A fast-thinking pilot, with the help of passengers, fooled a gunman who had hijacked a jetliner flying from Africa to the Canary Islands, braking hard upon landing then quickly accelerating to knock the man down so travelers could pounce on him, Spanish officials said Friday.
A lone gunman brandishing two pistols hijacked the Air Mauritania Boeing 737, carrying 71 passengers and a crew of eight, Thursday evening shortly after it took off from the Mauritanian capital of Nouakchott for Gran Canaria, one of Spain's Canary Islands, with a planned stopover in Nouadhibou in northern Mauritania. He wanted to divert the plane to France so he could request political asylum, said Mohamed Ould Mohamed Cheikh, Mauritania's top police official.
The hijacker has been identified as Mohamed Abderraman, a 32-year-old Mauritanian, said an official with the Spanish Interior Ministry office on Tenerife, another of the islands in the Atlantic archipelago. He spoke under rules barring publication of his name. Mauritania has said the hijacker was a Moroccan from the Western Sahara.
The hijacker ordered the pilot to fly to France, but the crew told him there was not enough fuel. Morocco denied a request for the plane to land in the city of Djala in the Moroccan-controlled Western Sahara, so the pilot headed for Las Palmas in Gran Canaria, the original destination.
Speaking to the gunman during the hijacking, the pilot realized the man did not speak French. So he used the plane's public address system to warn the passengers in French of the ploy he was going to try: brake hard upon landing, then speed up abruptly. The idea was to catch the hijacker off balance, and have crew members and men sitting in the front rows of the plane jump on him, the Spanish official said. The pilot also warned women and children to move to the back of the plane in preparation for the subterfuge, the official said.
It worked. The man was standing in the middle aisle when the pilot carried out his maneuver, and he fell to the floor, dropping one of his two 7mm pistols. Flight attendants then threw boiling water from a coffee machine in his face and at his chest, and some 10 people jumped on the man and beat him, the Spanish official said. Around 20 people were slightly injured when the plane braked suddenly, the official said.
Spanish officials _ and some passengers _ had initially been concerned that the hijacking was terrorism-related; it came on the day a trial began of 29 people accused of the 2004 Madrid train bombings. "We were afraid. We thought it was people from al-Qaida or the Algerian GSPC who were going to cut our throats," said Aicha Mint Sidi, a 45-year-old woman who was on the plane. The GSPC is a Muslim extremist group. "I trembled during and after the hijacking. I thought the plane was going to blow up any minute, either in mid-air or on landing," said another passenger, Dahi Ould Ali, 52. Both spoke after returning to Nouakchott.
The hijacker was arrested by Spanish police who boarded the plane after it landed at Gando airport, outside Las Palmas. Air Mauritania identified the heroic pilot as Ahmedou Mohamed Lemine, a 20-year-veteran of the company.
#11
Pity they didn't kill him. That's the message that needs to be sent to every hijacker: the slightest misstep and you'll literally be rent limb from limb by an angry mob determined to inflict as much pain as possible before you can escape into death. They truly need to understand they're considering entering into a VERY high-risk occupation with lethal consequences for failure.
Posted by: Thaimble Scourge of the Pixies4707 ||
04/21/2008 18:09 Comments ||
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#12
A lone gunman brandishing two pistols hijacked the Air Mauritania Boeing 737
Did he hold them sideways like they do in the movies? Makes you so inaccurate that you can't hit the side of a barn?
re#11- they had to assume that he was GSPC or some AlQ franchise. Having one of those guys ALIVE leaves many more dead once we have had a 'talk' with him.
So much for global warming. Earth Day festivities went ahead despite the blast of frigid weather yesterday.
Vendors and presenters from various eco-friendly groups, including Bullfrog Power, CO2 Reduction Edmonton and the local solar energy society, crammed into a lone tent in Hawrelak Park after a blizzard forced them to abandon their original locations.
Organizers crammed over 40 groups in a space that would normally be occupied by half that number. Presenters' booths were initially planned to have been spread out between at least five tents, with far larger displays.
"We're normally here with a lineup of cyclists for our free bike repair service. No bikers came today. Big surprise," said Chris Field of Mountain Equipment Co-Op.
