Provisional FAO estimates show that the number of undernourished people in 2007 increased by 75 million, over and above FAO

With increased power generation driving up energy demand in Asia the business of energy security and inter-country business alliances has been a major inter-governmental talking point in recent months, as both Pakistan and India seek to shore-up their energy supply by engaging the Iranian government on exports of oil and gas to their respective countries.

www.asianborderlands.net Political boundaries divide Asia into units that sometimes the obscure many commonalities that transcend such boundaries, they also reinforce the marginalisation of people who live in the so-called border areas. Yet a better appreciation of these

Health effects of air pollutants worse in Asian cities economic boom in Asia has come with a price. Health effects of particulate pollutants in Asian cities are similar

Malnutrition remains a challenging issue in Southeast Asia, including India, says the latest UN report on achieving Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The report states that East and Southeast Asian countries have met the MDG target of reducing the 1990 levels of extreme poverty by half but more efforts need to be put in. This report will serve as curtain raiser for world leaders who will be meeting in New York on September 25th to renew commitments in achieving MDGs and setting out plans and practical steps for action.

Two efforts to redraw the poverty line in Asia find that millions more are barely getting by.

TOKYO/DUBAI: Custom-made Rolls-Royces, stretch Hummers and bright red Maseratis line the entrance to Dubai

Modern humans may have started eliminating other species right from the start: our ancestors stand accused of wiping out megafauna - from giant flightless birds in Australia to mammoths in Asia and the ground sloth of North America - as they spread across the planet. Even so, by around 6000 years ago there were only about 12 million people on Earth - less than a quarter of the current population of Great Britain. That's a far cry from today's 6.6 billion, many of us guzzling fossil fuels, churning out greenhouse gases and messing with our planet's climate like there's no tomorrow.

Asia is currently experiencing rapid increases in industrialization, urbanization, and vehicularization. As a result, emission trends (e.g., energy, fuel, vehicle use), population trends (e.g., degree of urbanization, urban population growth, city size), health trends (e.g., age structure, background disease rates), and other important factors (e.g., broad changes in regulatory approaches, improvements in control technology) will influence the extent to which exposure to air pollution affects the health of the Asian population over the next several decades.

Although the deleterious effects of air pollution from fossil fuel combustion have been demonstrated in many Western nations, fewer studies have been conducted in Asia. The Public Health and Air Pollution in Asia (PAPA) project assessed the effects of shortterm exposure to air pollution on daily mortality in Bangkok, Thailand, and in three cities in China: Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Wuhan.

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