discussed the fact that there have been more than 72,000 wildfires in Brazil so far this year, and at least 640 million acres have been affected by those fires. CNN arranged for a plane to fly over some of the most heavily damaged areas, and what those on the plane witnessed was almost too horrifying for words…

Flying above the Amazon’s worst afflicted state (during last week), Rondonia, is exhausting mostly because of the endless scale of the devastation. At first, smoke disguised the constant stream of torched fields, and copses; of winding roads that weaved into nothing but ash. Below, the orange specks of a tiny fire might still rage, but much of the land appeared a mausoleum of the forest that once graced it.

“This is not just a forest that is burning,” said Rosana Villar of Greenpeace, who helped CNN arrange its flight over the damaged and burning areas. “This is almost a cemetery. Because all you can see is death.”

The Amazon rainforest has been described as “the lungs of the Earth” because it produces so much of our oxygen, but many people don’t realize that the second largest tropical rainforest in the world is actually in the Congo Basin, and there are even more fires happening there right now.

In fact, according to official data released by NASA, the number of fires in central Africa is more than five times higher than the number of fires currently raging in Brazil…

Data from Nasa’s Fire Information for Resource Management System, showed at least 6,902 fires in Angola and 3,395 burning in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The same data put Brazil’s fires at 2,127.

These fires in central Africa have become so widespread that they have even gotten the attention of French President Emmanuel Macron…

If you look at the data from NASA’s Fire Information for Resource Management Map (FIRMS), which show a large swatch of fire across Angola, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The alarming area of these fires has left some people wondering why so much attention is being paid to the Amazon, while on the surface it appears Africa is alight with even more blazes. Even French President Emmanuel Macron, who has led the charge for international relief and solutions for the Amazon wildfire and has pledged aid from France, said on Twitter that he would consider starting a similar initiative for sub-Saharan Africa.

Fortunately, the good news is that the fires in the Congo Basin are not as out of control as the fires in the Amazon rainforest, but we are also being told that this could soon change…

Organizations like Greenpeace Africa, which focuses primarily on calling attention to issues of deforestation, are monitoring the situation while acknowledging that as of right now, the fires are relatively “small-scale” compared to the flames the in the Amazon or even previous African wildfires.

But that doesn’t mean the flames are under control. “This is something we could experience again tomorrow if preventative measures are not taken today,” Irène Wabiwa Betoko, Greenpeace Africa Senior Forest Campaign Manager, told Newsweek on Tuesday.

Many of the fires in Africa are being set purposely by farmers in order to clear land, but they are still eroding critical ecosystems. And we cannot afford to continue to treat our planet like this, because we are losing species at an astounding pace.

According to new research that was just released, “some plants have been going extinct up to 350 times faster than the historical average”…

Earth is seeing an unprecedented loss of species, which some ecologists are calling a sixth mass extinction. In May, a United Nations report warned that 1 million species are threatened by extinction. More recently, 571 plant species were declared extinct.

But extinctions have occurred for as long as life has existed on Earth. The important question is, has the rate of extinction increased? Our research, published today in Current Biology, found some plants have been going extinct up to 350 times faster than the historical average – with devastating consequences for unique species.

How many species do we have to lose before we finally become concerned?

If you follow my work on a regular basis, then you already know that I am deeply concerned about our “culture of death”. Our endless wars have killed thousands, millions of children have been killed in our “clinics”, and we are wiping out countless species of plants and animals without even thinking twice about it.

What kind of monsters have we become? We are so cold and so heartless, and all we seem to care about is ourselves.

Meanwhile, the long-term consequences that so many have warned about are starting to arrive. In fact, a CNN article about the Amazon wildfires that was just published boldly declared that “the apocalyptic future is here, and it is impatient”…

It is hard to see any claims of future doom as alarmist, when you see skylines rendered invisible by smoke, flames march across the plains like lava, and hear disinterested taxi drivers tell you they have never seen it so bad. The apocalyptic future is here, and it is impatient.

For once, I actually agree with CNN.

Given enough time, nothing would survive. We are systematically destroying ourselves and everything around us, and for a while it didn’t seem like we needed to fear the long-term consequences.

But now the dark times are upon us, and the stench of our evil ways has become undeniable.

