Following President Putin's call in December, a committee has been set up in the Russian Academy of Sciences under the vice director of the Academy, Nikolai Laverov. The members of the committee include a broad array of scholars, including Erik Galimov, the head of the Vernadsky Institute of Geochemistry and Analytical Chemistry, as well as a number of other Academicians.

The 2013 outlook reports by different food commodity groups, show a picture of worsening shortages, and loss of production.

China announced today that its deep space probe Chang'e 2, performed a successful fly-by, on Dec. 13 of the asteroid Toutatis, about 7 million km away from the Earth. This maneuver is a first for China, and makes it the fourth space agency, after the United States, the European Union, and Japan, which have sent spacecraft to examine asteroids.

Superstorm Sandy wiped out almost 90% of Haiti's agricultural crops, throwing this suffering nation into a food shortage and starvation crisis that threatens millions of lives.

On Dec. 7, Obama sent a proposal to Congress for a proposal of $60.4 billion in Federal aid for states hit by Superstorm Sandy, which is far below even the minimal $83 billion requested last week by New York ($42 billion) and New Jersey ($37 billion), plus Connecticut ($3.9 billion); plus what other storm-hit states need, including Maryland, Delaware and Pennsylvania.

High level government officials have announced that Russian spending on its space program will be substantially increased from 2013 to the year 2020. This, in order to re-establish the broad range of stellar capabilities — including launch vehicles, manned spacecraft, and Earth-orbital systems — that made it a leader before the post-Soviet take-down of the Russian economy.

The existential danger to the human race posed by asteroids is in the headlines this weekend, in particular, after the asteroid Toutatis passed the Earth Dec. 13. The United Nations is sponsoring a major conference on the issue February 2013, billed as intended to devise a framework for advance detection of asteroids, and confer on potential plans for action against collisions.

An explosion in food prices is set for 2013, from the dynamics of breakdown in agriculture production, and deliberate policies to further scarcity by the Obama Administration, in line with the London imperial crowd. A snapshot overview is seen in year-end statements from farmers and food processors. A few examples are given below.

Last week, Russia's Research Center for Earth Operative Monitoring (NTs OMZ) issued another successful earthquake forecast. Their release (in Russian) describes the forecast they issued on December 3rd, warning of a magnitude 7.2 (± 0.2) earthquake in the Japan region, on either December 7th or 14th (± 2 days).

Presentations and side conversations at the two-day annual meeting of Fusion Power Associates, held in Washington D.C. on Dec. 5-6, made clear the catastrophic consequences to fusion science and energy research, of the Obama Administration's proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2013.