UN warns worldwide food crisis imminent, if action not taken fast; Carter meets Hamas exiles in Damascus, talks of peace...

19 April :: "The global food crisis became official yesterday [15 April] when the UN called for urgent intergovernmental action and farming reforms to tackle the soaring prices that are plunging millions of people into potentially deadly poverty", reports UK's Independent; reports of riots from southeast Asia to the Caribbean, along with multiple border crises in the Horn of Africa, are leading to speculation that food scarcity may now be close to provoking regional conflicts... To the dismay of US, Israeli leaders, fmr. US pres. and Nobel peace laureate Jimmy Carter, has met for a 2nd time with two Hamas leaders in exile in Damascus, Syria; he says the group may be willing to talk peace with Israel; according to the AP, "On Saturday, Marzouk said Carter and Mashaal discussed a possible prisoner exchange with Israel, as well as how to lift a siege imposed by the Jewish state on the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. Carter, who brokered the 1978 Israeli-Egyptian peace, is trying to secure the release of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit"... FoxBusiness reports "Today John McCain, the ninth richest member of Congress, again showed the American people that his call for openness and accountability in government applies to everyone but himself. By only releasing two years of returns, he is the first nominee of either party since Ronald Reagan in 1980 to disclose that little information. And by failing to release his wife Cindy McCain's return, serious questions remain unanswered about how John McCain's position as a U.S. Senator may have benefited John and Cindy McCain's business ventures"; DNC Chairman Howard Dean said McCain's limited disclosure "continues a troubling pattern of thinking the rules don't apply to him"; Sen. Obama and his wife have released 8 years of returns, and Sen. Clinton and fmr. Pres. Clinton's returns dating back to 1977 are on public record, according to the same FoxBusiness report... Russian pres. Vladimir Putin denies rumors he secretly divorced his wife of 24 years for a star gymnast, 24-year-old Alina Kabayeva, whom his party named to sit in Parliament; the newspaper that printed the story has had its right to publish "suspended", officially for "financial" reasons...