A 'silent tsunami' of food price pain: UN
Updated
The UN food agency says the world faces a "silent tsunami" of soaring food prices.
The United Nations World Food Programme says food price pressure threatens to plunge more than 100 million people into hunger.
Executive director, Josette Sheeran, says there are millions of people now facing urgent hunger who were not in that category six months ago.
She says the world needs to respond like it did after the 2004 tsunami in Asia.
The global food crisis has left a 755 million US dollar shortfall in the WFP's 2.9 billion dollar budget, forcing cuts in vital programmes.
Rice from Thailand, the world's top exporter, has more than doubled in price this year.
Major food exporters including Indonesia, Egypt and Cambodia have closed their stocks to safeguard supplies.
Riots in poor Asian and African countries have followed steep rises in food prices caused by many factors including fuel price rises, bad weather, rising disposable incomes boosting demand and the conversion of land to grow crops for biofuel.
