President Obama says it is time for Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi to go. Rescuers continue to search for survivors of the New Zealand earthquake, though hope is dimming. An American blogger digitally speaks with students in Palestine’s West Bank about social media as a means for social change. February is Black History Month in the United States. And studies show large gains in the production of biotech crops.
Obama Backs Qadhafi Ouster
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President Obama calls on Libya’s leader, Muammar Qadhafi, to leave power now, saying that he and his government must be held accountable for violating the human rights and brutalization of the Libyan people. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton further amplifies the president’s position, saying that it is clear the Libyan people want Qadhafi out of power.
Kiwi Quake’s Deadly Toll
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A U.S. Search and Recovery team is on the scene in Christchurch, New Zealand hoping more survivors can be pulled from the city’s rubble. New Zealand Police put the death toll at 113 late February 25, while 70 survivors have been found alive in the days since the 6.3 magnitude quake. More than 200 people are still thought to be missing.
Social Media, Social Change
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Blogger Zerlina Maxwell spoke with 25 students in the Palestinian Territories’ West Bank via digital video conference for a State Department dialogue on “Promoting Social Media as a Means for Change.” Speaking about Hosni Mubarak’s resignation as president of Egypt, Maxwell said, “I think that social media allowed me, someone who is sitting in New Jersey with a computer, to experience that moment as if I were there.”
Black History Month
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Each February, Black History Month honors the struggles and triumphs of millions of American citizens and their contributions to the nation’s cultural and political life. February was chosen because it includes the birthdays of President Abraham Lincoln and the abolitionist Frederick Douglass.
Biotech Boosts Small Farm Yield
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Between 1996 and 2010, the production of crops genetically modified to increase yield rose 87-fold, surpassing 1 billion hectares, according to new statistics from the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications. Of the 15.4 million farmers planting such biotech crops, 90 percent are small, resource-poor farmers in developing countries. Developing countries produce 48 percent of global biotech crops. Above, a farmer tends to genetically enhance papayas in Hawaii.