<p>World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim issued the following statement on the devastating levels of food insecurity in sub-Saharan Africa and Yemen: Famine is a stain on our collective conscience. Millions of lives are at risk and more will die if we do not act quickly and decisively.</p>
<p>&#8220;We at the World Bank Group stand in solidarity with the people now threatened by famine. We are mobilizing an immediate response for Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, and Yemen. Our first priority is to work with partners to make sure that families have access to food and water,&#8221; he said.</p>
<p>&#8220;We are working toward a financial package of more than $1.6 billion to build social protection systems, strengthen community resilience, and maintain service delivery to the most vulnerable. This includes existing operations of over $870 million that will help communities threatened by famine. I am also working with our Board of Directors to secure the approval of new operations amounting to $770 million, funded substantially through IDA’s Crisis Response Window.&#8221;</p>
<p>The World Bank Group will help respond to the immediate needs of the current famine, but it is important to recognize that famine will have lasting impacts on people’s health, ability to learn, and earn a living. The World Bank will continue to work with communities to reclaim their livelihoods and build resilience to future shocks.</p>
<p>The Bank is working closely with the UN and other partners in all areas of its response. &#8220;We know that resolution to this acute crisis will not be possible without all humanitarian and development actors working together. We call on the international community to respond robustly and quickly to the UN global appeal for resources for the famine,&#8221; President Jim Yong Kim said. &#8220;To prevent crises in the future, we must invest in addressing the root causes and drivers of fragility today and help countries build institutional and societal resilience.”</p>
<p><strong>Background</strong></p>
<p>A famine means that a significant part of the population has no access to basic food, suffers from severe malnutrition, and death from hunger reaches unprecedented levels. Children under five are disproportionately affected. A famine can affect the well-being of a whole generation. Famine was officially declared on February 20 in South Sudan, impacting approximately 100,000 people, and there is a credible risk of other famines in Yemen, Northeast Nigeria, and other countries.</p>
<p>Ongoing conflicts and civil insecurity are further intensifying the food insecurity of millions of people across the region, and there is already widespread displacement and other cross-border spillovers. For instance, food insecurity in Somalia and famine in South Sudan are accelerating the flow of refugees into Ethiopia and Uganda. The UN estimates that about 20 million people in Nigeria, South Sudan, Somalia and Yemen are on the “tipping point” of famine. Drought conditions also extend to Uganda and parts of Tanzania. The last famine was declared in 2011 in Somalia during which 260,000 people died.</p>


