Looks very much like a dry run ... testing our ships' response ... how close they could get, etc.

Shape Of Sugar Molecule Could Be All That Is Stopping Bird Flu Pandemic

Hmmm ...

Excerpt:

US scientists have found that the shape of sugar molecules on cell surfaces in the upper respiratory tract determine how easy it is for influenza viruses to infect humans, and suggest that if the deadly strain of H5N1 bird flu were to adapt a way to bind to this shape of sugar molecule it would spread easily from human to human and provoke a world pandemic.

[snip]

Read article.


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How the U.S. Seeks to Avert Nuclear Terror

Excellent reading here.

Excerpt:

The forensics study is trying to assess how authoritative the U.S. could be in attributing a nuclear device to a particular source and in making its case to the American public and the rest of the world.Davis said it was hoped that nuclear forensics could determine the size of a detonation within one hour; the sophistication of the bomb design within six hours; how the fuel was enriched within 72 hours; and the peculiar details of national design -- "Does this look like a Russian, a Chinese or a Pakistani device, or something we have never seen before?" -- within a week.

What next? That part of the strategy is still evolving. Retaliation is one option that counter-terrorism officials have suggested in congressional testimony. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Pasadena), who has sponsored legislation to increase funding for nuclear forensics, suggested that any policy had to be flexible."

It would be left to the administration in office to determine what the repercussions would be," he said.

Deterrence might depend simply on the perception that the U.S. could respond with a counterstrike. But if nuclear fuel were traced back to Russia, would the U.S. start a nuclear exchange? And what if the nuclear materials came from the U.S.?

[snip]

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Nuclear Preparedness--What Does that Mean?

We've been putting a focus here lately on the growing threat out there with regard to nuclear proliferation. Nuclear warfare or nuclear terror are clearly among the worst-case scenarios we face in the 21st century.

The Current Terror Threat, Byte-Sized for Easy Consumption

1. Islamic nation Pakistan has nuclear weapons and ballistic missile technology. The moderate government there is in real danger today of falling to radical Muslim forces, including the Taliban and Al Qaeda.

2. Iran's ongoing bold pursuit of nuclear-weapons-producing capability has slipped to page 2, even while the Iranian momentum picks up speed. This should tell you something about the escalating overall danger civilization is facing at this moment in time.

3. It is obvious to most at this point that well-funded terror groups WILL get their hands on nuclear weapons in the near future. How to define "near future?" I hawked my crystal ball shortly after Y2K, so I don't have that answer for you.

Recent History & Political Reality

The world was fortunate that Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) worked as well as it did as a nuclear deterrent through the Cold War years. Today, there is no such solution in reach.

So governments are increasingly going public with programs and appeals to their populations to be aware and to prepare for the day when the nuclear genie escapes once again. The urgency with which that is taking place is largely a measure of proximity to the Middle East or Western Asia. However, even in America, oceans away from the tinderbox, you should be able to detect the civil defense frame of mind re-emerging little by little.

We have to pray that it isn't too little too late.

Figure You Are On Your Own

It may be many years before American sentiment drives government officials to foot the immense bill required to shelter the population from nuclear fallout and/or equip the nation for realistic recovery efforts following a serious nuclear event. In fact, the rebirth of civil defense in the USA likely won't happen until AFTER a radioactive ground zero appears on the map.

So if you hear the rushing wind today, you have to know that you are responsible for taking protective measures for you and your own.

The good news, in a nutshell, nuclear preparedness is simple, as long as you have an understanding and respect for the risks present in nuclear fallout. (Forget surviving a nuclear blast--that may require a lot of luck--or a lot of determination if you prefer to simply move out to the boonies today, away from potential targets).

Your Basic Needs

What does it take to be ready for the post-nuclear America? We sell most everything you need at Safecastle, but I'm not going to go commercial here and provide a bunch of links. I'll just keep it simple to get your thought processes humming. You take it from there.

Note: There are a lot of educational resources out there on the web if you want to become fluent in nuclear survivability. If you are so inclined, that's great. It won't hurt you a bit, as long as you keep a balanced outlook on the world and retain the view that nukes may never fly after all in our lifetime ... Stay positive, while offsetting the possibility of the negative.

1. Shelter--You need to have a living space that is well-shielded from radioactivity that might fall outside. Figure radioactive particles will be on your roof, in your yard, and on anything that is exposed to the elements. The best achievable, cost-effective solution is to strive for at least 30 inches of earthen shielding between your living space and any sources of radioactive fallout.

