The World Bank has estimated that it would cost between $10 billion and $12 billion annually to roll out those changes in the 36 neediest countries, including promoting breastfeeding for newborns, encouraging use of iodized salt, hand washing and giving zinc and vitamin A supplements to children.

The $10 billion is “easily affordable” if countries split the cost, Save the Children wrote in its new report. It is a fraction of the $140 billion annually that the United States and other countries have spent on Afghan military operations. One California tax proposed last year would have covered the same cost.

Chronic malnutrition is often overlooked until extreme famines grab headlines, Save the Children argues. The problem makes children more vulnerable to disease and cuts their chances of surviving if an emergency food crisis does hit, it wrote.

"The world can no longer afford to wait until visibly emaciated children grab headlines to inspire the action these children need and deserve," Save the Children's president and chief executive, Carolyn Miles, said in a statement.

With only slight progress in combating malnutrition and booming population growth, there are 15 million more stunted children in Africa than two decades ago, the group found. Some countries have actually seen their malnutrition rates go up, including Nigeria and Tanzania.

There are some hopeful exceptions: Saudi Arabia, Angola, China, Brazil and Mexico reduced malnutrition at a remarkable pace over the last 20 years, Save the Children says. Many of those countries have also experienced strong economic growth; social protection programs are also a factor.

The map below shows malnutrition rates for children younger than 5, according to the most recent World Bank data. The figures show that the problem is especially severe in India and much of Africa:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/world_now/2012/02/easily-affordable-to-save-2-million-children-report-says.html

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Josh Powell won't be buried next to sons; officers buy plots

Josh Powell's family reportedly wanted him interred in the same cemetery on a hill overlooking his sons, whom he attacked with a hatchet before killing them and himself in a gas-fueled explosive fire Feb. 5.

Det. Ed Troyer of the Pierce County sheriff's office, who is also director of the nonprofit Crime Stoppers, said he and Pierce County Sheriff Paul Pastor placed a down payment on the plots surrounding the boys' grave.

"We might not be able to keep Josh Powell from being buried in the cemetery, but we can keep him away from the boys," he said in a phone interview with The Times. "Bottom line is, it's not fair for murder victims to have the murder suspect laid to rest next to them. It's hurtful to the community and dishonors the boys."

Crime Stoppers, a nonprofit that tries to help solve and prevent crimes, announced the news prominently on its website and asked for donations to help cover the cost of the plots, which is expected to be about $5,000. Troyer says he's hoping the community will step up.

The news that Josh Powell's relatives were looking at nearby plots caused a uproar among Washington authorities and the family of the boys' missing mother. An attorney for the boys' maternal grandparents said she would stop at nothing to derail the Powell family's plan.

"For him to be buried near those kids is just unthinkable," Seattle attorney Anne Bremner told the Associated Press. She represents Charles and Judith Cox of Puyallup, Wash., whose daughter is Powell's missing wife, Susan.

Adding to the outrage, of course, is that Susan Powell disappeared under mysterious circumstances from the Powells' Utah home in December 2009, and Josh Powell was the chief person of interest. He told authorities he'd taken his young sons for a camping trip to the desert in the middle of the night during a snowstorm, and when he returned, she was gone. He moved to Washington state soon after, moving in with his father, Steve Powell -- who was arrested last fall on child pornography and voyeurism charges.

Josh Powell lost custody of his sons after his father's arrest. He rented a house in nearby Graham, which he set on fire after a caseworker brought the boys over for what was to have been a supervised visit. He locked her out of the house, attacked his children with a hatchet and set the house ablaze.

Troyer said they would let the Cox family decide what to do with the plots.

"Susan Cox is still missing," he said, adding that the family can have the option to bury her next to her boys if she is found. Authorities presume she is dead, but the Utah investigation continues.

Powell's relatives had selected a plot at Woodbine Cemetery 80 to 100 feet from the plot where Charles, 7, and Braden, 5, were interred Monday, the AP reported. More than 1,000 people attended the boys' funeral on Saturday.

Puyallup City Manager Ralph Dannenberg told The Times on Wednesday that the sale to the Powells was on hold while Bremner pursued plans to seek a restraining order.

The city doesn't have guidelines for handling such a thorny situation, Dannenberg said.

"We are a municipal cemetery. We don't have anything in our codes or procedures about denying anyone" a plot to purchase, he said. "But with legal action pending, it's in the best interest of both parties to hold off."

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/nationnow/

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From Google News

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Analysis: BART Community Policing May Help, But Problems Are Endemic

The new plan calls for BART officers and lieutenants to be assigned to smaller geographical areas. Oakland, for example, will constitute one zone, all to itself.

The idea is to help build up the concept of community policing, where an officer is already familiar with people coming and going in a particular station before being called into action.

Yesterday, KQED's Joshua Johnson talked to Golden Gate University Law Professor and former San Francisco Police Commissioner Peter Keane about the plan.

Edited transcript:

Mr Keane, what kind of a difference is community policing likely to make in how BART operates?

What it does is it decentralizes oversight and the command of police units within a given area. It's not just in one central area, the local areas are sort of off as colonies. With community policing, BART could help solve a lot of problems because it would have a smaller command structure in a local area; it would have a smaller span of control of the supervisors and they would be familiar with particular problems that occur in that area. And they'd be more on top of things in terms of supervision and command and control as events occur. The police officers on the ground would not be as isolated and they would have access to supervisory aid and assistance and advice, which for BART is something that is very much needed.

How far would this have gone toward preventing the the Oscar Grant shooting in 2009 or the shooting of Charles Hill at the Civic Center BART station last year?

Those shootings could well have been prevented had something like the community policing structure been in place. There you had the particular line officers involved over a fairly long period of time with something that would have been helped a great deal if they had some sort of advice and assistance and supervision and command oversight.

BART has said this is not the final solution for improving policing, this is part of a larger strategy to make BART police better.

Well BART's problems are endemic. This community policing situation is one small step toward addressing them, but the major things that have to be addressed are training and professionalism.

Everything that we've seen in the past regarding tragedies that have occurred, you can trace it to an absence or a total lack of training. Or deficiencies in training. Until those things are addressed, community policing will make a difference, but it's by no means going to solve the major problems we've seen.

http://blogs.kqed.org/newsfix/2012/02/15/analysis-bart-community-policing-plan-may-help-but-problems-are-endemic/

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