Drought Pushes Kenya to Declare Emergency
A widespread drought in Kenya is causing the nation to declare a food emergency, reports the BBC. Almost 10 million people are in danger of going hungry, according to the Kenya government. “President Kibaki told the food security committee that the entire government must focus on the urgency of providing food to all Kenyans after the failed rains in the last two seasons and reduced production due to last year’s post-election challenges,” said a government statement. The government is planning to bring in 5 million bags of maize, cut the price of seeds (to encourage farming) and buy livestock in areas hit hard by the drought to help ease the crisis. Last year’s post-election violence is also playing a role in the country’s growing hunger problem. Many of the 300,000 people displaced by the violence were farmers, who have since been too scared to come back home and plant crops, reports CNN.
Cubans Can Now Operate Private Taxis
After an almost 10-year ban, Cuba is now allowing new licenses for private taxis. Under the new rules private cabs will also be allowed in rural areas, although they’ll have tighter restrictions than city cabs, reports the BBC. Many Cubans have been operating their own taxi services for years illegally but could have had their cars taken away if they were caught. Officials had originally banned the taxis because they believed they were operating a black market for fuel. Restrictions in the Communist country have lessened in the past months. Just last year the Cuban government loosened restrictions on cell phones and the Internet.

TAGS: communism, Cuba, emergency, hunger, Kenya, starvation, taxis

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