Countries around the world have been taking protectionist measures as fears of a global food inflation crisis rise.

This has propelled food prices to record levels, with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO) Food Price Index rising 12.6% in March compared to February, and 33.6% versus March 2021 -- an all-time high.

The index showed that wheat prices have increased by over 60% since the beginning of the year.

According to World Trade Organization figures, during the pandemic, the EU, Argentina, Anguilla, Bolivia, Brazil, Cambodia, Colombia, Egypt, El Salvador, Poland, Romania, Gambia, Indonesia, Mongolia, North Macedonia, Serbia, Switzerland, and Uzbekistan have taken measures including suspension of exports and lifting of import tariffs.

The Eurasian Economic Union, which includes Russia, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Belarus, and Kyrgyzstan, also banned exports of many agricultural products in 2020, the first year of the coronavirus pandemic.

This year, Russia also either banned or limited sugar, grain, and edible oil exports, while Kazakhstan also moved to bar the exports of wheat and flour until June 15.

China, the world's second largest economy, has also introduced protectionist policies.

The country, which had previously banned the export of phosphate fertilizers, started increasing its food stocks, especially grains.

With the start of the Russia-Ukraine war, Argentina decided to stop exports of soybean oil and soybean pulp.

Ukraine banned exports of wheat, corn, sunflower oil, and fertilizers.

Hungary stopped exports of grain; Algeria edible oil, sugar, and wheat; Egypt legumes, peanuts, peas, and beans; Cameroon rice, maize, and corn; and India wheat.

Meanwhile Indonesia, the largest palm oil producer, limited export of palm oil.

Protectionist policies risk causing a crisis in access to food, especially in Africa and the Middle East, with leading institutions making negative predictions about world trade./aa

Despite declines in deaths from household air and water pollution, pollution still kills more than 9 million each year, or one in six deaths worldwide, according to research published Wednesday in a top medical journal.

"Over the past two decades, deaths caused by the modern forms of pollution have increased by 66%, driven by industrialisation, uncontrolled urbanisation, population growth, fossil fuel combustion, and an absence of adequate national or international chemical policy," said the study in Lancet Planetary Health.

More than 90% of pollution-related deaths happen in low- and middle-income countries.

Air pollution causes over 6.5 million deaths each year globally, while lead and other chemicals are responsible for 1.8 million deaths.

Increases in pollution-related deaths are especially evident in south Asia, east Asia, and southeast Asia.

In Africa, household air pollution and water pollution are still the main causes of pollution-related disease and death.

"Although high-income countries have controlled their worst forms of pollution, only a few low-income and middle-income countries have been able to make pollution a priority, devoted resources to pollution control, or made progress," the research said.

Researchers in the study said urgent attention is required to control pollution and prevent pollution-related disease, adding that most countries have done little to deal with this enormous public health problem.

The triad of pollution, climate change, and biodiversity loss are closely linked but they are largely ignored in the international development agenda, the researchers said, adding: "Successful control of these conjoined threats requires a globally supported, formal science–policy interface to inform intervention, influence research, and guide funding."/aa

A former US police officer has pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter for his role in the 2020 killing of George Floyd, the state of Minnesota's attorney general announced Thursday.

Thomas Lane was one of three former officers on the scene as fellow ex-officer Derek Chauvin kneeled on Floyd's neck for more than nine minutes while he was lying face down on the ground in handcuffs, resulting in his death.

"I am pleased Thomas Lane has accepted responsibility for his role in Floyd’s death. His acknowledgment he did something wrong is an important step toward healing the wounds of the Floyd family, our community, and the nation," state Attorney General Keith Ellison said in a statement.

"While accountability is not justice, this is a significant moment in this case and a necessary resolution on our continued journey to justice," he added.

Lane, J. Alexander Kueng and Tou Thao were previously convicted in federal court of violating Floyd's civil rights. Kueng and Thao continue to face charges of second-degree unintentional murder and second-degree manslaughter in state court.

Floyd's May 25, 2020, death ignited nationwide protests against police brutality and racial injustice that spread beyond the country’s borders and began to manifest in major capitals worldwide.

Popular demonstrations extended for months in what US President Joe Biden described as "a summer of protest we hadn’t seen since the Civil Rights era in the ‘60s."

Bystander video captured Floyd's grisly death as Chauvin pinned Floyd to the ground with his knee fixed firmly on his neck, ignoring Floyd's pleas that he could not breathe and desperate cries for his mother./aa

Germany saw 169 attacks by neo-Nazis and right-wing extremists in the first three months of this year, official figures showed Wednesday.

Incidents of far-right violence surged 40% this January, February, and March compared to the same period last year, according to police records.