For most, that means getting underground--in a prepositioned shelter, in an expedient shelter (if you have time to dig one), or in a full basement. Short of being able to depend on a well-buried shelter, you would be well-served to have on hand a supply of sandbags, a couple of shovels, and a source of easy-to-access fill. Those sandbags can be used to shore up your shielding in home, or basement, or even can be used as a key component in building an expedient basement shelter.

If you live or work in a high-rise building, it may be that your best shelter would be had in an interior room in the center of the building, well off the ground and well below the roof.

2. Basic gear--Nuclear targets are going to be strategic in their choosing for either population density, industrial/commercial/government capacity, or all of the above. If you are near ground zero, you will not have to give thought to what happens next. On the other hand, most people will need to deal with the aftermath and struggle with possible exposure to radioactive fallout. In assessing your risk, look upwind (wind directions are not always predictable, so in the preparatory stage, don't just look at where the wind most often comes from). Fallout could come from hundreds of miles away.

At least two things you need here:

a. a radio or other communications receiver so you can monitor what the authorities are advising in terms of fallout danger.
b. some type of radiation meter/detector/dosimeter so you can assess for yourself conditions in your immediate environment.

3. Life-sustaining supplies--Everything you and the other members in your household would need to hole up for at least two weeks. Think water, food, medication and medical supplies, light sources, heat sources if applicable, and entertainment (to keep some level of normality and optimistic outlook in place--especially for the youngsters).

You may not need to stay sheltered for the whole two weeks all day long, depending on the type and level of fallout in your vicinity, but two weeks is a common period most of us use as a benchmark.

4. Faith and courage--Lastly, I would strongly suggest that you are well-armed ... with some effective means of self-defense AND with a means for feeding your faith in heaven. Guns and Bibles ... sounds quaint or maybe downright primitive. But if you think about what it might actually be like, stuck in a shelter for any length of time ... you do not want your fears to get the best of you.

One final note in this simplistic nuclear survival primer ... I did not mention Potassium Iodide or Potassium Iodate here. Those chemical compounds ARE helpful in blocking radioiodine uptake by the thyroid gland, helping to prevent thyroid cancer years down the road. In reality, thyroid cancer is not an immediate concern and would be most helpful to children and young adults, should they survive near-term post-nuclear events. In other words, get some, but do not think of those chemicals as a magic bullet versus radioactivity. Heavy doses of radiation pose a wide range of physical threats to anyone who is unshielded and exposed for a period of time. There is no antidote for that near-term danger.

First and foremost, you need to find that physical shelter from radiation and fallout. Survive that first, then think about cancer risks 10-20 years down the road.



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Official Public Assurances Aside, Pakistan is Crisis Priority #1

Famed Harvard scholar Graham Allison was reported today by NTI to say:

“A witch's brew that includes political instability, a burgeoning Islamic insurgency, a demoralized army and an intensely anti-American population, puts Pakistan's nuclear weapons at risk."

NTI paraphrased Allison--Pakistan’s nuclear security measures were mostly designed to prevent India from locating the weapons. Those measures have included dispersing weapons components at multiple sites.

“But these arrangements by necessity increase the likelihood that corrupt officials could successfully divert weapons or materials,” Allison said.

Read the whole article, "Experts Differ on Pakistani Nuclear Security."


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10 Resolutions to Help You Survive the Coming Bear Market

May the coming year be healthy, happy, and prosperous for you!

In case it isn't all of that, do resolve to remain prepared for challenges.

In terms of your financial situation, Paul B. Farrell offers a fair advisory on how you might keep your head above water and dog-paddling in the right direction ...

PAUL B. FARRELL
Winning attitude
Ten resolutions that will help you survive the coming bear market
By Paul B. Farrell, MarketWatch
Last update: 5:01 p.m. EST Dec. 31, 2007

ARROYO GRANDE, Calif. (MarketWatch) -- In a rare Fortune interview several years ago Warren Buffett warned that America was "selling the farm" to live "high on the hog." Forget the hog: that dream's gone, and the farm may not be far behind.

"Selling the farm" was a perfect metaphor for the coming downturn. During the recent bull, Wall Street became totally addicted to easy credit, junk mortgages and snake-oil derivatives. The Fed and Treasury loved it, too, denying the massive bubble buildup, adding fuel to Wall Street's greed. Deja vu the 90's "irrational exuberance."