Get Prepared NowAbout the author: Michael Snyder is a nationally-syndicated writer, media personality and political activist. He is the author of four books including Get Prepared Now, The Beginning Of The End and Living A Life That Really Matters. His articles are originally published on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News. From there, his articles are republished on dozens of other prominent websites. If you would like to republish his articles, please feel free to do so. The more people that see this information the better, and we need to wake more people up while there is still time.

Heidi And Rolland Baker Issue An Ominous Warning As Islamic Terrorists Conduct Scores Of Attacks In Mozambique

Please keep Heidi and Rolland Baker and their entire ministry team in prayer right now.  Islamic radicals have gone absolutely wild in Mozambique.  Villages are being burned and many of those that will not submit to the terrorists are being beheaded.

This is the statement that the Bakers have released to the public…

“Since October 2017, there has been a group of militant extremists responsible for scores of attacks against government institutions and civilians in the north of Mozambique where we live. They are targeting anyone who opposes their brand of terror. In the last few weeks, these attacks have intensified in frequency and brutality. Each attack involves burning hundreds of houses and wanton slaughter. Many were beheaded in at least six villages, two of which are within a two-hour drive of our Pemba base. Villagers are fleeing for their lives, carrying nothing with them, and have become refugees in the bush or on offshore islands.

“We are praying for peace in Mozambique and our hearts mourn for the families who have lost loved ones. Our leadership team is in constant prayer, daily evaluating the situation to determine the best precautions for our staff. Based on the current situation, we feel confident to remain home in Pemba with our missionaries and Mozambican team. However, the government has canceled visas for our Harvest School students for security reasons, and they are having to leave within a few days.

“Please pray with us in this troubling time for God’s strength for our brothers and sisters living all over our province of Cabo Delgado, that we can all shine more than ever in these dark days. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact our admin team in California.

This is our official statement, and other information is not endorsed by Iris.”

 

The Global Famine Begins: UN Announces That The Worst Food Crisis Since World War II Is Happening Right Now

We always knew that this would start happening. Earlier this month, I wrote about the severe economic problems that are plaguing South America, but up to this point I have neglected to discuss the horrific famines that are breaking out all over Africa. Right now there is a desperate need for food in South Sudan, Somalia, northeast Nigeria, Eritrea and Kenya. And Yemen, even though it is not technically part of Africa, is being affected by many of the same factors that are crippling nations all over eastern Africa. The United Nations says that more than 20 million people could die from starvation and disease if nothing is done. When I write about economic collapse, this is the kind of thing that I am talking about, and we are starting to see alarming conditions spread across the globe. Many believe that we could never possibly face this kind of food crisis in the western world, but unfortunately wishful thinking will only get you so far.

The United Nations was formed in 1945, and the UN has just announced that what we are facing this year is “the largest humanitarian crisis since the creation of the UN”. The following comes from a CNN article entitled “20 million at risk of starvation in world’s largest crisis since 1945, UN says“…

“We stand at a critical point in history. Already at the beginning of the year we are facing the largest humanitarian crisis since the creation of the UN,” UN humanitarian chief Stephen O’Brien said Friday.

“Now, more than 20 million people across four countries face starvation and famine. Without collective and coordinated global efforts, people will simply starve to death. Many more will suffer and die from disease.”

It would be hard to overstate the level of human suffering that we are witnessing in many parts of Africa at this moment. In Somalia, the UN estimates that more than 6 million people are in desperate need of food aid…

As Somalia inches closer to a calamitous famine, the prospect of utter devastation and colossal loss of human life is once again becoming an imminent reality. The humanitarian situation in Somalia is deteriorating by the day with up to 6.2 million people in need of urgent aid. People across Somalia have been forced to walk hundreds of miles in search of food, water and shelter- with women and children disproportionately affected. Over 300,000 children under the age of five are severely malnourished, with over 200,000 more children at risk of acute malnutrition.

In South Sudan, close to half the population is in dire need of assistance, and things have gotten so bad there that people will literally eat grass if they can find it…

Across South Sudan more than one million children are believed to be acutely malnourished and UNICEF have said that if urgent aid does not reach them, many of them will die. “There is no food, we eat anything we can find,” one South Sudanese mother told ITV. “We will find grass, we will eat it. That’s just the way it us for us now.”