A handful of visitors still took the time to inquire about several solar-powered products on display at the M.E.C. booth and browsed several others before running off toward the lone heater in the tent to warm up. A lemonade vendor towards the front might as well not have been there.
"Obviously we'll have fewer people than we would have liked, but to cancel an Earth Day event because of weather would kind of be the antithesis of what this is all about," said organizer Janice Boudreau. "This isn't about celebrating just the parts of the Earth that we like, it's about celebrating all of it."
Eco-Air representative Eric Gormley couldn't convince local kids lobbying city council for an anti-idling bylaw to brave the cold yesterday, but happily stepped up on their behalf, offering stickers and information about greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles.
"We're here to raise awareness of the problem, even though on a day like today you don't necessarily think of global warming," he said. "We especially want to encourage young people in school to join us. It's the youth that have the power to make real change."
Someone needs to snuff this sh*t out, like now!
A suspected pirate ship fired on a Japanese oil tanker Monday off the eastern coast of Yemen, leaving a hole from which hundreds of gallons of fuel leaked, officials said. No one was injured. The 150,000-ton tanker Takayama was attacked about 270 miles off the coast of Aden in southwestern Yemen while it was heading for Saudi Arabia, its Japanese operator, Nippon Yusen K.K., said in a statement.
None of its 23 crew members seven Japanese and 16 Filipinos were injured, the company said. The vessel left the South Korean port of Ulsan on April 4. Kyodo News agency said the tanker was hit by a rocket fired from a small boat.
Nippon Yusen spokeswoman Yuko Tsutsui said the attack left a 1-inch hole in the tanker's stern, which was temporarily patched after hundreds of gallons of fuel leaked. She said the tanker was heading to Aden for repairs, and its itinerary could change depending on the extent of the damage.
Transportation Ministry official Yoichi Oda said the attackers were believed to be pirates whose motive was not immediately known. The waters in the Gulf of Aden between Yemen and Somalia are considered prone to pirate attacks.
In late October, a Panamanian-registered chemical tanker operated by a Japanese shipping company was seized by pirates in nearby waters off Somalia's coast. All but one of its 23 crew members were freed unharmed in mid-December.
More than 260 vessels, including 10 Japanese ships, were attacked by pirates last year worldwide, Oda said, quoting International Maritime Bureau figures. Nearly 40 percent of the pirate attacks occurred off the coasts of Somalia, Nigeria and Yemen, where the number of incidents surged from the previous year.
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/21/2008 13:20 ||
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#1
I think this is easy to fix, at least for the Japanese.
Relabel all their ships as "whale fishing expedition" ships. Hilarity would ensue.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/21/2008 14:08 Comments ||
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A couple of frigates and a destroyer with a Marine company pulling in and razing every boat in a harbor might get the point across.
#4
Other than the ARCLIGHT strike I suggested earlier, the US and some of its neighbors could build a "Q-ship" to specifically seek out pirates. It would have to be different from the Q-ships of WWI and WWII, in that it should be an affluent-looking, medium-sized (350-500 feet long), mixed cargo/passenger vessel with the possibility of its outline being changed with some quick crew-work. It would be best if it actually did some real work, such as ferrying freight and passengers from such places as the Mediterranean to the Maldives, Seychelles, Reunion Island, India and/or Sri Lanka. That would give it a legitimate right to be in the Red Sea/Gulf of Aden/Arabian Sea area. Put a dozen commandos on board with the capability of taking out anything up to a destroyer, and go to it. Phalanx-type multiple-barrel machine guns, gyro-stabilized, with a combination of radar, infrared, and laser tracking, would catch the pirates by surprise. It's best if there are no survivors, so there won't be any reports of what ship not to attack. It would be expensive, but doable.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/21/2008 19:40 Comments ||
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leaving a hole from which hundreds of gallons of fuel leaked
Someone alert Greenpeace! I'm sure they'll put a stop to this kind of thing right away.
Chinese troops have been seen on the streets of Zimbabwe's third largest city, Mutare, according to local witnesses. They were seen patrolling with Zimbabwean soldiers before and during Tuesday's ill-fated general strike called by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
Earlier, 10 Chinese soldiers armed with pistols checked in at the city's Holiday Inn along with 70 Zimbabwean troops.
One eyewitness, who asked not to be named, said: "We've never seen Chinese soldiers in full regalia on our streets before. The entire delegation took 80 rooms from the hotel, 10 for the Chinese and 70 for Zimbabwean soldiers."
