In conference rooms and in academic papers, the experts call it ”pervasive pre-famine conditions”. In the village, squatting on his brick-sized wooden stool in the red dirt of East Africa, Lokuwam Lokitalauk calls it a death sentence. His curses ricochet round the quiet village and his glaucoma-misted eyes dart off, surveying the stick-like spectres of children drifting listlessly about.
Sri Lanka’s key foreign aid donors will meet to reevaluate the troubled nation’s faltering peace process this week at a meeting in Tokyo as blood continues to be spilt in the south Asian nation. Japan’s peace envoy Yasushi Akashi is to host a meeting of the United States, the European Union and Norway in order to review their involvement in Sri Lanka’s faltering peace process.
South Africa is running out of ideas on how to pull Zimbabwe out of its crisis, turning to the United Nations to take the lead after a series of failures in tackling its biggest foreign policy headache. President Thabo Mbeki is now pinning his hopes on outgoing UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to resolve the Zimbabwean imbroglio, although Harare has rejected UN intervention.
The United Nations, aid agencies and national governments were scrambling on Sunday to get food and supplies to Indonesian towns and cities that have been reduced to rubble by an earthquake that left thousands dead or homeless. As photos and footage emerged of stunned, anguished survivors limping over crumbled buildings, agencies and governments offered millions of dollars, tonnes of supplies and hundreds of personnel.
Hollywood stars Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have a baby girl, United States media reported on Saturday. People magazine cited an official spokesperson for the actors as saying the child named Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt was born on May 27, at night, in Namibia
Rescue workers on Sunday searched frantically for survivors from the earthquake in central Indonesia that killed more than 3Â 300 people and left 200Â 000 homeless. A day after the earthquake rocked Java, grieving relatives buried their dead, hospitals overflowed with bloodied and bruised casualties, and aid workers rushed in food and medical supplies.
A powerful earthquake in Indonesia killed more than 3 000 people on Saturday, reducing whole villages to rubble in the nation’s worst catastrophe since the 2004 Asian tsunami. Countless victims were buried alive when the 6,2 magnitude quake struck at dawn, turning houses into tombs of stone and setting off panic in a country that has been plagued by natural disasters.
A Japanese whaling expedition has caught 60 minke whales in the Pacific Ocean, the government said, the maximum number allowed under a research programme that critics say is disguised commercial whaling. The 43-day expedition off the coast of Sanriku, about 500km north-east of Tokyo, also found that the minkes feed on sand eels and sardines.
Michael Schumacher denied cheating deliberately to gain pole position as the Monaco Grand Prix plunged into controversy during qualifying on Saturday. The seven-times champion dominated the session to grab his 67th pole position but was afterwards accused of cheating by rival drivers and his former boss, Renault chief Flavio Briatore.
Zimbabwe’s government has published a Bill that, if passed by Parliament, would enable state agents to eavesdrop on private conversations and monitor faxes and e-mails, a state daily reported on Saturday. Rights groups have slammed the proposed law as further tightening President Robert Mugabe’s iron grip on the media and communications.