Late-night international post and food rationing in the U.S.?

Hamas Offers Truce:

Coming on the heels of talks with former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, the Palestinian militant group, Hamas, has proposed a truce to Israel to quell violence in the Gaza Strip. Though Israeli officials remain skeptical as to the offers sincerity, it seems misguided for the Jewish state to dismiss the pledge offhand. Terms of the deal, as stated by Hamas, include a lifting of the Israeli blockade between Gaza and Israel proper, as well as a cessation of attacks by Israeli soldiers on Hamas officials and Gazan civilians. In return, Gaza would end all rocket fire on Northern and Western Israel. Some interpret Hamas' proposal as an attempt by the group to remain, or take steps toward becoming, relevant in the peace process. However, recent reports indicate that Israeli and Hamas leaders have been holding negotiations through an Egyptian conduit for some time and that Carter's trip may have tipped the balance in terms of a truce offer.

Walmart Braces for the 'Silent Tsunami':

In a worrying sign of the world food crisis' growing severity, Arkansas-based Walmart, the world's largest retailer, began limiting the sale of rice in selected locations to four bage per customer. New restrictions placed by rice-growing countries in South and Southeast Asia on their exports have sent global rice prices skyrocketing, fueling worries of scarcity amongst supermarkets abroad. Perhaps, from the grave, Milton Friedman is furiously penciling possible responses to the breakdown of his shock economic doctrine that has, in large part, resulted in the 'silent tsunami' of the food crisis. World Bank Chief Robert Zoellick claims that, if conditions do not drastically improve in the form of huge new amounts of food aid to indigent groups across parts of Africa and Asia, 100 million new people risk falling into extreme poverty. How can we accept this as, in any circumstance, acceptable? There do exist certain growing pains, which develop in economies as they transition to a freer, market-based system, but the absolute subjugation of .1 billion people to unbearable poverty seems, in any reckoning, unconscionable.