Officially, the Chinese were visiting strategic locations such as border posts, key companies and state institutions, he said. But it is unclear why they were patrolling at such a sensitive time. They were supposed to stay five days, but left after three to travel to Masvingo, in the south.
China's support for President Mugabe's regime has been highlighted by the arrival in South Africa of a ship carrying a large cache of weapons destined for Zimbabwe's armed forces. Dock workers in Durban refused to unload it.
The 300,000-strong South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu) said it would be "grossly irresponsible" to touch the cargo of ammunition, grenades and mortar rounds on board the Chinese ship An Yue Jiang anchored outside the port.
A Satawu spokesman Randall Howard said: "Our members employed at Durban container terminal will not unload this cargo, neither will any of our members in the truck-driving sector move this cargo by road. South Africa cannot be seen to be facilitating the flow of weapons into Zimbabwe at a time where there is a political dispute and a volatile situation between Zanu-PF and the MDC."
Three million rounds of AK-47 ammunition, 1,500 rocket-propelled grenades and more than 3,000 mortar rounds and mortar tubes are among the cargo on the Chinese ship, according to copies of the inventory published by a South African newspaper.
According to Beeld, the documentation for the shipment was completed on 1 April, three days after the presidential vote.
Zimbabwe and China have close military ties. Three years ago, Mr Mugabe signed extensive trade pacts with the Chinese as part of the "Look East" policy forced on him by his ostracising by Western governments over human rights abuses. The deal gave the Chinese mineral and trade concessions in exchange for economic help.
The shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague called on David Miliband to demand a cessation of arms shipments.
A South African government spokesman Themba Maseko said it would be difficult to stop the shipment.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/21/2008 17:27 ||
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Hint to MDC: they're delicious and you're hungry. A little salty, and not that filling, but try one - there's a lot more where these came from
Posted by: Frank G ||
04/21/2008 18:26 Comments ||
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#2
Yeah, Frank, but you're hungry again after an hour....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
04/21/2008 18:39 Comments ||
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I don't think the timing is right now (just before the Olympics), but if the ChiComs want Zim, they'll have it. They could certainly pour enough troops and equipment into the country to put down any rebellion and they wouldn't be constrained by any rules whatsoever. If you're willing to kill enough, you can put down any uprising and I don't think the Chinese would flinch at doing in large numbers of blacks. They think pretty poorly of that ethnic group anyhow.
I'm going to watch the Chinese experiment in Africa with extreme interest. I suspect they've got intentions to install puppet governments in a number of places and they won't be fazed in the slightest by world opinion disliking the methods they use to achieve their goal. Once the Chinese get going, the Africans will REALLY look back on the era of Euro colonialism as "the good old days."
Posted by: Thaimble Scourge of the Pixies4707 ||
04/21/2008 18:40 Comments ||
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#4
While that ship s sailing, it would be a good time for some Somali pirates to visit. Should be easy pickings.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
04/21/2008 19:36 Comments ||
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Were the Soviets ever so brazen - I mean, of course, to stay at the Holiday Inn?
THE MDC has claimed that 10 of its supporters have been killed, 3,000 internally displaced while scores of others have been injured by soldiers, war veterans and youth militia in retribution for voting against President Robert Mugabe in last months election.
In the rural areas, war veterans and Zanu PF youth militia have gone on the rampage, beating up MDC supporters and torching their houses and killing their livestock for food. In towns and cities, heavily armed police and soldiers have virtually imposed curfews, beating and torturing anyone they come across.
Okay, so when are the MDC members fighting back?
MDC spokesperson Nelson Chamisa said the escalating violence targeting MDC supporters around the country is very disturbing and depressing. Chamisa said at least 10 MDC members had died in political violence. Four of the victims died last week, he said.
He named them as Tapiwa Mubwanda of Hurungwe East, Murunde Tembo of Mudzi North, Tendai Chibika of Mutoko East and Moses Bashitiyawo of Maramba Pfungwe. The Standard could not independently verify the deaths.
Police spokesperson Wayne Schultz Bvudzijena told The Standard the MDC should not claim their supporters were killed by Zanu PF supporters as the police were still investigating all cases of political violence. I only know the case of a person who was killed in Hurungwe and the police are still investigating the case. I am not aware of the other three people you are talking about but we are investigating, he said.