World Bank Group President calls for urgent action on hunger crisis

<p>OPEC&#8217;s production cut agreement is not yet succeeding in driving down supply, suggesting that $50 per barrel oil may turn out to be a market top, industry experts told CNBC on Thursday.</p>
<p>The predictions follow Wednesday&#8217;s slump in oil prices when the benchmark WTI and Brent indices both tumbled over 5 percent to close the session at $50.28 and $53.11, respectively. For WTI, the level represented its biggest one-day fall since February 2016 and the lowest closing price since early December.</p>
<p>Both benchmarks had failed to sustain a recovery by mid-morning European trade on Thursday with WTI down a further 2.35 percent for the session to break below $50 and Brent down 1.64 percent as of 10:30 am London time.</p>
<p>The price plunge has been primarily attributed to U.S. data showing domestic stockpiles had recorded a ninth consecutive month of supply rises in February to reach 8.2 million barrels. Adding to the negative sentiment, non-committal comments from OPEC and non-OPEC members on Wednesday indicated that while producers intend to continue pursuing production cuts, they will not pledge at this point to renew their existing six-month agreement once it expires in May.</p>
<p>Indeed, despite claims from participants that the existing agreement is functioning well, it actually has fundamental flaws if you peek behind the headlines, according to Eugen Weinberg, head of commodities research at Commerzbank.</p>
<p>&#8220;Compliance within OPEC is less than 50 percent if you exclude Kuwait and Saudi Arabia who cannot shoulder the whole burden over the long-term,&#8221; Weinberg told CNBC by phone on Thursday.</p>
<p>Furthermore, while production cuts might be underway on the part of some participants, export numbers have not softened, hence why market supply is still elevated.</p>
<p>&#8220;The export numbers are at the same level as last December which demonstrates that the oil production cut is having little effect on market levels,&#8221; he added.</p>
<p>&#8220;The market is looking for a price recovery from here but as there is still not enough of a cut to send supply into deficit, I think $50 per barrel is more likely to be a ceiling than a floor with prices potentially slipping down to $40 this year,&#8221; opined the Commerzbank analyst.</p>
<p>His pricing outlook was supported by Kevin Boscher, chief investment officer, Brooks Macdonald Asset Management, speaking on CNBC&#8217;s Squawk Box on Thursday.</p>
<p>&#8220;Our view is the oil price is in a trading range. $50 – 55 is more likely to be the ceiling for now than the floor, particularly as part of Trump&#8217;s policies is likely to be making the U.S. more self-sufficient from an oil perspective,&#8221; he posited.</p>
<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re likely to see an increase in supply of oil at a time where supply and demand are roughly a little bit more balanced,&#8221; Boscher added.</p>
<p>The psychologically critical $50 mark was also within the sights of Sam Wahab, director of oil and gas research at Cantor Fitzgerald Europe, who described continued U.S. upgrades in both inventory and production as the greatest downside risk for now.</p>
<p>&#8220;There are also certain doubts as to whether all OPEC members will stick to their quotas (notably Iraq), which combined, could very well see the Brent oil price slip towards $50 over the coming fortnight,&#8221; added Wahab.</p>
<p>Yet not everyone shares the bearish view, with analysts at Goldman Sachs publishing a more optimistic note on Monday claiming that oil demand is now poised to overtake supply.</p>
<p>&#8220;Our conviction that OECD inventories will steadily decline through 2Q17 remains high…with stocks showing declines over the past two weeks and crude forward curves flattening significantly recently,&#8221; reads the research.</p>
<p>&#8220;While the shale production rebound has surprised to the upside, the slightly larger production cuts than we had expected and most importantly, the higher 2016 realized demand level, lead us to expect a slightly faster normalization in OECD inventories through 2017 than previously,&#8221; the analysts concluded.</p>


Why $50 is more likely to be a ceiling than a floor for the oil price

<p>Elon Musk&#8217;s vision of hyperloop, a super-fast transport system, has taken a step closer to reality and now we know what it might look like.</p>
<p>Hyperloop One, one of the companies developing the system, has released pictures of a test track to begin trialing the technology.</p>
<p>A hyperloop system would involve propelling pods through a large tube at up to 750 mph using magnets. It is seen as a way to cut long-distance travel times as well as a way to alleviate congestion in many cities.</p>
<p>Hyperloop One&#8217;s &#8220;DevLoop&#8221; is a 500-meter full-scale test structure that weights over a thousand tons. One tube measures 3.3 meters in diameter and the test track has been put together in the Nevada desert.</p>
<p>Hyperloop One is expected to perform a public trial with the new DevLoop in the first half of this year. The company has signed deals with a number of countries to explore the feasibility of setting up the transport system. One of those agreements is with the government in Dubai with the idea of connecting the city to Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in 12 minutes. This journey would take over 2 hours in a car.</p>
<p>At the Middle East Rail trade show in Dubai this week, Hyperloop One CEO Rob Lloyd, shared his vision for connecting a number of major cities in the Gulf region.</p>
<p>&#8220;Tying together the Middle East region would produce greater virtual density, without congestion and pollution, spurring innovation, productivity, job growth and more powerful sharing of knowledge, labor and investment,&#8221; Lloyd told an audience, according to a statement from the company.</p>
<p>Hyperloop One estimates that around 4,000 vehicles travel every day between Abu Dhabi and Dubai, with traffic congestion costing the economy $800 million in lost working ours, something it says a hyperloop could fix.</p>
<p>Last year, Hyperloop One carried out a propulsion test in the Nevada desert in which a sled accelerated to 116 miles per hour in 1.1 seconds. It was a proof of concept test of the underlying technology of a hyperloop and the company will be hoping with a full-scale build of the tubes, it can carry out further trials.</p>
<p>Hyperloop One is not the only company developing the vision Musk laid out in a white paper in 2013. Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HTT), a rival company, is also looking into the feasibility of building a track in countries from Indonesia to the Czech Republic. The firm recently announced plans to set up a research and development center in Toulouse, France, where it hopes to build its own test track.</p>


