What next oil troubles? The Saudi Arabian Government is starting to worry about water supplies. It has entered into bilateral discussions with governments of other countries - Ukraine, Pakistan, Egypt, Sudan, and Turkey - whereby Saudi firms would grow food in those countries, with a guarantee that some of it would be exported to Saudi Arabia, whilst its own food output, especially wheat, is cut back by limitations in its water supply.

New figures for carbon emissions, from the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, show that in 2007 19.4 tons of carbon dioxide per person were produced in the USA, 11.8 in Russia, 8.6 in Western Europe, 5.1 in China, and 1.8 in India. China's total emissions rose by 8% in a year, putting their total clearly above that of the United States.