"I know nothing! Nothing! Tell them, Hogan!"
Chamisa said: There is chaos in this country. We are very worried about this retribution campaign by Zanu PF. The violence is well-coordinated from the top and is being fuelled by hate speeches by the president of this country. This is how the genocide in Rwanda began, through such hate speeches.
The MDC said the violence was widespread and had created a humanitarian crisis, particularly in the rural areas. Some have fled their homes to stay with relatives in urban areas. Others, said the MDC, were destitute after their houses were burnt down. The MDC secretary for social welfare, Kerry Kay, yesterday appealed to individuals, non-governmental organisations for any assistance they could provide to the internally displaced people. She said Harare, Mutare and Bulawayo had been thronged by MDC activists fleeing from Zanu PF militia and war veterans in the rural areas.
Former Catholic bishop Fernando Lugo, candidate of the opposition Patriotic Alliance for Change, has won Sunday's Paraguayan presidential elections, preliminary electoral results show.
Reports from the Paraguayan capital of Asuncion said polling ended at 4 p.m. local time (2000 GMT) and preliminary results released by the electoral commission showed that Lugo won 40.7 percent of the vote. Ruling Colorado Party candidate Blanca Ovelar won 30.7 percent of the vote while former army chief Lino Oviedo, candidate for the National Ethical Citizens' Union Party, garnered about 22 percent. Ovelar has conceded defeat in Sunday's presidential election, marking the end of the party's 60-year reign in the South American nation.
Lugo's supporters gathered at the campaign headquarters to celebrate his victory, after preliminary results were announced. "The bishop of the poor" said in a speech that he will promote social equality and improve the living standard of indigents.
The Organization of American States, which monitored the elections, said the polling process was smooth. The winner will be sworn in on Aug. 15 for a five-year term, replacing current President Nicanor Duarte.
Cuba will air the award winning US television drama the Sopranos and ongoing series Greys Anatomy beginning this week, the Communist youth newspaper, Juventud Rebelde, said on Sunday.
Soviet TV always liked French Connection ...
HBOs The Sopranos depicts the life of a New Jersey Mafia boss and his family and will be broadcast by state-run television Tuesday evenings, while ABCs Greys Anatomy, which follows the lives of doctors working in a hospital, will be broadcast on Thursdays.
Juventud Rebelde said the new offer demonstrated the state televisions proven rigor in the selection of dramas of high ethical quality and powerful presentation.
Despite Communist Cubas 50 year ideological confrontation with the United States, its nemesess movies, music and television programs remain wildly popular and U.S. movies dominate the television and theater offer.
The Sopranos, which concluded in 2007, and Greys Anatomy are not the first U.S. television series to be picked up on DVDS, brought to Cuba and broadcast. House, Friends, and Everybody Loves Raymond have entered Cubans living rooms, and the forensic series CSI is a huge hit on the Caribbean island where programming is weighted heavily toward educational, variety and childrens programming, propaganda, Latin American and Cuban soap operas and sports.
Cuba has four national television channels and various provincial stations, all government operated. Satellite television is prohibited and a cable system provides some international channels, such as CNN, to the tourism industry and foreigners.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2008 00:00 ||
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If cuba was smart it would reform it's govt and cash in on the baby-boomer retirement diaspora that's going to happen over the next 20 years. Or maybe that's what they're doing, dunno.
TBILISI (Reuters) - A Georgian unmanned reconnaissance plane downed at the weekend was shot down by a Russian air force jet, Georgia's air force said on Monday, citing video footage of the incident.
"On April 20 a Russian Mig-29 fighter jet shot down an unarmed, unmanned air vehicle which was performing basic reconnaissance over Georgian territory," Colonel David Nairashvili, commander of Georgia's air force, told Reuters. "It's absolutely illegal for a Russian Mig-29 to be there," he said.
A spokesman for Russia's air force, when asked about the Georgian allegation, said: "Nonsense. What would a Russian jet fighter be doing over Georgian territory?"
Wotta good question ...
The drone was brought down near Abkhazia, a Georgian region which broke away from Tbilisi's rule in a 1990s war and is controlled by Moscow-backed separatists, Nairashvili said.