Now the crisis is metastasizing: Hundred of billions of dollars in write-offs reducing shareholder equity, hundreds of millions of dollars in severance pay to CEO losers. Worse yet, Wall Street's insiders rubbed salt in their shareholders wounds by passing out $38 billion of the shareholders' profits in bonuses, averaging more than $600,000. [snip]

To read the whole article, including Paul's 10 suggested resolutions, click here.


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IDF Advising Israelis How to Prep for WMD War

Today, the well-anticipated guidebook from the Israeli military on how to prepare households in that country for WMD warfare was posted online.

The document is a 48-page pdf. Not sure if you'll have the same issues I did in downloading it, but I found that I had to keep "reloading" about seven times in a row before it completed the process. Overall, because of that, it took about a minute with my DSL connection to get the whole document.

It's certainly worth looking at. The advice is much different than what Americans are used to seeing, that's for sure. Primarily, the difference is the fact that in Israel, rocket attacks are a grim reality of life. The danger of WMDs being used there is clear and potentially imminent.

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Who is in Control of Pakistan's Nuclear Arsenal?

Again, stay on top of this situation. Read this.

Will We Know If Extremists Gain Control of Pakistani Nukes?

Think about these comments by Gene Poteat, AFIO president, as reported in Newsmax. (Or, if you are particularly susceptible to bouts of anxiety and nightmares, do NOT read the following.)

“The real danger for us now in the U.S. is that if this continues the way it’s going, the Taliban and al-Qaida could eventually have control of a nuclear arsenal,” says S. Eugene Poteat, a former CIA official. “And you know, we might not even know it. Because the way infiltration works by these people, you never know who they are.

"Al-Qaida or its affiliates could be in the military, they could be in control of a nuclear arsenal, and if they get it, we know one thing for sure is that it will be used one way or the other. They may not use it right away, but that’s the danger,” says Poteat, who is president of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers. “They’ve let it be known publicly what their plans are: their intentions are to kill us.”


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Bhutto's Assassination

The brave, democracy-driven Benazir Bhutto was killed today in an extremist suicide attack in Pakistan.

The former Prime Minister knew the grave risks she was assuming returning to her native Pakistan several weeks ago. Her ambition was to help stabilize and re-democratize a country that is increasingly the focal point of the struggle between the West and radical Islam.

The stakes there ARE enormous--to include the Islamic nation's dozens of nuclear weapons, not to mention the welfare of more than 162M Pakistani citizens, most of whom remain liberal and westernized.

Sadly today, the situation is clearly moving closer to the feared societal meltdown in Pakistan that would pose worldwide danger.

Terror-wielding groups such as the Taliban and Al Qaeda are fully engaged and aiming for chaos in the region--attempting to gain control or influence over unknown numbers of susceptible members of the Pakistani military. If the radicals succeed in overthrowing the government there, the entire global dynamic becomes extremely volatile.

My suggestion--watch this situation very closely and determine how this might impact your own readiness plan.

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Database - 247 U.S. Disasters To-Date Since 2000

How do you visualize the risks and threats you are preparing for? One true and unbiased way is to look at researcher-tabulated data.

Since 1988, the WHO Collaborating Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) has been maintaining an Emergency Events Database - EM-DAT.

EM-DAT was created with the initial support of the WHO and the Belgian government.

The main objective of the database is to serve the purposes of humanitarian action at national and international levels. It is an initiative aimed at rationalizing decision-making for disaster preparedness, as well as providing an objective base for vulnerability assessment and priority setting.

I strongly recommend you spend at least a few minutes perusing the EM-DAT site. I guarantee you will take away some eye-opening morsels for consideration.

At a minimum, I'd suggest going to this page:
http://www.em-dat.net/disasters/Visualisation/advsearch.php

On that search page, you can call up lists of types of disasters and their impact for any country or region in the world for periods of time as long ago as 1900. A sample search I did was for the U.S., from 2000 to present, all types of disasters. The result was a list of 247 disasters, to include drought, earthquake, fire, disease, floods, storms, industrial and transportation accidents, and more.

This is quite simply a stark reminder that disaster, when it strikes, is rarely going to be the type you might envision in your ongoing program of preparedness.

One lesson to take away is that we need to NOT focus on any one type of threat as being THE danger we want to be ready for. Another lesson is that wherever we are, risk is always there on the periphery of our comfortable and secure existence.

