UN: No progress in halving world hunger

A decade after political leaders pledged to halve the world's population of hungry people, no progress has been made a United Nations report said Monday.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said there are 854 million underfed people in the world.


Airport workers load aid supplies at Cointrin airport in Geneva, August 8, 2006. Denis Balibouse/Reuters photo from Yahoo News.

FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf said that was only a statiscally insingnficant decrease in the number of hungry people, and that the latest trends may even indicate that the number is beginning to rise again.

"Far from decreasing, the number of hungry people in the world is currently increasing - at the rate of 4 million a year," he said.

Despite the setbacks FAO pledged to meet the goal of halving hunger by 2015 through improved agriculture in developing countries.

North Korea warns South against joining sanctions

North Korea warned its southern neighbor against joining international sanctions against Pyongyang saying it would "pay a high price" should Seoul take that course.

"If the South Korean authorities end up joining U.S.-led moves to sanction and stifle (the North) we will regard it as a declaration of confrontation against its own people ... and take corresponding measures," the North's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland said in a statement.

The United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted a sanctions resolution in response to North Korean nuclear tests, and a South Korean task force met this week to determine how the country should address the measures, including what to do about joint economic projects with the North.


A South Korean protester disguised as North Korea leader Kim Jong-Il holds a placard reading "Let's turn (the Korean peninsula) into a sea of flames" during an anti-North Korea rally in Seoul. AFP/Jung Yeon-Je photo via Yahoo News.

Violence flares again in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka troops were on high alert after Tamil Tiger rebels stepped up attacks on naval targets.

Rebels launched an apparent suicide mission on the Galle naval base on Wednesday killing one sailor and losing 15 militants.

Fighting was also reported in other areas of southern Sri Lanka, where Tamils form a minority. The attacks sparked looting of Tamil shops by Sinhala gangs. Fighting between the rebels and the government has continued to rise since last July.


A navy officer stands next to coffins containing the bodies of sailors before they were released to their families in Colombo October 18, 2006. (Stringer/Reuters)

North Korea conducts first atom bomb test

North Korea tested its first nuclear weapon Monday apparently in the vicinity Hwadaeri, near North Korea's northeast coast.

The move sparked concern around the world especially in South Korea and Japan. Even Pyongyang's closest ally, China, labeled the test as "brazen."


North Korean leader Kim Jong-il during an army inspection in an undated handout photo released August 30, 2006. Korea News Service/File/Reuters photo via Yahoo News.

"The nuclear test was conducted with indigenous wisdom and technology, 100 percent," North Korea's official KCNA news agency announced.

South Korean intelligence officials told parliament the test appeared to be conducted in a horizontal tunnel in a mountain northwest of the Musudan missile base.

The US Geological Survey said it had detected a "shallow" earthquake of a magnitude of 4.2 degrees on the Richter scale in North Korea.

Japan's prime minister says China against N. Korea test

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters Sunday that China' President Hu Jintao agreed with Japan's position that North Korean nuclear tests are unacceptable and "cannot be tolerated."

Abe's visit to Beijing is the first by a Japanese prime minister in five years, but has been overshadowed by the North Korean nuclear crisis.

Some analysts thought that Pyongyang might conduct the tests on Sunday, the aniversary of the North Korean leader's ascent to leadership of the Korean Workers' Party.


North Korea celebrated leader Kim Jong-Il on the ninth anniversary of his rise to Korean Workers' Party chief, but was silent over the regime's threat to test a nuclear bomb. AFP/KCNA/File via Yahoo News.

North Korea announces nuke test

North Korea announced Tuesday it would test a nuclear weapon in the face of what it called "an extreme threat of nuclear war" from the United States.

No precise date was given for the test, but the announcement provoked strong reaction around the world. Japan froze North Korean bank accounts, and South Korea raised its alert level and called for special security meetings.

The tests are not a complete surprise to defense analysts though as work on nuclear test sites has been going on for some time.

There is a fear that a North Korean nuclear test could provoke Japan to build its own weapons as a deterrent, and the incoming prime minister Shinzo Abe is thought by some to be hawkish on the possibility of a Japanese nuclear capability.


An October 28, 2005 photo released by China's Xinhua News Agnecy of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. North Korea said Tuesday October 3, 2006, it will conduct a nuclear test counter U.S. hostility toward the regime. AP Photo/Xinhua, Yao Dawei, FILE via Yahoo News.

Typhoon leaves at least 10 dead in Vietnam

Typhoon Xangsane hit Vietnam Sunday after killing 76 people in the Philippines on Wednesday and Thursday.

At least 10 people died in Vietnam with 99 injured and 10,000 damaged homes as heavy winds battered the central provinces.

About 200,000 people were evacuated ahead of Xangsane which means "elephant" in Laotian.


High waves slam into the beach in Quang Binh province as typhoon Xangsane headed inland on October 1, 2006. Typhoon Xangsane caused extensive damage before moving into neighbouring Laos, officials said. Vietnam News Agency/Reuters photo via Yahoo News.