Long after the political uprisings in the Middle East have subsided, many underlying challenges that are not now in the news will remain. Prominent among these are rapid population growth, spreading water shortages, and ever growing food insecurity.

Figures reflect sharp increase in moves to towns and cities in past decade and effect after 30 years of one-child policy

(Reuters) - The world has to act against hunger, which affects 13 percent of the population, if it wants to strengthen global security, a candidate to run the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said on Tuesday.

Franz Fischler, an Austrian who is former EU agriculture commissioner, said during an interview the whipsaw effect of volatile food prices complicates the effort to expand local production and improve the welfare of subsistence farmers. Prices spiked in mid-2008, plunged in 2009 and hit a record high early this year.

BEIJING, April 23 (UPI) -- The National Energy Administration in China said the country's demand for energy is growing faster than previously reported.

The NEA said demand for electricity would grow up to 12 percent in 2011 with total consumption reaching up to 4.69 trillion kilowatt hours, China's state-run Xinhua news agency reported Saturday.

In January, the NEA estimated China's demand for electricity would grow 9 percent this year compared to 2010.