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However, it is understood that many of the youth that are getting involved in drug trafficking are not staying in school

If the government can invest in schools and educate youth so they are equipped to even initiate social reform, then perhaps it could be not only another problem, but also a potential solution.

he reasons for the traffickers to desire Brazil as its transit country choice are quite clear: Brazil is so big, it is easy to elude pursuers, it has markets to the entire world, and it has consumers.

ussian rescue teams were involved in clearing the debris after the earthquake. They are returning home now. We have increased supplies of fuel and have delivered humanitarian supplies. Many ordinary Russians are ready to help the Japanese people: they are collecting humanitarian aid and have offered to host the individuals who have lost their homes. I think that is a normal human response.

Additional requirements should probably be introduced, as well as restrictions for the construction of nuclear power plants in high-risk seismic zones.

It is probably more expedient to build new nuclear power plants, with cutting edge safety mechanisms, than to extend the lifetime of old ones.

Russia's nuclear plants, with 31 operating reactors totalling 21,743 MWe, comprise: 4 first generation VVER-440/230 or similar pressurised water reactors, 2 second generation VVER-440/213 pressurised water reactors, 9 third generation VVER-1000 pressurised water reactors with a full containment structure, mostly V-320 types, 11 RBMK light water graphite reactors now unique to Russia. The four oldest of these were commissioned in the 1970s at Kursk and Leningrad and are of some concern to the Western world. A further Kursk unit is under construction. 4 small graphite-moderated BWR reactors in eastern Siberia, constructed in the 1970s for cogeneration (EGP-6 models on linked map). One BN-600 fast-breeder reactor.

Generally, Russian reactors are licensed for 30 years from first power. Late in 2000, plans were announced for lifetime extensions of twelve first-generation reactors* totalling 5.7 GWe, and the extension period envisaged is now 15 to 25 years, necessitating major investment in refurbishing them. Generally the VVER-440 and RBMK units will get 15-year life extensions and the nine VVER-1000 units 25 years.  To 2010, 15-year extensions had been achieved for Novovoronezh-3 & 4, Kursk-1 & 2, Kola-1 & 2 and Leningrad-1-3.  Bilibino 1-4 have also been given 15-year licence extensions.  (Kola 1 & 2 VVER-440 and the Kursk and Leningrad RBMK units are all models which the EU has paid to shut down early in countries outside Russia.)

n 2010, life extensions were announced for Leningrad 4, Smolensk 1, Kola 3 and Beloyarsk 3 (all 15 years), and Novovoronezh 5 (25 years).  Leningrad 4 is undergoing an RUR 17 billion refurbishment, including replacement of generator stator.

Systemic causes for the worldwide increases in food prices continue to be the subject of debate.

Systemic causes for the worldwide increases in food prices continue to be the subject of debate. Initial causes of the late 2006 price rises included unseasonable droughts in grain producing nations and rising oil prices. Oil prices further heightened the costs of fertilizers, food transport, and industrial agriculture. Other causes of the food crisis may be the increasing use of biofuels in developed countries, and an increasing demand for a more varied diet, meat in particular, across the expanding middle-class populations of Asia. These factors, coupled with falling world food stockpiles have all contributed to the dramatic worldwide rise in food prices. Long-term causes of the food crisis remain a topic of debate. These may include structural changes in trade and agricultural production, agricultural price supports and subsidies in developed nations, diversions of food commodities to high input foods and fuel, commodity market speculation, and climate change.

136%, maize by 125% and soybeans by 107%. In late April 2008, rice prices hit 24

60.2% of men and 21.7% of women smoke in Russia. A total of 43.9 million adults smoke in Russia, which adds up to almost 40% of the population. This is the highest percentage of smokers in any of the 14 countries where the survey was carried out.

As a result, 400,000 Russians die every year from smoking-related health problems.

Russia ratified the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) on 24.04.2008, passing federal law № 51-FZ “On the accession of the Russian Federation to the WHO Convention on Tobacco Control”, thereby becoming the 157th country in the world to take on the responsibility of adhering to this convention.

Internally Displaced Persons (IDPS) [5] 75,371IDP figure in the Russian Federation includes 22,200 people who are in an IDP-like situation.

Returned IDPs [6] 758

Russia currently hosts an estimated 5,000 refugees and receives some 2,500 applications for international protection each year.

The Russian energy strategy of 2003 set a policy priority for reduction in natural gas based power supply, aiming to achieve this through a doubling of nuclear power generation by 2020. In 2006 the Federal Atomic Energy Agency (Rosatom) announced targets for future nuclear power generation; providing 23% of electricity needs by 2020 and 25% by 2030.[1]

Russia has made plans to increase the number of reactors in operation from 31 to 59. Old reactors will be maintained and upgraded, including RBMK units similar to the reactors at Chernobyl. China and Russia agreed on further cooperation in the construction of nuclear power stations in October 2005.

The Russian government plans to allocate 127 billion rubles ($5.42 billion) to a federal program dedicated to the next generation of nuclear energy technology. About 1 trillion rubles ($42.7 billion) is to be allocated from the federal budget to nuclear power and industry development before 2015.[1]

 statement from the Israeli foreign ministry said: "The government of Israel expresses sadness and disappointment over the decision by the Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva a month before he steps down."Recognition of a Palestinian state is a breach of the interim agreement which was signed between Israel and the Palestinian Authority in 1995 which said that the issue of the status of the West Bank and Gaza Strip would be discussed and resolved through negotiations," it said.

Israel has expressed disappointment at Brazil's decision to recognise a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders, saying it flew in the face of efforts to negotiate a peace deal.

"It can also create opportunities for arbitrage that might undermine stricter bank regulation and lead to a build-up of additional leverage and risks in the overall financial system," the FSB said in a statement."Short-term deposit-like funding of non-bank entities can lead to 'runs' in the market if confidence is lost," the FSB said.

The FSB is pursuing a two-pronged approach to regulating the sector -- the banks that support it and the shadow-banking entities themselves.

“Farmers must not be disempowered labourers on their own land,” – UN right to food expert [24 October 2011] New York – “For too long farmers have been forced to eke out a living from subsistence agriculture or, once they've fallen in debt, to cede their land and labour to work in exploitative conditions on plantations. Our failure to help small-scale farmers to access markets – and to live decently from farming – is a key cause of hunger,”