Warning of ‘Food Price Riots in the UK’
YAHOO! FINANCE: A senior economist at the worldwide bank HSBC (LSE: HSBA.L - news) has warned of civil unrest in Britain if food prices continue to soar.

Speaking on Jeff Randall Live, senior global economist Karen Ward cautioned that the UK could experience the kind of food riots seen in other countries.

"Even in the developed world I think we have very, very low wage growth, so people aren't getting more in their pay packet to compensate them for food and energy, and I think we could see social unrest certainly in parts of the developed world and the UK as well."

She (SNP: ^SHEY - news) went on to highlight the link between high food prices and the escalating cost of crude oil.

"More and more we are seeing that some of these foodstuffs are actually substitutes for energy itself, particularly biofuels. So I think the energy markets are a significant contributor to these food price gains."

The comments come as the United Nations warned the cost of food is now at the highest level for 21 years and set to rise further. >>> SKY NEWS | Tuesday, March 08, 2011

Thai Businesses Look to Rebuild

Protesters Set Fire to Thai Stock Exchange: Leaders Surrender But Some Protesters Flee, Set Fires Around City
Hardliners set the Thai stock exchange building in Bangkok on fire even though leaders of the mainstream "Red Shirt" protesters surrendered to the army. Photo: The Wall Street Journal
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: BANGKOK—Hard-line Thai protesters set fire Wednesday to the country's stock exchange, shopping malls and a television station, while Thai authorities called an 8 p.m. curfew, casting doubt on the prospects for a resolution to the country's weeks-long political crisis despite the surrender of protest leaders earlier in the day.

Thai Red Shirt protest leaders called off their marathon rally and surrendered to police Wednesday after an early morning army assault on their heavily fortified camp in the center of Bangkok.

But in the midafternoon, smoke could be seen billowing from the Stock Exchange of Thailand's headquarters as helicopters buzzed in the sky above. Though trading has been taking place at a different, undisclosed location in recent days, stock-exchange officials said markets would be closed Thursday. Earlier in the day, Thailand's benchmark index finished up 0.7% on hopes for a quick resolution. Authorities also said commercial banks around the country would be closed Thursday and Friday.

Thick plumes of smoke rose across other locations in the city as militant protesters targeted some of Bangkok's main commercial centers. In other parts of Thailand, local television broadcast pictures of antigovernment demonstrators setting alight a provincial government building in northeastern Khon Kaen. >>> James Hookway | Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Thai Army Busts Through Fortification


More Protests and a Nude Rally in Bangkok

Greece Paralyzed by Protests, Passes Austerity Bill

RUSSIA TODAY: Greece paralyzed by protests, passes austerity bill: On Thursday afternoon the Greek parliament passed a package of strong anti-crisis measures in exchange for vast financial aid from EU countries. >>> | Published Thursday, May 06, 2010; Edited Friday, May 07, 2010

Riots Up Front and Personal

Greece on Brink of Abyss as Three Bank Workers Killed in Riots
A riot policeman falls after being hit by a molotov cocktail near the Greek parliament in Athens. Photograph: Times Online
TIMES ONLINE: The President of Greece warned last night that his country stood on the brink of the abyss after three people were killed when an anti-government mob set fire to the Athens bank where they worked.

“I have difficulty in finding the words to express my distress and outrage,” President Papoulias said. “The big challenge we face is to maintain social cohesion and peace. Our country came to the brink of the abyss. It is our collective responsibility to ensure that we don’t step over the edge.”

Violence flared as tens of thousands of striking workers and civil servants took to the streets of the capital and the northern city of Salonika to protest against the Government’s austerity measures.

The demonstrators gathered as George Papandreou, the Prime Minister, was trying to push through parliament tough budget cuts demanded by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund in exchange for a ¤110 billion aid package.

“We are all deeply shocked by the unjust death of three workers, three of our fellow citizens, who were victims of murderous attacks,” he told MPs. >>> Philip Pangalos in Athens | Thursday, May 06, 2010

Greece Anti-austerity Protests Escalate

Revolution from Greece's Ruins as Crisis Deepens
THE TELEGRAPH: As Greeks face changing their way of life, rioters in Athens clash with police at the start of a very long, painful summer for the country.



The week was already going badly enough for mild-mannered Greek prime minister George Papandreou. After months of insisting that his country would be able to claw its own way out of decades of mismanagement and corruption, his belated SOS to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) ensured that Greece's world famous ruins are now financial, not archaeological.

But then things got worse. Even as Mr Papandreou likened himself to Homer's great survivor, Odysseus, his country's fortunes were being sunk between a modern Scylla and Charybdis: German intransigence over a financial bailout on one side, and market jitters that downgraded Greek bonds to junk status on the other.

On Sunday, however, as the details of an economic life raft from the EU and IMF are due to be announced, Mr Papandreou will be forced to survey not simply the wreckage of the Greek economy, but the beginnings of "cultural revolution" that analysts say his homeland's crisis is set to unleash across the continent of Europe. >>> Harry de Quetteville and Paul Anast in Athens | Saturday, May 01, 2010