Over in Yemen, there are about seven million people in need of food help, and authorities are warning that if nothing is done “millions of children” could starve to death…

“The numbers affected are absolutely extraordinary,” said Mark Kaye, Save the Children’s Yemen spokesperson.

“We keep on talking about a country that’s on the brink of famine, but for me these numbers highlight that we’re at the point of no return. If things are not done now we are going to be looking back on this and millions of children will have starved to death, and we’ll all have been aware of this for some time. That will shame us as an international community for years to come.

Eritrea was not specifically included in the recent UN alert, but it should have been. Much of the country has been hit by a crippling drought, and approximately half of all children in Eritrea are stunted…

But we cannot understand why Eritrea is not included in the appeal. Unicef has confirmed what we know from our friends and families inside the country. In a report in January, the agency said that the El Niño drought has hit half of all Eritrea’s regions. Acute malnutrition is widespread. As Unicef put it: “Malnutrition rates already exceeded emergency levels, with 22,700 children under five projected to suffer from severe acute malnutrition in 2017 … Half of all children in Eritrea are stunted, and as a result, these children are even more vulnerable to malnutrition and disease outbreaks.”

We have been warned that there would be famines in diverse places in these times. But here in the western world we tend to be lulled into a false sense of security by our comfortable lives, not realizing that the massively inflated standard of living that we have been enjoying has been fueled by the largest mountain of debt in the history of the planet.

In Kenya, a national emergency has been declared due to drought and famine. For those of you that are parents, what would you do if your children were crying out for food but you didn’t have anything to give them? The following story from Kenya is beyond heartbreaking…

Emmanuel Ayapar is three years old and can no longer walk. The flesh on his legs, which dangle from his mother’s hip as she carries him around, is wasting away.

He seems listless and sad, tongue flicking repeatedly in and out of his mouth.

‘We do not have enough food,’ said Veronica, his 28-year-old mother. ‘We eat only once a day.’

The little boy is suffering from severe malnutrition and is at risk of starving to death. He weighs just 15lb – half the typical weight for a boy of his age.

I don’t even know what to say after that.

In the western world we can be so incredibly self-absorbed that we don’t even realize that children are literally starving to death on the other side of the planet.

Hopefully those of us that live in “wealthy” western countries will step up to the plate and aid those in need, and hopefully this crisis will also help us to understand that we need to prepare for the day when things get difficult in our own nations too.

(Originally published on The Economic Collapse Blog)

Muslim Mob Rapes 15 Christian Women in ‘Revenge Attack’ for Conversions

In a recent attack, some 90 Muslims stormed a Christian church in eastern Uganda, beating and tying up the men present before raping 15 of the Christian women.

The assault was reportedly a “revenge attack” against the pastor of the Katira church for allegedly converting Muslims to Christianity. Along with the violence perpetrated against the congregation, the mob also carried off the pastor, the Rev. Moses Mutasa, and severely damaged the church property.

According to a member of the congregation who escaped from the church, one of the attackers shouted, “Away with the pastor who is converting our Muslims to Christianity.” After the attack, church members also found leaflets accusing the pastor of converting Muslims and threatening more attacks.

(Read the rest of the story here…)

Barack Obama to be confronted by 5,000 naked male and female prostitutes in Kenya during anti-gay protest in a bid to ‘show him the difference between men and women’

Obama

Barack Obama will be confronted by 5,000 naked prostitutes when he visits Kenya next week.

A two-day demonstration has been organised to protest against the U.S. president’s support for legalising homosexuality in the African country.

The Republican Liberty party, which is behind the stunt, said it will involve male and female sex workers to show Mr Obama the difference between men and women.

Party leader Vincent Kidala said the prostitutes had agreed to participate free of charge because they would lose customers if homosexuality was legalised.

(Read the rest of the story here…)

Hunted down like animals and sold by their own families for £50,000: Tanzania’s albinos hacked apart by witchdoctors who believe their body parts ‘bring luck’ in sick trade ‘fueled by the country’s elite’

Tanzania - Photo by TUBS

Tanzania’s albinos are being ‘hunted down like animals’ as greed for money and influence drives families to turn on their own loved ones in a trade allegedly fuelled by some of the country’s most powerful people.

