HARARE, Zimbabwe, Dec. 5  -- The Zimbabwean government has asked for British help in dealing with a cholera epidemic that has claimed hundreds of lives.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, often blamed by President Robert Mugabe for Zimbabwe's economic free fall, responded by promising at least $15 million in assistance, The Times of London reported.

At least 570 people have died of cholera and 13,000 have become infected in recent weeks. Some of the sick have crossed into South Africa seeking medical care, the newspaper said.

The disease, spread by ingestion of contaminated food or water, can be prevented by proper sanitation.

LONDON, Dec. 5  -- The International Energy Agency cut its projection for growth in worldwide oil consumption by 33 percent Friday.

The IEA had previously said oil consumption would grow about 1.5 million barrels a day from 2008-13. Friday, it scaled back the forecast to 1 million barrels a day through the same period, the Financial Times reported.

"For the first time since 1945 most (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries are expected to face a severe economic recession in 2009," the IEA said in a Medium-Term Oil Market Report. "By the same token, emerging economies are bound to slow down, even if managing to maintain positive growth rates."

NEW YORK, Dec. 5  -- Crude oil prices dropped Friday on the New York Mercantile Exchange with prices down more than 20 percent in the past week and headed toward $40 per barrel.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 5  -- U. S. and North Korean diplomats discussed denuclearization of the Korean peninsula Friday in advance of next week's formal meeting, the State Department said.

Christopher Hill, assistant U. S. secretary of State, and the North Korean delegation Friday "had a useful exchange of views on verification" protocols for dismantling North Korea's nuclear program, department spokesman Robert Wood said.

Hill will meet with other members of the so-called six-party talks on North Korea's denuclearization before formal negotiations begin Monday in Beijing. Members of the six-party talks are the two Koreas, China, Russia, Japan and the United States.

ROME, Dec. 5  -- Russian President Dmitry Medvedev says he has canceled a trip to Italy because of the death of Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Alexy II.

Medvedev told Italian President Giorgio Napolitano he would be traveling from India to Moscow to honor the memory of Alexy, who died Friday at the age of 79, the Italian news agency, ANSA, reported.

The Russian church has received condolences from Pope Benedict XVI and the Catholic Church despite past tensions that existed between the two religious groups.

A temporarily patriarch will be chosen Saturday by the Holy Synod of Russian Orthodox Church, Kommersant said. The newspaper said a new patriarch should be elected by May 2009.

Washington  - US President George W Bush reiterated his pledge that the United States will not allow Iran to develop nuclear weapons in a wide ranging speech on the Middle East Friday.

"For the safety of our people and the peace of the world, America will not allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon," Bush said at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution.

Bush suggested the US invasion of Iraq to topple Saddam Hussein prompted Iran to slow its nuclear ambitions, only to resume them after the election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2006.

"The defeat of Saddam also appears to have changed the calculation of Iran," Bush said.