Much of Asia's export-based economic miracle has been predicated on cheap transportation and energy, but with oil at $140 a barrel the sums increasingly don't add up.
As the world grows more reliant on crops like corn and palm oil for its fuel supply, it is becoming vulnerable to the many hazards that can damage agriculture, ranging from droughts to plagues to storms.
Caution needs to be exercised in developing African food production to avoid long-term social and environmental harm.
President Bush called for Congress to renew his global AIDS initiative and urged other nations to live up to their promises to fight poverty and disease on the continent.
Since President Hosni Mubarak took office in 1981, the population has nearly doubled to 82 million people.
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