Thankfully, a good prep program is largely applicable across a wide spectrum of disaster risks.


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Christmas Joy to You and Yours

Thanks be to God for the gift of His Son.

May the spirit of joy and hope be with you throughout the year.

DHS: Resolve to be Ready in 2008

Release Date: Dec. 20, 2007
For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
Contact: 202-282-8010

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reminds Americans that the New Year is a perfect time to Resolve to be Ready. The department’s Ready Campaign has outlined the top 10 items for a basic emergency supply kit so that every American can keep their preparedness resolutions next year.

“We cannot stress enough the importance of being prepared for all types of emergencies, from natural disasters to terrorist attacks,” said Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. “Having a plan can make all the difference, as the recent flooding and ice storms across the country have shown. The time for individuals, families and businesses to plan is now, and to resolve to make readiness a priority for 2008.”

Keeping New Year’s resolutions is challenging, but making resolutions that are simple and realistic is the key to success. Americans can successfully prepare for emergencies by following the Ready Campaign’s three easy steps:

1. Prepare an emergency supply kit;
2. Make a family emergency plan; and
3. Be informed about the kinds of emergencies that can happen in your area and their appropriate responses.

To help get started, the Ready Campaign is issuing a checklist of the leading items needed in a basic emergency supply kit for the home or business. These items include: water, food, radio, flashlight, first-aid kit, whistle, moist towelettes, garbage bags and plastic ties, wrench or pliers, local maps, and personal items.

For the complete list of items the Ready Campaign recommends including in your emergency kit, visit theReady Campaign Web site at www.ready.gov or call 1-800-BE-READY. Ready also suggests creating a smaller, portable kit for your home or office in case you need to evacuate immediately. The Web site includes free information, checklists and guidelines about the two other key components of preparedness – developing a family emergency plan and being informed.

DHS reminds Americans to get involved in neighborhood and community preparedness efforts once their families are prepared. A good way to start is by reaching out to a local Citizen Corps Council to learn about hands-on training and opportunities to get involved with a local organization. For more information, visit https://www.ready.gov/citizen-corps

DHS promotes individual emergency preparedness through the Ready Campaign and Citizen Corps as part of a broader national effort conducted by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Ready is a national public service advertising campaign produced by The Advertising Council in partnership with DHS. The Ready Campaign is designed to educate and empower Americans to prepare for and respond to emergencies, including natural disasters and potential terrorist attacks. Individuals interested in more information about family and business preparedness can visit www.ready.gov or call 1-800-BE-READY to receive free materials. Citizen Corps, DHS’ grassroots effort, localizes preparedness messages and provides opportunities for citizens to get emergency response training; participate in community exercises; and volunteer to support local first responders. To learn more and to get involved, contact your nearest Citizen Corps Council by visiting https://www.ready.gov/citizen-corps.

 Staysafe.org's Guide to Disaster Preparedness: 
https://www.staysafe.org/how-to-prepare-yourself-and-your-community-for-natural-disasters/

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Think Tank Games Middle Eastern Nuclear War

Unthinkable? Think tank sees Israel, not Iran, surviving a Mideast nuclear war

Thursday, December 20, 2007 Geostrategy-Direct.com

WASHINGTON — Iran could sustain up to 28 million and Israel 800,000 casualties in a nuclear war between the two countries.

A report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies envisioned a nuclear missile war between Iran and Israel that would last 21 days. Authored by former Defense Department strategist Anthony Cordesman, the report said Israel could conceivably survive a nuclear war, but Iran would not.

"Iranian recovery is not possible in the normal sense of the term," the report, entitled Iran, Israel and Nuclear War, said. "Israeli recovery [is] theoretically possible in population and economic terms."

[snip] Click on article title above to read whole article.


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Reidel: Israel Will Attack Iran

Click title below to read full article:

Former US Intelligence official: Israel will attack Iran

Bruce Riedel, a former career CIA official and senior adviser to three US presidents, including Bush, tells Newsweek he came back from trip to Israel in November convinced that Jewish state would attack Iran. 'Israel is not going to allow its nuclear monopoly to be threatened,' he says.

[snip]


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Olmert's New NBC Bunker

So Israeli PM Ehud Olmert's residence is being outfitted with an NBC (nuclear-biological-chemical) shelter. They admit to a saferoom but not a full-fledged nuclear bunker.

