The bird flu virus H5N1 has mutated into a form that makes it more infectious to humans, increasing the risk of a human pandemic, researchers have found. The changes, which only affect the virus circulating in Europe and Africa, are worrying although they have not yet transformed it into a pandemic strain, Yoshihiro Kawaoka, of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who led the research, said. The outbreak of avian influenza caused by the lethal virus H5N1 began in Asia in 2003 and spread around the world, leading to the slaughter of hundreds of millions of birds. More than 30 countries have reported outbreaks in the last year, mostly in wild birds such as swans. The virus has infected 329 people since 2003, of whom 201 have died, according to the World Health Organisation.

People are getting fatter in all parts of the world, with the possible exception of east Asia, doctors found in a one-day global snapshot of obesity. Overall, 24 percent of men and 27 percent of women seeing their doctors that day were obese, and another 30 percent of men and 40 percent of women were overweight, the researchers found. That puts the rest of the world close to par with the United States, long considered the country with the worst weight problem. An estimated two-thirds of Americans are overweight and a third of these are obese. People who are overweight have a higher risk of heart disease, diabetes and some types of cancer.

I prefer not to eat food that has a face. But many of my nearest and dearest love their meat, and who am I to ask them not to eat so much of it? Until now, that is. Having just discovered the huge impact of livestock production on global warming, I need hesitate no longer. Reducing our meat consumption is no longer an option but an urgent necessity. Here's why. Eighteen per cent of the greenhouse gas emissions that we produce come from the production of livestock - that's 4 per cent more than from transport. That's not all, as the amount of meat and dairy produce consumed globally is set roughly to double by 2050: so if there's a problem now, how big will it be by then? You might wonder why official concern over climate change has focused so strongly on carbon offsetting, greening your home and cutting your transport and has all but neglected the huge role played by our consumption of meat and dairy products. Could it be fear of being seen as the nanny state? Has our dietary choice become a sacred cow?

At first, the numbers don't seem to add up. The world produces more food than ever - enough to feed twice the global population. Yet, more people than ever suffer from hunger; and their numbers are rising. Today, 854 million people, most of them women and girls, are chronically hungry, up from 800 million in 1996. Another paradox: the majority of the world's hungry people live in rural areas, where nearly all food is grown. World Food Day on October 16 is a good time to try and understand the conundrum of world hunger. The root of the problem is the inequitable distribution of the resources needed to either grow or buy food (also known as poverty). World Food Day is an equally good time to call out one of the main culprits of the crisis: industrial agriculture.

[Comments posted on this article point out the relationship to meat consumption - for example from Richard Schwartz, president of Jewish Vegetarians of North America: "In a world with so much hunger with millions dying annually from insufficient food, how can we justify animal-based diets that involve the feeding of 70 percent of the grain grown in the US and over 40 percent of the grain grown worlwide to animals?" See his many informative articles here. ]

The decline in the world's oil supply offers no sudden dramatic event that would appeal to the writer of "apocalyptic" science fiction: no mushroom clouds, no flying saucers, no giant meteorites. The future will be just like today, only tougher. Oil depletion is basically just a matter of overpopulation - too many people and not enough resources. The most serious consequence will be a lack of food. The problem of oil therefore leads, in an apparently mundane fashion, to the problem of farming. What will we eat and how will we grow that food in a post-oil society? How much land is required to sustain life without chemical fertilizers? What are the most efficient crops to grow? When will mechanized farming be substituted for manual labour? The most practical diet would be largely vegetarian, for several reasons.

Nineteen million California chickens produce about five billion eggs a year - making them the nation's fifth-largest supplier of omelets and scrambled eggs. Now, animal welfare groups are hoping to change the way the hens live and lay, by collecting enough signatures to put an initiative on the ballot asking state voters to give the hens more room to roam. The measure would force farmers to change current practices that keep most egg-laying hens, veal calves and pregnant pigs in small cages or boxes for most of their lives. It would require that enclosures be big enough for the animals to fully extend their wings or legs, lie down, stand up and turn around. The state effort is part of a recent national movement by animal welfare organizations to ask voters to help decide how their food is raised.

Australian Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull joined opposition to a resumption of live dolphin exports from the Solomon Islands as it was revealed some of the marine mammals had already died. Two Emirates Airbus A310-300 jets at the main airport in the Solomons capital, Honiara, [October 16] took off with 28 dolphins for a long flight to Dubai in the Middle East. It has been claimed one of the local men connected to the export scheme has previously been involved in slaughtering dolphins to sell their meat for food. There was an international outcry when Canadian Chris Porter in 2003 exported another lot of 28 dolphins, on that occasion to Mexico. Australian and international conservation groups called for Mr Porter's new export push to be stopped.