It is believed albino body parts will bring a person wealth, or luck – and for that, people are willing to pay as much as $3,000 or $4,000 for a limb, or as much as $75,000 – about £50,000 – for the ‘full set’, a whole body.

People with albinism are regularly attacked by people who chop their limbs off – an act which either leaves them severely mutilated, or dead.

(Read the rest of the story here…)

New ‘Monsanto Law’ in Africa Would Force GMOs on Farmers

Corn - Public Domain

The front lines of the food sovereignty war in Ghana are swelling as the national parliament gives support to the Plant Breeders Bill.

This proposed legislation contains rules that would restrict farmers from ancient practices: freely saving, swapping, and breeding seeds. Under new laws protecting the intellectual property rights of biotech, farmers would be subject to hefty fines for growing anything that has been ‘patented,’ even if their crops were cross-pollinated.

The obviously biotech-infiltrated Ghanaian government states that the new laws would “incentivize the development of new seed varieties to ensure the marketability of crops,” but farmers argue it gives rights straight to corporations like Monsanto, and not farmers who have been growing food in Ghana for centuries.

Many activists and trade groups there think that the new laws would simply give Monsanto a way to edge their biotech crops into the Ghanaian market. The bill has been dubbed the “Monsanto Law” for this reason.

(Read the rest of the story here…)

Prominent Doctor: We’ve Had 230 Doctors Die From Ebola In Africa And We Don’t Know Why

Ebola Virus - CDC

Despite taking extreme precautions, why are hundreds of doctors catching the Ebola virus?  Nobody seems to have the answer to this question.  During previous outbreaks of Ebola, this never happened.  But now health professionals are becoming infected with this deadly virus over and over again.  So what in the world is going on?  In the video posted below, a prominent doctor asks some very important questions…

Mali becomes sixth West African nation hit by Ebola

Mali - Photo by TUBS

Mali confirmed its first case of Ebola on Thursday, becoming the sixth West African country to be touched by the worst outbreak on record of the hemorrhagic fever, which has killed nearly 4,900 people.

Mali’s Health Minister Ousmane Kone told state television that the patient in the western town of Kayes was a two-year-old girl who had recently arrived from neighboring Guinea, where the outbreak began.

“The condition of the girl, according to our services, is improving thanks to her rapid treatment,” the minister told state television.

A health ministry official, who asked not to be identified, said the girl’s mother died in Guinea a few weeks ago and the baby was brought by relatives to the Malian capital Bamako, where she stayed for 10 days in the Bagadadji neighborhood before heading to Kayes.

(Read the rest of the story here…)

Obama’s Ebola Czar Thinks There’s Too Many People in Africa

Africa Child - Public Domain

President Barack Obama’s new ‘Ebola Czar’ Ron Klain is an enthusiastic advocate of population control who thinks that there are too many people in Africa.

Klain’s role in overseeing the United States’ response to a virus that has killed thousands of Africans and threatens to infect up to 10,000 a week by December 1st is somewhat disconcerting given his views on overpopulation.

In a recent interview, Klain said the top leadership issue challenging the world today was “how to deal with the continuing growing population in the world” including “burgeoning populations in Africa and Asia.”

Critics have attacked Obama’s decision to appoint Klain as a political smokescreen, pointing out that the former Chief of Staff to Al Gore has no medical experience or expertise.

Although Klain is by no means championing Ebola as a means of reducing world population, other prominent individuals have done precisely that – most notably award-winning Texas scientist Dr. Erik Pianka, the UT professor who in 2006 advocated the use of weaponized airborne Ebola as a means of wiping out nine tenths of the earth’s population to save the planet from humanity’s wrath.

The Obama administration’s link to authoritarian ideas about population control was firmly established back in 2009 when it was revealed that White House science czar John P. Holdren had co-authored a 1977 book in which he advocated the formation of a “planetary regime” that would use a “global police force” to enforce totalitarian measures of population control, including forced abortions, mass sterilization programs conducted via the food and water supply, as well as mandatory bodily implants that would prevent couples from having children.

(Read the rest of the story here…)

The Spread Of Ebola In Africa Is Being Limited Due To Tight Border Controls In Two African Countries

Ebola Outbreak In Africa
Considering the CDC’s conflicting and confusing statements –  I’m not sure which is more dangerous – government incompetence or Ebola.