Elon Musk’s hyperloop vision takes a step closer to reality

<p>Nestlé chocolates will have 10 percent less sugar starting next year as the firm tries to make their products healthier.</p>
<p>Key brands such as KitKat, Aeros, Lion and After Eight will all have a total of around 7,500 tonnes of sugar removed and be replaced by existing and non-artificial ingredients.</p>
<p>&#8220;Nestlé is at the forefront of efforts to research and develop new technology that makes food products better for our consumers. These innovations will help us to reduce sugar in confectionery when they are combined with other, more common methods like reformulating recipes and swapping sugar for other, non-artificial ingredients,&#8221; Fiona Kendrick, chairman of Nestlé UK and Ireland said in a press release on Tuesday.</p>
<p>Nestlé told CNBC via email that the move was not linked to the weakening pound following the Brexit vote.The fall in sterling as a result of the Brexit vote has meant higher import costs. Some companies have been forced to increase prices or shrink their products to offset the impact of the higher import bills.</p>
<p>Last November, Mondelez International, who sells Toblerone decided to widen the gap between the triangular pieces. At the time, the firm also denied that the decision was related to Brexit.</p>
<p>On Tuesday, data showed that grocery inflation reached nearly three-year high of 1.4 percent in the 12 weeks to February. Butter prices jumped 15 percent, fish is 8 percent more expensive and tea prices rose 6 percent.</p>


Your Nestle chocolate will now have less sugar

<p>Original post by <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/marguerite-ward/" rel="author">Marguerite Ward</a></p>
<p>Whether or not you think Elon Musk can recover from the very public SpaceX failure, there&#8217;s no denying he&#8217;s a visionary.</p>
<p>The CEO of SpaceX and Tesla is working to shuttle humans to Mars, bring electric vehicles to the mass market, and revolutionize both artificial intelligence and transportation — with some hits and misses.</p>
<p>Musk&#8217;s winding path to success all started in South Africa, when a young Musk started voraciously reading sci-fi books and building his own video games.</p>
<p>Here&#8217;s a comprehensive infographic created by Funders and Founders designer Anna Vital that explores Musk&#8217;s fascinating road to the top.</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p><img decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-90334 size-full" src="http://sc.cnbcfm.com/applications/cnbc.com/resources/files/2016/08/31/how-elon-musk-started-infographic.png" alt="" width="600"  /></p>


How billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk got his start

<p>U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has no meeting planned with Republic of Congo President Denis Sassou, a Trump spokeswoman said on Tuesday.</p>
<p>Sassou&#8217;s spokesman, Thierry Moungalla, earlier had said Sassou, a member of the African Union&#8217;s High Level Committee on Libya, and Trump were scheduled for a U.S. meeting on Tuesday to discuss the political turmoil in Libya and other African issues.</p>
<p>Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks said there had never been a meeting scheduled and would not be one before Trump takes office on Jan. 20.</p>
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<p>Trump has been holding a series of meetings at his home in Palm Beach, Florida, as well as Trump Tower in New York City as he prepares to assume the White House from Democratic U.S. President Barack Obama on Jan. 20. Most of the meetings have centered on possible candidates to serve in his administration, including his Cabinet.</p>
<p>Trump aides have said he is scheduled to meet this week with Elsa Murano, who served as undersecretary of agriculture for food safety under President George W. Bush and is a possible contender for agriculture secretary, although no date was given.﻿</p>
<p> </p>


International News

World Bank Group President calls for urgent action on hunger crisis

Why $50 is more likely to be a ceiling than a floor for the oil price

Elon Musk’s hyperloop vision takes a step closer to reality

Your Nestle chocolate will now have less sugar

How billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk got his start

No Trump meeting with Republic of Congo president

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World Bank Group President calls for urgent action on hunger crisis

Why $50 is more likely to be a ceiling than a floor for the oil price

Elon Musk’s hyperloop vision takes a step closer to reality

Your Nestle chocolate will now have less sugar

How billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk got his start

No Trump meeting with Republic of Congo president

News Tips

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