World News

First came the booming economies. Then came the rush of investors. Now the so-called BRIC nations -- Brazil, Russia, India and China -- are talking about forming a political alliance.

As many as 200 U.S.-trained Mexican security personnel have defected to drug cartels to carry out killings on both sides of the border and as far north as Dallas, Rep. Ted Poe, R-Humble, told Congress on Wednesday.

That’s the question raised by this terrific Wall Street Journal story. The firm is GlobalOptions, an extremely well-connected company run by, among others, former FBI and CIA officials.

The Bush administration on Wednesday was downplaying the role of biofuels production in rising food prices. The debate involves questions of blame for rapidly inflating prices for staple crops that have led to famine and riots in many parts of the world. Some economists and food scientists have argued that biofuel production should be scaled back because it is a major factor in rising food costs, particularly corn.

Fidencio Alvarez abandoned his bean and corn farm in southern Honduras because of the rising cost of seeds, fuel and food. After months of one meal a day, he hiked with his wife and six children to find work in the city.

The European Union and the United States will hold high-level talks Tuesday to enhance transatlantic economic ties, with focus on regulatory cooperation, officials said.

Venezuela is planning to conclude several contracts with Russia next month on the purchase of military equipment worth at least $2 billion, a leading Russian business daily said on Monday.

"The terrorist catastrophes in New York and Washington swept away media comment on other global events taking place on September 11, 2001. Virtually obscured on that historic agreement reached in Lima, Peru by the foreign ministers of the Organization of American States (OAS) on the Inter-American Democratic Charter. –Lou Dobbs, CNN

Prices for cornmeal and rice have doubled in Somalia since January, and on Monday food riots wracked the Somalian city of Mogadishu. Thousands of people protested the insane prices for staple foods, and eventually police shot and killed two protesters. Earlier this year, food riots broke out in the African nation of Senegal as well. What's causing these conditions, which sound like the precursors to the apocalyptic food-shortage flick Soylent Green?

The first ever Zenith Global Citizenship Conference, an initiative designed to build leadership and inspiration in youth between the ages of 15 and 25, will take place at the River Rock Resort Casino next week.