Abkhazia's separatist administration said on Sunday its forces had shot down the drone.
Tbilisi's pro-Western government last week accused Moscow of a de facto annexation of Abkhazia after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his government to establish closer ties with the region.
Yup, that's pretty much what they did, and that's why the MiG-29 wasn't over 'Georgian' territory.
Georgia's air force supplied to Reuters video footage which it said was recorded and transmitted by the drone's on-board camera before it was shot down. The pictures show a jet aircraft firing a missile in the direction of a drone. A few seconds later the screen goes blank. No identification markings are visible on the aircraft that fired the missile.
Nairashvili said the aircraft type meant it could only be a Russian air force jet. "The Mig-29 has a distinctive twin-tail marking. It's a Russian aircraft. Georgia does not possess it, nor do Abkhaz separatists," he said.
Could have been the Samoans ...
Radar records showed the aircraft took off from a base in Abkhazia and crossed into Russia after the attack, Nairashvili said.
So Abkhazia has their own air force now? Wotta coincidence!
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/21/2008 13:00 ||
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A 558-member detachment of Chinese troops returned to Beijing Sunday after completing an eight-month peace-keeping mission in Liberia. The troops, who had been offering assistance in transportation, road and bridge construction, and medical care, had received the United Nations International Peace Medal.
The detachment from the Beijing Military Area Command of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) comprised a 240-member transport battalion, a 275-member engineering battalion, and a 43-member medical team. This detachment is the sixth batch of Chinese peacekeeper in Liberia. The seventh detachment, also comprising 558 members, arrived in Liberia on April 18.
Authorities in Nepal said Sunday they had deployed security forces on their side of Mount Everest and could use gunfire against pro-Tibet protesters when China takes the Olympic torch to the summit.
#1
Good to see this "international symbol of peace and brotherhood" make it to the top of the world. Can't wait to see the 1936 2008 Olympics this summer.
The final weekend before Tuesdays important primary election in Pennsylvania was good for New Yorks Hillary Clintoon, as she made a definitive move toward victory over rival Illinois Barack Hussain Obama, a fresh Newsmax/Zogby daily telephone tracking poll shows.
She gained two points over the past 24 hours as BHO lost one point, and she now leads 48% to 42%, the latest polling shows. Meanwhile, the undecideds dropped by two points. Her edge was three points yesterday but had wobbled within a tight margin. Clintons advantage is still within the margin of error, but she is close to getting beyond it as Election Day looms.
The two-day tracking survey, which was conducted April 19-20, 2008, included 11% who were either undecided or supported someone else.
#2
Plus you have all the moonbats primping for the Denver convention. Wouldn't want to disappoint them. Hang in there Hilde.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/21/2008 15:09 Comments ||
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#3
The Democratic convention is going to be more fun than watching Monty Python.
Geez Louise, every moonbat, wack job and nut case with a credit card and a driver's license will be in Denver. It will look like Haight Asbury in 1968.
This is your Democratic Convention and this is your Democratic Convention on Crack.
Would it be premature to send my resume to John McCain's staff?
Taking money from Americans seems to be what they do best...
They're also pretty good at taking money from others indirectly, it would seem.
If the oil execs give them enough money they might be spared ...
Posted by: Fred ||
04/21/2008 00:00 ||
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Oh, I see. Taxing oil execs is OK, bewcause it's involuntary. Contributions from any big corporations are suspect. But $100 contributions from each of 5 million teachers is most excellent.
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/21/2008 7:25 Comments ||
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Clinton's version of the "Politics of Inclusion". The rich are people too...
Many parts of America, long considered the breadbasket of the world, are now confronting a once unthinkable phenomenon: food rationing. Major retailers in New York, in areas of New England, and on the West Coast are limiting purchases of flour, rice, and cooking oil as demand outstrips supply. There are also anecdotal reports that some consumers are hoarding grain stocks.
At a Costco Warehouse in Mountain View, Calif., yesterday, shoppers grew frustrated and occasionally uttered expletives as they searched in vain for the large sacks of rice they usually buy. Wheres the rice? an engineer from Palo Alto, Calif., Yajun Liu, said. You should be able to buy something like rice. This is ridiculous.
