Burnett

CahillEnos

Prime Minister David Cameron told MPs that "with hindsight" he would not have hired ex-News of the World editor Andy Coulson as his communications chief, in the closest he has come to an apology. An estimated 10 million people have been affected in East Africa by the worst drought in more than half a century. More than 166,000 desperate Somalis are estimated to have fled their country to neighbouring Kenya or Ethiopia. She said there had been a "surge of inquiries and requests for assistance from the public and solicitors". "The overall requirement is $1.6bn (�990m) for Somalia, roughly $300m is needed in the next two months to provide an adequate response to famine-affected areas. Children and adults are dying at an appalling rate," Mr Ban said. Earlier, the Met was accused by MPs of a "catalogue of failures" in the News of the World phone-hacking inquiry. She said some of the mothers had walked up to six days with no food to try to find help. Those conditions include more than 30% of children being acutely malnourished, and four children out of every 10,000 dying daily.

StraussShumate

Meanwhile, News of the World owner News International said it had authorised law firm Harbottle & Lewis to answer any questions from Scotland Yard and the Commons home affairs committee about its work for the company. "I was talking to mothers with children, the children looked maybe nine months to one year old - the mothers were telling the children were three and four years old, so they are absolutely tiny." The deputy administrator of the US Agency for International Development, Donald Steinberg, said the aid must not benefit al-Shabab. But US aid officials say assurances must be given that the insurgents will not interfere with its distribution. BBC Africa analyst Martin Plaut says this marks a considerable change in policy from Washington.

ShraderBaptiste

An estimated 10 million people have been affected in East Africa by the worst drought in more than half a century. More than 166,000 desperate Somalis are estimated to have fled their country to neighbouring Kenya or Ethiopia. The UN has declared a famine in two areas of southern Somalia as the region experiences the worst drought in more than half a century. Downing Street and Buckingham Palace denied claims by Labour MP Chris Bryant that royal officials raised concerns about Mr Coulson's appointment "I was talking to mothers with children, the children looked maybe nine months to one year old - the mothers were telling the children were three and four years old, so they are absolutely tiny."

AshcraftVenable

'Dangerously inadequate' Nearly half the Somali population - 3.7 million people - were in crisis, he said, with most of them in the south. She said the US had already provided $431m this year in emergency aid to the Horn of Africa, but that was "not enough". Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Sue Akers said the move came after a "significant increase in the workload" over the past fortnight. Earlier, the Met was accused by MPs of a "catalogue of failures" in the News of the World phone-hacking inquiry.

MorinCooper

"I was talking to mothers with children, the children looked maybe nine months to one year old - the mothers were telling the children were three and four years old, so they are absolutely tiny." She said some of the mothers had walked up to six days with no food to try to find help. "If we don't act now, famine will spread to all eight regions of southern Somalia within two months, due to poor harvests and infectious disease outbreaks," said the UN humanitarian co-ordinator for Somalia, Mark Bowden. Those conditions include more than 30% of children being acutely malnourished, and four children out of every 10,000 dying daily. The US considers al-Shabab a terrorist group and last year stopped aid to the large area of Somalia it controls. She said there had been a "surge of inquiries and requests for assistance from the public and solicitors". An estimated 10 million people have been affected in East Africa by the worst drought in more than half a century. More than 166,000 desperate Somalis are estimated to have fled their country to neighbouring Kenya or Ethiopia. Metropolitan Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Sue Akers said the move came after a "significant increase in the workload" over the past fortnight. News International's parent company News Corporation has also confirmed it has stopped paying the legal fees of former private detective Glenn Mulcaire, who was convicted of phone hacking on behalf of the News of the World in 2007.