why i do not wish to live in yemen anytime soon

this article appears in the yemen times. it explains succinctly why i do not wish to live in yemen, no matter how lovely it is.

Yemen on high alert to combat possible locusts swarm

Mohammed Al-Qadhi

Yemen announced Tuesday that it was ready to challenge any locusts swarming the Red Sea region, Abdu al-Rumaih, Head of Locusts Fight center said.

He pointed out that field teams had been dispatched to the Southern and Western regions of the country which include Tihamah, Lahj, Abyan, Shabwa and Aden Gulf.

Millions of hungry locusts have landed in parts of Israel and moved towards Egypt, reaching Saudi Arabia. Egypt’s Agriculture Minister Ahmed al-Leithi denied fresh swarms of locusts were attacking Egypt, noting the ministry received no reports on further locusts that flew on their way to the African coasts.

Speaking during a People’s Assembly session in reply to a number of parliamentary questions on locusts, the minister said, “If climatic conditions are okay, we won’t see more locusts attacking Egypt.”

Al-Rumaih was quoted as saying that his center already requested the ministry of defense to take measures to combat any possible locust swarm on the country, using helicopters. The center already informed the cabinet concerning emergency plan to combat locusts swarm. He said that according to information Yemen obtained from Somalia, Saudi Arabia and Eritrea, Yemen is possibly to be swarmed by locusts coming from the Western coast of the Red Sea.

However, Yemen is hopeful that the Saudi locusts’ fighters’ teams will be able to control the locusts swarm that invaded Tabook area as well as the ability of Yemeni people in combating the locusts, mainly in the mountainous areas as people like eating locusts as they did in 1990.

that's right, folks. if your country suffers biblical plagues on a regular basis, i ain't movin' there.

although... the sydney morning herald had a nice article about how best to beat them by eating them:

Help beat locusts by cooking up a swarm

By Michael Bradley
November 19, 2004

Moses described four kinds of locust that the Hebrews were permitted to eat, but he never recommended they make locust bellata dumplings or a Coonabarabran stir fry. It took a NSW [New South Wales -ed.] plague with the potential to take on biblical proportions to inspire a couple of NSW insect experts to produce Cooking with Sky Prawns, a mostly toungue-in-cheek response to the worsening crisis.

Edward Joshua, a co-author and acting agricultural protection officer with the NSW Department of Primary Industries, does not eat the bugs himself, but he is adamant the "home-delivery bushfood" is nutritionally superior to beef. If the idea catches on, people in the state's west will have little trouble finding a meal. The worst locust plague to hit NSW in 25 years is escalating, with billions of insects reaching adulthood in the past week and taking to the sky.

While infant locusts would normally be eaten by wasps, birds, and worms, in the years of drought there has been a huge depletion in locust predators. Swarms of 50 square kilometres containing up to 500 locusts per square metre are appearing across the state. By next week female locusts will be laying their first batch of 60 eggs, which will hatch before Christmas. The females - and their offspring - will do this another five times before autumn, with each of these creatures capable of consuming 15 times their own body weight in a day.

Since the start of spring the State Government has distributed enough pesticide to spray more then 540,000 hectares, more than ever before. Six aircraft have been spraying swarms this week in the Dubbo region alone, with aerial spraying programs throughout the Mudgee, Coonabarabran, Nyngan, Forbes, and Condobolin districts.

With the swarms capable of travelling 500 kilometres in a night and new hatchings expected within weeks, Mr Joshua says it is hard to judge when the plague can be brought under control. "We're really trying to keep a lid on the situation, and if there are crops on the ground and sheep and cattle to be sold next autumn, then we will have done our job," he said.

word. which, may i add, also means i shall never move to australia either. new zealand is fine, though i might tire of lamb.

incidentally, the famed university of islamic learning, azhar university, has reminded egyptians that locusts are halal - which is to say kosher in american english. here's our last clip for today, regrettably cited off of the "washingmyung" times because i can't seem to locate the UPI story elsewhere:

Egyptian clerics approve eating locusts
Cairo, Egypt, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- Faced with an invasion of locusts, the highest Islamic religious institution in Egypt has reportedly issued an edict allowing people to eat locusts.

The independent al-Masri al-Yawm newspaper

that's egypt today, for those of us who aren't sensationalist wingers that also insist on 'translating' allah for when muslims say 'god' when they are speaking arabic or al-masri al-yawm for egypt today - wonder what they call the arabic edition of usa today? prolly al-waw al-sin al-alif al-yawm or something equally translationally bigoted.

said al-Azhar Institute has decreed it is permitted by religion to eat the red desert locusts that have invaded the country during the past week.

It said al-Azhar has urged all Egyptians to "hunt the locusts and eat them to combat the crisis."

The newspaper quoted Abdul Hamid al-Atrash, the head of the Fatwa Commission in al-Azhar, as saying eating the locusts would "contribute actively in wiping them out, instead of the fear that has consumed the hearts of millions of people."

Al-Atrash said insects that feed off plants are deemed pure for human consumption.

i tell you, if i followed Atrash's general advice to eat what strikes fear in my heart i'd get in really, really big trouble.

also, i'd get fat.