African Union troops have arrived in the Comoros to help its military regain control of an island where a renegade leader has declared himself president.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7289318.stm 

The Comoran army chief said France had helped transport Tanzanian forces to the Comoros to prepare an amphibious assault on Anjouan island.

Lt-Col Mohamed Salimou said Anjouan's renegade leader, Mohamed Bacar, only understood the language of violence.

Mr Bacar unilaterally declared himself president of Anjouan island last year.

Earlier, AU special envoy Francesco Madeira told the BBC that time had run out for Mr Bacar and urged him to step down or be overwhelmed by its troops.

...

Col Salimou said the time for negotiation was over.

"We have negotiated over and over and now this idea is no longer in fashion," he told Focus on Africa. "We have come to understand that the only language that Mohamed Bacar will understand is the language of weapons."

...

A history of political violence has left the tiny Comoros archipelago in the Indian Ocean desperately poor since independence from France in 1975.

At times, the country has teetered on the brink of disintegration, amid tensions between the semi-autonomous islands and the central government.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/7288959.stm 

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has said he is deeply concerned about the sharp rise in global food prices.

Mr Ban said the trend would hinder progress towards the millennium development goals (MDGs), which aim to halve extreme poverty by 2015.

The UN World Food Program (WFP) and other agencies may be forced to ration food aid, he said in a BBC interview.

He said shortages might be eased by a "green revolution" to transform farming methods in Africa.

Global food prices have risen by 40% in nine months and food reserves are at their lowest for 30 years.

The WFP is facing a $500m (£248m) shortfall in its attempts to feed 73 million people this year.

'Political challenge'

Mr Ban said that "many countries in particular in Africa they now have to pay double or triple the price for their bread," and warned that this would lead to increased malnutrition.

"This will all affect our MDG programmes - I am very much seriously concerned about this," he said.

The change has been blamed on poor harvests, population growth, rising energy and grain prices, the effects of climate change, and a shift to biofuel crops.

Although one UN official has called the increasing use of crops for fuel rather than food a crime against humanity, Mr Ban said there was a need to balance the positive and negative aspects of biofuels.

Among possible solutions, he said that "there is broad consensus that more resources should be provided to help an African green revolution".

But he cautioned that transforming commitments into action would be a "huge political challenge".

"We need to rededicate and commit ourselves by galvanising political will, by mobilising necessary recourses."

Invention could be used by army and aid agencies
- Military technology goes on show in London

James Randerson, science correspondent

The Guardian, Wednesday March 12 2008

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/mar/12/sciencenews.military 
This article appeared in the Guardian on Wednesday March 12 2008 on p16 of the UK news section. It was last updated at 00:05 on March 12 2008.
The water in Michael Pritchard's fishtank came straight from his garden pond and it showed. The greenish gunk looked and smelled like it ought not to go anywhere near a human digestive system. "It's got fish poo and everything in there," said Pritchard. But after pumping it through his lightweight, handheld device it came out crystal clear and he even persuaded some onlookers to taste it.

The Lifesaver bottle was one of several inventions at a show of military technology hosted by the National Army Museum in Chelsea, central London, yesterday. Many, such as Pritchard's invention and a newly developed acoustic cat's eye, should have numerous civilian applications as well.

"The main reason I invented [the Lifesaver bottle] was for the aid market, the disaster market," he said. Once a hurricane or earthquake hits, one of the most pressing logistical needs is to provide clean drinking water to the victims.

"The old thinking has been we ship them water, particularly in the first days and weeks. Well that's very expensive and a logistical nightmare, but it has been the only way we've been able to do it," he said. A transport plane can typically hold enough bottled water for 800 people for a month. The same plane can carry 125,000 Lifesaver bottles. At one bottle per family, that's enough to keep half a million people in drinking water for 16 months.