VegE-News is a monthly news and events email service. It is free to subscribe. Their January issue's stories included:

Animal Issues and Advocacy Animal rights group targets KFC. Taiwan law takes bite out of dog meat sales. Peter Singer on Japanese whaling: Harpooned by hypocrisy. Is whaling unethical, compared to the unnecessary suffering inflicted on animals by Western nations through culling, hunting and factory farms? Singer argues that it is. UK covert video reveals the true cost of cheap chicken. Chef's new goal: Looking dinner in the eye.

“A chicken is a living thing, an animal with a life cycle, and we shouldn't expect it will cost less than a pint of beer in a pub.”

Books and Movies  Skinny Bitch, a combination of girl power, tough love and gross-out tales from the slaughterhouse has been translated to the kitchen in Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin's new cookbook, Skinny Bitch in the Kitch. Sample recipe title: "'Chicken' Noodle Soup: Just like Mom used to make – minus the pieces of decomposing, rotting chicken carcass." An interview with the force behind the thought-provoking film "A Sacred Duty." Praise for the new cookbook, Veganomicon.

Health High dairy in childhood linked with colorectal cancer risk. We are what we eat. Vegans seek grilled meat warning. Legumes linked to lower diabetes risk. Bird flu may be spread indirectly, WHO says.

Environment Lifestyle changes can curb climate change: UN science panel chief. World Bank backs cattle ranching, helps cut down Amazon forest.

“Ranching has grown by half in the last three years, driven by new industrial slaughterhouses which are being constructed in the Amazon basin with the help of the World Bank.”

Empty seas: Europe's appetite for seafood propels illegal trade. Rescued pademelons, part of the rampant trade in rare and exotic animals from Papua and other areas of Indonesia, were returned home. Poor law inforcement, rapid deforestation and commercial development also threaten better known species such as the Sumatran tiger, elephant, rhino and orangutan.

Lifestyles and Trends Why not give a vegetarian diet a try for the New Year? Cutting down on meat is on an upswing. It's healthy! Shhh ... Don't tell the kids – The trick is to introduce unusual foods, such as broccoli and tofu, to kids slowly. Make it fun and use familiar names for the foods. US approves animal clones as food.