I guess the nay-sayers would prefer their leaders stand front and center on the firing lines if and when things start to erupt over there hot and heavy. Something about being motivated for peace.

Well, I for one think it is good, common-sense logic that bunkers and saferooms are so prevalent in the Holy Land. And yes, of course, Israeli leaders need to be afforded the best protection possible.

Dec 20, 2007 10:26 Updated Dec 20, 2007 16:31
'Nuclear bunker being built for Olmert'

By ASSOCIATED PRESS

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office issued a statement Thursday strongly denying a report that Olmert's residence was being outfitted with a bunker that can withstand a nuclear or chemical attack.

The PMO called the Yediot Ahronot report "unfounded and misleading." The statement said workers were merely adding a "safe room," a room with thick concrete walls and metal-shuttered windows that is a feature of many Israeli buildings. Israeli construction codes require such rooms to protect residents in case of rocket attacks.

"No atomic bunker is being constructed at the prime minister's official residence, or a bunker equipped with special filters or any special equipment," the statement said.

Yediot Ahronot had claimed that workers at Olmert's official Jerusalem residence were thickening walls, digging, and installing air purification equipment capable of countering chemical agents.

[snip]

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CTC's New "Sentinel" Publication: Al-Qa`ida’s Resurgence in Pakistan

The "Combating Terrorism Center" at West Point has come out with their first issue of CTC Sentinel.

It's an excellent compendium of current expert reports on global terrorism. You can download the pdf at this site (click on the image there): http://www.ctc.usma.edu/sentinel/default.asp

One of the most noteworthy and cautionary of the reports is on page 8, authored by Bruce Reidel: "Al-Qa`ida’s Resurgence in Pakistan." Reidel concludes ...

It is disturbing enough that Pakistan is the real front line in the war against al-Qa`ida. The most frightening concern, however, is al-Qa`ida’s pursuit of a nuclear weapon. Pakistan is the world’s only Muslim state with nuclear weapons. According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, Pakistan has an estimated 50-90 nuclear weapons. The former director of the Central Intelligence Agency, George Tenet, in his memoirs laid out in great detail al-Qa`ida’s efforts during the last decade to get its hands on a Pakistani nuclear device. If Pakistan becomes more destabilized, it is likely that al-Qa`ida will make every effort to get one.

As I have stated previously, we should make no mistake on this one--Pakistan's ready-made nukes and missile technologies are a tantalizing target like no other these days for AQ. Those weapons and indeed Pakistan's very government are at their most vulnerable right now and we will be seeing every effort put forth by Bin Laden to seize the flame in that Islamic nation (polls today in Pakistan show Bin Laden is more popular there than Musharraf).


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Trust for America's Health: U.S. Still Unprepared for Disaster

See the Reuters article.

Excerpt:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States remains unprepared for disasters ranging from biological attacks to a flu pandemic, and funding for preparedness is falling, according to a report released on Tuesday.

Many states still lack a stockpile of drugs, masks, gloves and other equipment needed to battle a pandemic of diseases, despite five years of constant and detailed warning, the Trust for America's Health said in its report.

"Overall, federal funding for state and local preparedness will have declined by 25 percent in 3 years if the president's FY (fiscal year) 2008 request is approved," the report reads.

"Until all states measure up, the United States is not safe."

The nonprofit Trust has been issuing reports every year for five years, and said the 2001 anthrax attacks, in which five people died when anthrax spores were mailed to several offices, should have been a wake-up call.

The disasters caused by hurricanes Katrina and Rita that wrecked the U.S. Gulf Coast in 2005 should have galvanized more action and highlighted a variety of problems with U.S. disaster preparedness, the group said.

But the report released on Tuesday still finds preparedness is spotty.

[snip]

See the website of "Trust for America's Health" - Preventing Epidemics. Protecting People.

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Another Reason to Watch Pakistan Right Now

Possible H5N1 family cluster probed in Pakistan

Dec 17, 2007 (CIDRAP News) – The World Health Organization (WHO) has sent a team to Pakistan to investigate at least eight suspected human cases of H5N1 avian influenza in the same general area, including cases in four brothers and two of their cousins, according to news services.

WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl said limited human-to-human transmission in the cases is possible, according to an Associated Press (AP) report published yesterday. However, he told Nature that 40 contacts of the suspected case-patients have tested negative.

