Food shortages curb global appetite for free trade
Free-trade policies long advanced by World Bank President Robert Zoellick and US President George W. Bush are losing favour as countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America find they can't buy enough food to feed their people. Global food prices have spiked 60% since the beginning of 2007, sparking riots in more than 30 countries that depend on imported food, including Cameroon and Egypt. The surge in prices threatens to push the number of malnourished people in the world from 860 million to almost 1 billion, according to the World Food Programme in Rome.