Today's other stories in brief
UN says almost 1bn people go hungry daily
ROME - Almost one billion people go hungry each day after food-price rises pushed 40 million more vulnerable people into the ranks of the undernourished, the UN food agency reported yesterday.
While food prices have more than halved from their historic peaks a few months ago, the cost of basic staples is still 28 per cent higher than two years ago, leaving an estimated 963 million people, 14 per cent of the world's population, hungry in 2008, up 40 million from last year.
- (Guardian service)
Warning of 60,000 cholera cases
GENEVA - Up to 60,000 people in Zimbabwe could become infected with cholera in a worst-case scenario if the epidemic gets out of control, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said.
"The health-cluster assessment in a worst-case scenario is 60,000 cases," WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib said in Geneva.
The known number of cholera cases in Zimbabwe stands at 13,960 with 589 deaths. - (Reuters)
Indian police name Mumbai attackers
MUMBAI - All nine terrorist gunmen killed during the Mumbai massacre were from Pakistan, according to chief investigator Rakesh Maria, who gave the names and the aliases used by the gunmen in the attacks.
He showed photographs of eight of the men and detailed the districts and towns in Pakistan from where the gunmen were believed to have come. - (AP)
Reward for stolen gems recovery
PARIS - Insurers are prepared to pay a $1 million (€774,000) reward for information leading to the recovery of gems stolen from a Paris jewellers last week in one of the biggest hold-ups in French criminal history.
"We will pay the first person who brings us valid information that allows us to find the jewels," John Shaw of Paris loss adjusters SW Associates said yesterday.
"That person will get $1 million." - (Reuters)
Leno to host new five-night show
LOS ANGELES - US comedian Jay Leno (above) will host a new primetime talkshow five nights a week in 2009 on struggling network NBC after his planned retirement from his popular late-night programme, The Tonight Show, according to NBC.
The new one-hour show will be the first programme of its type to air five nights a week. - (Reuters)