The bustling store in the heart of Silicon Valley usually sells four or five varieties of rice to a clientele largely of Asian immigrants, but only about half a pallet of Indian-grown Basmati rice was left in stock. A 20-pound bag was selling for $15.99.
You cant eat this every day. Its too heavy, a health care executive from Palo Alto, Sharad Patel, grumbled as his son loaded two sacks of the Basmati into a shopping cart. We only need one bag but Im getting two in case a neighbor or a friend needs it, the elder man said.
The Patels seemed headed for disappointment, as most Costco members were being allowed to buy only one bag. Moments earlier, a clerk dropped two sacks back on the stack after taking them from another customer who tried to exceed the one-bag cap.
Due to the limited availability of rice, we are limiting rice purchases based on your prior purchasing history, a sign above the dwindling supply said.
Shoppers said the limits had been in place for a few days, and that rice supplies had been spotty for a few weeks. A store manager referred questions to officials at Costco headquarters near Seattle, who did not return calls or e-mail messages yesterday.
An employee at the Costco store in Queens said there were no restrictions on rice buying, but limits were being imposed on purchases of oil and flour. Internet postings attributed some of the shortage at the retail level to bakery owners who flocked to warehouse stores when the price of flour from commercial suppliers doubled.
The curbs and shortages are being tracked with concern by survivalists who view the phenomenon as a harbinger of more serious trouble to come. Its sporadic. Its not every store, but its becoming more commonplace, the editor of SurvivalBlog.com, James Rawles, said. The number of reports Ive been getting from readers who have seen signs posted with limits has increased almost exponentially, Id say in the last three to five weeks.
Spiking food prices have led to riots in recent weeks in Haiti, Indonesia, and several African nations. India recently banned export of all but the highest quality rice, and Vietnam blocked the signing of new contract for foreign rice sales.
Im surprised the Bush administration hasnt slapped export controls on wheat, Mr. Rawles said. The Asian countries are here buying every kind of wheat.
Mr. Rawles said it is hard to know how much of the shortages are due to lagging supply and how much is caused by consumers hedging against future price hikes or a total lack of product. There have been so many stories about worldwide shortages that it encourages people to stock up. What most people dont realize is that supply chains have changed, so inventories are very short, Mr. Rawles, a former Army intelligence officer, said. Even if people increased their purchasing by 20%, all the store shelves would be wiped out.
At the moment, large chain retailers seem more prone to shortages and limits than do smaller chains and mom-and-pop stores, perhaps because store managers at the larger companies have less discretion to increase prices locally.
Mr. Rawles said the spot shortages seemed to be most frequent in the Northeast and all the way along the West Coast. He said he had heard reports of buying limits at Sams Club warehouses, which are owned by Wal-Mart Stores, but a spokesman for the company, Kory Lundberg, said he was not aware of any shortages or limits.
An anonymous high-tech professional writing on an investment Web site, Seeking Alpha, said he recently bought 10 50-pound bags of rice at Costco. I am concerned that when the news of rice shortage spreads, there will be panic buying and the shelves will be empty in no time. I do not intend to cause a panic, and I am not speculating on rice to make profit. I am just hoarding some for my own consumption, he wrote.
For now, rice is available at Asian markets in California, though consumers have fewer choices when buying the largest bags. At our neighborhood store, its very expensive, more than $30 for a 25-pound bag, a housewife from Mountain View, Theresa Esquerra, said. Im not going to pay $30. Maybe well just eat bread.
#1
My contact in the Kroger dairy department informed me a few days ago that they have a surplus of eggs. This may be when I utter those famous words, "Let them eat eggs!"... advise especially valuable to vegetarians, of course.
#7
Notice that most of the examples they cite are of things like Asian rice, and from an area (Silicon Gulch in California) that have a lot of Asian immigrants.
In other words, the immigrants can't get the specialty items they are used to. Therefore, the entire country is facing a shortage of food.
Of course, once the Obamessiah is inaugurated, all of this will magically go away.
Posted by: Rambler in California ||
04/21/2008 13:03 Comments ||
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The reason there are any rice shortages in the US is because the rest of the world is desperate for rice.
There, it is a staple. In the US, except for small groups, it is just an occasional food. So if you are a rice grower or wholesaler, you are shipping as much rice out of the US as possible.