Aside from being a grave threat to human life, an Ebola epidemic in the US would have serious consequences for our economy, inhibiting Americans from flying, going out to restaurants or to see a movie, or  just going out in public in general.

Just look at the public fear incurred in the past couple of days, with only one infected person (Amber Joy Vinson) travelling on a commercial airline. Schools have closed down, and many are now afraid to fly.  (Reuters) “Nearly half of Americans are so concerned about the Ebola outbreak …that they are avoiding international air travel.” Add more Ebola-infected people to the mix, and we will be in a full-blown panic.

Although anathematic to the CDC’s recommendation that the US should NOT enact travel restrictions, two countries in Africa have stopped Ebola in its tracks, doing just that very thing.

How Two African Countries Have Succeeded in Stopping Ebola

The Associated Press (AP) out of Kenya states that “Health officials battling the Ebola outbreak that has killed more than 4,500 people in West Africa have managed to limit its spread on the continent to five countries – and two of them appear to have snuffed out the disease. The developments constitute a modest success in an otherwise bleak situation.”

“Officials credit tighter border controls… with keeping Ebola confined mostly to Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea” 

giraffes in africa

Senegal and Nigeria are two success stories, which should be used as an example for the rest of the world.

“Senegal did so well in finding and isolating a man with Ebola who had slipped across the border from Guinea in August that the World Health Organization on Friday will declare the end of the disease in Senegal if no new cases surface.

Nigeria is another success story. It had 20 cases and eight deaths after the virus was brought by a Liberian-American who flew from Liberia to Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital of 21 million people, in July. Nearly 900 people were potentially exposed to the virus by the traveler, who died, and the disease could have wreaked havoc in Africa’s most populous nation.

Instead, Ebola appears to have been beaten…with no new cases since Aug. 31.

Ivory Coast, Guinea-Bissau and Senegal, all of which share borders with at least one of the three most affected countries, have closed those borders. The disease continues to ravage Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, overwhelming their health systems.

Authorities in some African countries imposed tight air travel restrictions, tougher than those contemplated by the U.S. or British governments.

South Africa and Zambia slapped travel and entry restrictions on Ebola-stricken countries. Kenya Airways, the country’s main airline, stopped flying to the affected lands.

In Zimbabwe, all travelers from West Africa are put under 21-day surveillance. Health officials regularly visit those travelers to check their condition.

Nigeria initially banned flights from countries with Ebola but relaxed the restriction once it felt that airlines were competent to take travelers’ temperatures and follow other measures to prevent people with Ebola from flying.”

“All it takes is one infected person to slip around guards 
at a border post  or get aboard a plane. 
The fact we stopped doing the West African flights had an impact.
On that part I think we got it right.” 

In an article in Newsmax, Travel Bans Enacted by Nearly 30 Countries, but Not US, “Nearly every African nation has instituted travel bans on West African countries with significant Ebola outbreaks.

Though the Obama administration has insisted travel bans are not necessary, even countries outside of Africa are beginning to start such travel bans, with Colombia and the Caribbean island of St. Lucia on Wednesday adding their names to a growing list of nearly 30 countries that block travelers from virus-stricken Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea.”

Complete list of nations with travel bans or significant travel restrictions:



Gambia
Nigeria
Togo
Gabon
Ivory Coast
Senegal
Rwanda
Chad
Namibia
South Sudan
Zambia
Zimbabwe
Cameroon
Gabon

Angola
Botswana
South Africa
Congo (DRC)
Lesotho
Equatorial Guinea
Kenya
Madagascar
Malawi
Morocco
Mauritius
Mozambique
Swaziland
Tanzani
*Some airlines have already discontinued  flights to the affected countries.  


Delta Air Lines has stopped flying from New York to Monrovia, Liberia. 


British Airways, Air France and Kenya Airways have also cut flights.

african sunset

St. Lucia Prime Minister Kenny Anthony said all visitors from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone were prohibited from entering his country until the Ebola outbreak is brought under control, saying the ban will minimize chances for the deadly disease to be introduced by an infected traveler.

Colombia’s Foreign Ministry issued a brief statement saying the country was barring entry by any travelers requiring visas who have been in five African nations with Ebola outbreaks — Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Senegal. It said the step was being taken at the recommendation of Colombia’s National Institute of Health.”