If confirmed, the cases will mark the first human H5N1 infections in Pakistan. They also appear to constitute the largest cluster of related infections since eight cases (seven confirmed, one probable) occurred among relatives in North Sumatra in May 2006. Transmission of the disease from a 10-year-old boy to his father was confirmed by laboratory testing in that episode.

In a Dec 15 statement, the WHO said Pakistan's ministry of health had reported eight suspected cases in the Peshawar area, in the wake of culling operations to control poultry outbreaks there. Peshawar is in the country's North-West Frontier province, near the Afghan border, where most of the country's poultry outbreaks have occurred.

Samples from the patients tested positive in Pakistan's national laboratory and were being sent to a WHO reference lab for confirmation and further analysis, the WHO said.

Doctors from the WHO in Geneva and Cairo and others from US Navy Medical Research Unit 3 in Cairo were on their way to Pakistan yesterday to help investigate the cases and combat the disease, according to a Dec 16 Bloomberg news report. The team planned to track down, treat, and test contacts of the suspected case-patients, according to the Nature report.

Details of the suspected cases remained somewhat hazy today, as news reports varied in some respects.

According to the AP, Hartl said the illnesses involved four brothers, two of whom died, and two cousins, all from Abbotabad, a city about 30 miles north of Islamabad. Specimens were never collected from one of the deceased brothers. The two men who died had been students at an agricultural college in Peshawar; they were not involved in culling poultry, but they visited another brother when he was hospitalized, the story said.

Also among the suspected cases were a man and his niece from the Abbotabad area and a person who slaughtered poultry in Mansehra, 15 miles away, Hartl told the AP. He said some of the patients had had only mild symptoms and were never hospitalized.

The Bloomberg News report, also based on information from Hartl, concurred that the suspected case-patients included four brothers. The first case was in an agriculture official who fell ill after culling poultry in the Abbotabad area in late October. He was cared for by two of his brothers, both of whom subsequently died, one about a month ago and the other on Nov 29. A third brother of the first man also got sick, was hospitalized, and recovered, the story said.

The suspected cases also included two of the four brothers' cousins, who had only mild symptoms, plus a man and his niece who were involved in culling poultry in the area, Bloomberg reported. (It was not clear if the cousins were involved in culling.) Another case was in a male farm worker from Mansehra.

Still another brother of the first man to fall ill lives in New York state but flew to Pakistan to attend the funeral of one of his deceased brothers, according to Bloomberg. On his return, he told his physician that he might have been exposed to avian flu and quarantined himself at home, after which his son experienced flu-like symptoms. Samples from both father and son tested negative in state and federal laboratories last week, the story said.

Hartl told Bloomberg it was too early to tell whether the cases all spread from birds or involved limited person-to-person spread. He said some of the patients kept chickens and quail, and it was unclear what kind of protective equipment they used during culling.

The Nature report said Pakistan was slow to inform the WHO of the possible cases, boding ill for the agency's hope of detecting any person-to-person transmission early and quickly providing antiviral treatment to stop a potential pandemic. The story said the first cases occurred in mid-November at the latest, but Pakistan didn't officially inform the WHO until Dec 12.


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Food Prices Continuing to Rise

How far, how fast food prices will go is anyone's guess at this point. This much I can add for your consideration ...

Mountain House freeze dried food (in #10 cans, stores for 30 years) is our number one seller in our buyers club. Until this past September, Mountain House food pricing had remained unchanged for six years! Following the September 2007 price hike, they have subsequently announced to dealers that they will be adjusting their prices twice a year, going forward.

Price stability in foods and other necessities is clearly becoming a casualty in the present global dynamics.

World food price rises to hit consumers
By Javier Blas and Chris Giles in London and Hal Weitzman in Chicago
Published: December 16 2007 22:08 Last updated: December 17 2007 07:45

Global food prices were under further pressure on Monday as benchmark prices for cereals at much higher levels came into operation, making it almost inevitable that a second wave of food price inflation will hit the world’s leading economies.

In Chicago wheat and rice prices for delivery in March 2008 have jumped to an all-time record, soyabean prices are at a 34-year high and corn prices at an 11-year peak.

Knock-on price rises are set to hit consumers in coming months, raising inflationary pressure and constraining the ability of central banks to mitigate the slowdown in their economies.
A first wave of surging cereal prices hit the wholesale market during the summer and has fed through the supply chain and contributed to rising inflation.

[snip]

See also: "Why Are Prices Rising?"


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