Hong Kong companies that reduce their carbon dioxide emissions in the city can now sell those cutbacks in a $12.9bn global carbon credit market created under the Kyoto protocol. The new arrangements, announced by the Hong Kong government yesterday, are a step towards rectifying an anomaly created by China's "one country, two systems" rule over its special administrative region. Under this rule, Hong Kong companies are treated no differently from foreign companies when doing business in China.

For the first time in two generations, world population is growing faster than agricultural production

Some good ideas, but too little cash, were among the fruits of a global gathering

The world will face high food prices "in the years to come", the UN food summit said yesterday, but failed to agree how the crisis could be eased. The summit, hosted by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation, was called to tackle food price rises that have triggered riots in 30 countries, but became embroiled in a bitter dispute over biofuels and export restrictions. Agricultural commodities rose on the news as traders saw no prospect of change in biofuels policies or in the use of trade restrictions by key exporters. Bad weather has also contributed to the recent price rises.

Pledges of almost three billion dollars of emergency aid were made at a food price crisis summit on Wednesday but UN chief Ban Ki-moon warned that up to 20 billion dollars a year would be needed to avoid disaster. "We simply cannot afford to fail," the UN Secretary-General said at the food security summit. "Hundreds of millions of people expect no less," he added.

U.N. officials announced almost $3 billion of emergency aid to help ease the global food crisis on Wednesday, but U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon warned up to $20 billion a year would be needed. "We simply cannot afford to fail," said Mr.-1 Ban at the food security summit in Rome, which is grappling with how to stop the crisis escalating. "Hundreds of millions of people expect no less."

The United Nations plans to expand assistance through food aid, vouchers or cash, scale up nutritional support, and improve safety nets and social protection programmes to help the most vulnerable sections caught in the food crisis and price spiral. This comes as part of the Comprehensive Framework for Action (CFA) prepared by a high-level task force established and chaired by the Secretary-General. "It is intended to be a guide for global and national actors, both institutions and governments, and a catalyst for action that needs to start now,' says a UNIC communiqu

Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda asked Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Tuesday to make the

A one-day workshop on

The FAO World Food Summit, which was addressed by President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday, is aimed at forging a common international response to the food crisis. The immediate goal of the June 3-5 Summit - which is being attended by more than 40 Heads of State - will be to secure a massive flow of assistance to the world's hungriest people and to ensure that subsistence farmers across the globe will have the seeds and fertilisers they need to plant their crops this season.