“Banning air travel until the world gets control of this outbreak, that’s got to be policy or the virus will spread around the world,” said Kipp Branch, director of the medicines program at MAP International, a Brunswick, Ga., nonprofit that has sent $12 million worth of protective suits and medical supplies to West Africa.

“You have to isolate it. You can’t isolate it with people coming in and out,” Branch said to the Detroit Free Press.

House Speaker John Boehner on Wednesday urged President Barack Obama to consider a temporary ban after two American nurses contracted the virus from a Liberian man who lied on his travel questionairre and was able to fly into Dallas. He died, but so far, 2 nurses that cared for him have contracted the Ebola virus.

Doubts about the federal government’s ability to manage the Ebola threat without some sort of travel restriction increased late Wednesday when it was revealed that Amber Joy Vinson, the 29-year-old nurse who tested positive for the virus on Tuesday, had flown on a Frontier Airlines flight from Cleveland to Dallas on Monday. To make matters worse, that airplane flew 5 more flights loaded with passengers, until they finally benched the plane.

She reportedly called the CDC several times before the flight, reporting that she had a fever of 99.5. At least one CDC representative told her it was fine to fly, however, because according to its guidelines travel should only be avoided when a patient has a temperature of 100.4 or higher.”

On its website, the CDC says all people possibly exposed to Ebola should restrict their travels – including avoiding commercial flights – for 21 days. Yet Vinsone, one of the nurses who cared for the Ebola patient that died, supposedly “monitored” by the CDC , was allowed to fly on a commercial airline. 

“The Obama White House is digging in and not listening to the voices of common sense coming from both sides of the aisle.”–Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) on the need to stop commercial air travel from West Africa to the United States on Sunday TV, October 19.

Considering that the World Health Organization states that there could soon be 10,000 new Ebola cases a week, an incompetent CDC, an unprepared US hospital system, doctors and nurses with no experience nor protocols in handling Ebola – it only seems logical to institute a travel ban.

Article authored by Carol Serpa. You can find the original story right here.

Food crisis looms as Ebola rampages through West Africa

 

Africa Child - Public Domain

The mango season finished early for Mamadou Barry, a fruit vendor in Marche Kermel, an old covered market in the Senegalese capital Dakar. Where stalls once brimmed with tropical produce imported from neighbouring Guinea, the Ebola-related border closure has emptied the tables.

Barry, of Guinean origin like many storekeepers in Senegal, has been going back and forth between the two countries for three years. He says the government’s positive aim of keeping Senegal Ebola-free has had a negative impact on his livelihood.

“With the shortage of fruit coming in our income has decreased. Some people manage to sneak across the border and get back without being caught, but most of us don’t take that risk so we can’t provide for our families,” said Barry, 55, as he closed down his stall for the day.

(Read the rest of the story here…)

Another American Doctor Tests Positive for Ebola in West Africa

Ebola Biosafety_level_4_hazmat_suit - Public Domain

Another American doctor working for the missionary group SIM has tested positive for Ebola in Liberia.

The doctor was treating pregnant women ELWA Hospital in Monrovia, Liberia, according to SIM. But he was not treating Ebola patients in the hospital’s separate Ebola isolation facility, the group said, adding that it was unclear how he contracted the virus.

“My heart was deeply saddened, but my faith was not shaken, when I learned another of our missionary doctors contracted Ebola,” SIM president Bruce Johnson said in a statement.

The doctor “immediately isolated himself” and has since been transferred to the ELWA Ebola ward where he is “doing well and is in good spirits,” according to SIM.


Watch more news videos | Latest from the US
(Read the rest of the story here…)

Ebola outbreak: West Africa food harvests ‘at risk’

Maize - Public Domain

The Ebola outbreak is putting food harvests in West Africa “at serious risk”, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warns.

It has raised a special alert for Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, the three countries worst affected.

Rice and maize production will be particularly affected during the coming harvest season, says the FAO.

The food shortages are expected to worsen in the coming months.

The outbreak has killed at least 1,550 of the 3,000 people in four countries since March – the worst Ebola outbreak in history.