#11
There isn't even a shortage of rice. Only rice (like Basmati) that Asian nations have put on export restrictions. Anonymous high-tech professional can buy all the 500 lb. loads of American rice he wants, even the type favored by Asians. Prices will rise as he and is friends insists on hoarding and there will be spot shortages as rice is taken out of storage and shipped.
Posted by: ed ||
04/21/2008 14:48 Comments ||
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#12
We grow plenty of rice down under, but it appears to be the wrong sort. "Australia grows temperate rice, a medium-grained variety that Mr Helou said was "a small part of the total mix.
The greatest part of the rice trade, by a long way, is long grain, which we don't produce much of in this country."
But, he said, in the medium grain segment, Australia was a major player. The medium grain rice is used for risotto or sushi.
"It is a rounder, shorter stickier grain," Mr Helou said, favoured in Europe, the Pacific region, and parts of Asia and the Middle East.
Mr Helou said the Australian industry was currently focussed on domestic needs. "There will be some small exports, but it is the smallest on record."
Major shortages and the most dramatic price spike is occurring in long grain rice.
Vietnam, along with the big producing nations of China, India and Pakistan, has restricted exports to ensure domestic supplies, helping push by the benchmark price by more than 50 per cent in the last month.
"Today there is only one effective seller of long grain rice, and that is Thailand, and they are reeling from the impact of high demand," Mr Helou said.
#13
Much ado about nothing. These people buying designer rice at $15.99 a 20 lb bag could switch to Carolina Gold at $7 a bag. But, nooo... - that would be slumming it. What a buncha pansies.
#15
It's pretty much a fuss about nothing currently but the Farming conglomerates have no loyalty to the US and will ship their produce to the buyers with the highest prices. Commodities are attractive with a weak dollar and prices will get driven up by speculators just as Oil has been. So we could see shortages in the future.
It's Short grain rice the Asians want and which is in short supply. Medium grain "New Type" rices is better but they will not even think of eating it. Rice production in California is down, Farmers have sold their water rights and allotments to Los Angles. All. the Thai Jasmine rice has disappeared off the local shelves. I can't even find Shirakiku rice in 20 lb bags locally. I have 80 Lbs of rice and need to get 20 more. I haven't checked on Long Grain rice but it's purchased in 100lb bags by the Mexicans locally just like Flour. Plenty of 5 lb bags of rice on the local shelves.
#17
"Wrong sort" > read, need RIGHT RICE FOR THE RIGHT CULTURAL DISH. Goes to flavor, food enjoyment, + lead times for using up leftovers. Here on Guam, most locals and emigres prefer the GUAM, AUSTRALIAN OR CALIFORNIA-BRAND CALROSE RICE.
"Jasmine" rice is considered "Diet" rice - good for selective/niche food dishes and for dishes which are to be quickly consumed, BUT NOT FOR ALL-AROUND [FLAVORED][FAVORI-I-I-TE]MAIN COURSES + NOT FOR LT LEFTOVERS. CALROSE > ONE RICE FOR ANY EVERY EACH AND ALL DISHES, ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING, ANYONE + EVERYONE.
D *** NG IT, SUPPORT AMERIKA AND THE USSA, SUPPORT THE NATIONAL AND GLOBAL MARX/STALINREICH -BUY CALROSE, YOU TRAITOR TO SOCIALISM AND THE PEOPLE YOU!
#18
Wife usually buys Thai Jasmine but other's are good to. Today she bought 25lbs of Thai Jasmine (three horses brand) Milagrosa for $22. Normal price was $18. The local Viet grocery in the west burbs (chi town) had lots of it. So did the other Viet groceries. Sounds like the Mountain View folks are just having fun gouging their customers...
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
A fast-thinking pilot, with the help of passengers, fooled a gunman who had hijacked a jetliner flying from Africa to the Canary Islands, braking hard upon landing then quickly accelerating to knock the man down so travelers could pounce on him, Spanish officials said Friday.
The Patels seemed headed for disappointment, as most Costco members were being allowed to buy only one bag. Moments earlier, a clerk dropped two sacks back on the stack after taking them from another customer who tried to exceed the one-bag cap.
Spiking food prices have led to riots in recent weeks in Haiti, Indonesia, and several African nations. India recently banned export of all but the highest quality rice, and Vietnam blocked the signing of new contract for foreign rice sales.