The Interior Ministry released the figures in response to a parliamentary question by the opposition Left Party.

German authorities recorded 3,605 politically motivated crimes by right-wing extremists between this January and March, up from 3,467 cases in the same period last year.

These included spreading racist propaganda, insults on social media, threats, arson, and physical assaults.

According to police records, neo-Nazis and right-wing extremists carried out 169 violent attacks in the first three months of the year, up from 123 cases last January-March.

Authorities in the capital Berlin reported 26 incidents of far-right violence so far this year, followed by 13 attacks in the neighboring state of Brandenburg, and 12 in the southeastern state of Bavaria.

At least 92 individuals were injured in these attacks, according to police records.

The radicalization among right-wing extremists, and surge in violent attacks in recent months, have raised serious concerns among authorities.

“The far-right is the biggest threat to our democracy and the biggest extremist threat to people in our country,” Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said last week.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition government announced a new “action plan” in March to combat racism and pledged stronger measures to counter the growing threat posed by far-right groups.

In recent years the country has witnessed growing racism and xenophobia fueled by the propaganda of far-right, anti-Semitic, and anti-Muslim groups, including the main opposition party Alternative for Germany, or AfD.

Far-right terror in Germany has claimed the lives of at least 218 innocent people since 1989, according to the Amadeu Antonio Foundation.

Human rights groups have long criticized authorities for underestimating the threat and not seriously investigating crimes committed by neo-Nazis./aa

It is time to be focused on getting inflation down to 2%, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said Tuesday.

"We are going to keep pushing until we see that," he said on a US television program he said, adding that Americans are suffering from high inflation but the Fed has the tools and the resolve to get it down.

Powell said inflation will not come down until there is clear and convincing evidence. "No one should doubt our resolve."

He said there could be "some pain" during the process of restoring price stability.

Touching on the bank's interest rate hike decision of 50 basis points at the last meeting and an expected new hike in the coming meetings, he signaled hikes of the same magnitude in the next two meetings.

"Monetary policy works through expectations," he said, and added that markets have already priced a series of interest rate hikes.

He said the economy is currently so uncertain and "it is very difficult to think about trying to give guidance out into the future."

"There are many global events going on that can act that are really not in our control as well," he added.

US markets saw significant increases following Powell's remarks, with the Nasdaq rising 2.69%, the S&P adding 2% and the Dow gaining 1.34% at GMT1930./aa

Over the last week, COVID-19 cases have risen in four of the six World Health Organization regions, the WHO chief said Tuesday, airing concern about the increasing difficulty in learning how the virus is mutating, along with the need for more information from North Korea.

WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus said that due to drops in testing and sequencing in many countries, “it is increasingly difficult to know where the virus is and how it’s mutating.”

He said that North Korea had announced, through the state media, its first outbreak of COVID-19, with more than 1.4 million suspected cases since late April.

“WHO is deeply concerned at the risk of further spread of COVID-19 in the country, particularly because the population is unvaccinated and many have underlying conditions putting them at risk of severe disease and death,” said Tedros.

The world health body said it had requested that North Korea share data and information about COVID-19 so that it can assist the country in fighting the pandemic.

So far, 6,291,065 people worldwide have perished from COVID-19, while nearly 520 million cases have been confirmed, since the disease first emerged in early 2020.

Technical support

Tedros also said: “WHO has offered to provide a package of technical support and supplies, including diagnostic tests, essential medicines, and vaccines ready to be deployed to the country (North Korea).”

“We are also concerned about Eritrea, another country that has not started vaccinating its populations,” said Tedros, referring to the isolated northeastern African country.

He spoke about the “critically important” World Health Assembly (WHA) that will hold its first face-to-face meeting of global health leaders for the past three years in Geneva on Sunday.

“The pandemic will be discussed, including how to end the emergency, including increasing access to vaccines, antivirals, and other lifesaving tools,” Tedros noted.

The WHA is the decision-making body of WHO attended by delegations from all 194 member states, focusing on a specific health agenda prepared by the organization’s executive board.

Biden's announcement

Last week, Tedros said he welcomed US President Joe Biden’s announcement about sharing health technologies between the US National Institutes of Health, WHO’s COVID-19 Technology Access Pool, and the Medicines Patent Pool.

These relate to developing innovative therapeutics, early-stage vaccines, and diagnostic tools for COVID-19.

WHO said that during 2020-2021, it led the largest-ever global response to a health crisis, working with 1,600 technical and operational partners, and helped galvanize the biggest, fastest, and most complex vaccination drive in history.

The organization spent $1.7 billion on essential supplies for the COVID-19 response.​​​​​​​/aa