(Read the rest of the story here…)

The Ebola Pandemic Reaches Another Country – Congo Confirms Two Deaths

Congo Map - Ebola

Authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo say two people have died from Ebola in the country’s north-west.

They are the first reported Ebola cases outside West Africa since the outbreak there began, although it is not clear if they are directly linked to that outbreak.

So far 1,427 people have died from the virus.

The speed and extent of the outbreak has been “unprecedented”, the World Health Organization (WHO) says.

An estimated 2,615 people in West Africa have been infected with Ebola since March.

There is no known cure but some affected people have recovered after being given an experimental drug, ZMapp. However, supplies are now exhausted.

(Read the rest of the story here…)

Inside Ebola hell: witness sees horror of bodies being tipped into truck at Africa clinic

Death - Public Domain

Seven days ago Oliver Wilson drove his sick, shivering wife Layson to an isolation clinic for suspected cases of Ebola.

The 33-year-old nurse, knew from her symptoms that she had contracted the world’s most feared virus.

She knew also that she was about to die from the incurable disease.

But she had stopped short of telling Oliver.

And she deliberately didn’t hug their one-year-old son Oliver Junior as she walked alone through the quarantine tape surrounding the tin-roofed hospital unit.

Her fear that she could infect the tot through a drop of sweat or a stray tear was based on sound knowledge.

Yesterday grief-stricken Oliver wept and banged his head against the steering wheel of the family car as he watched Layson’s body chucked unceremoniously on to the back of a truck in a white plastic bag.

(Read the rest of the story here…)

Ebola epidemic sparks panic in African nations

Fear - Public Domain

The worst outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in history could actually be much worse than the official death toll reflects. Already, the World Health Organization says 887 people have died, but a top doctor working at the heart of the outbreak in West Africa says many cases are going unreported.

The senior doctor, who works for a leading medical organization in Liberia, explained to CBS News’ Debora Patta that what has helped set this outbreak apart from previous ones is the virus’ spread in urban areas.

One of the epicenters of the disease is the Liberian capital of Monrovia, home to about a million people, or almost a quarter of the country’s population.

The doctor, who spoke to CBS News on condition of confidentiality, said the disease is spinning out of control in Africa partly because it is extremely difficult to contain it in a sprawling, congested city center.

(Read the rest of the story here…)

‘Radical action required’: Drug-resistant malaria spreads in Asia, Africa

Malaria - Public Domain

Drug-resistant malaria is dangerously spreading in South-East Asia, according to a recent study. “Radical action” is needed to prevent it from spreading further, the researchers say.

The study was carried out by the New England Journal of Medicine, and founded by the UK Department of International Development.

In the study, blood samples from 1,241 malaria patients in 10 countries at 15 trial sites in Asia and Africa.

Resistance was noticed in central Burma, southern Laos, and north-eastern Cambodia. In particular, the Cambodia-Thailand border was indicated as risky.

(Read the rest of the story here…)

‘Boko Haram’ Abducts Cameroon PM’s Wife

Boko Haram - Image from Boko Haram Video

The Cameroonian military says members of the Nigerian militant group Boko Haram have abducted the wife of the country’s deputy prime minister in the northern Cameroonian town of Kolofata.

A local religious leader and mayor was also abducted from the same town.

Separately, at least five people in northern Nigeria were killed in a blast – residents suspect Boko Haram.

Boko Haram has stepped up cross-border attacks into Cameroon in recent weeks, as the army was deployed to the region.

(Read the rest of the story here…)

Doctors Have No Idea How To Stop Africa’s Deadliest Ebola Outbreak Ever

Biohazard - Public Domain

When an Ebola outbreak lasts for months and continues to show up in new cities, health officials take notice.

That’s exactly what’s happening in West Africa. An outbreak that started in Guinea last February has surged in the past few weeks. It’s now the deadliest outbreak since the virus was first detected in 1976.

More than 500 cases have been reported in three West African countries, and the death toll has risen to 337, the World Health Organization Wednesday. That’s up from 208 cases reported two weeks ago, a 60 percent spike.

“There are many villages in the eastern part of Sierra Leone that are basically devastated,” virologist of Tulane University NPR’s Jason Beaubien. “We walked into one village … and we found 25 corpses. One house with seven people, all in one family, were dead.

(Read the rest of the story here…)

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