TopNews

Rome  - Some 1.02 billion people are set to go hungry in 2009, a United Nations agency said Friday, blaming the "historic" high figure on the global economic crisis.

In 2008, the Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organization revised its estimate of hungry people from 963 down to 915 million, due primarily to a better-than-expected global food supply.

But since then, the lower incomes and increased unemployment that have resulted from the world economic crisis have reduced the poor's access to food, FAO said in a statement.

Washington, June 19 : Shia LaBeouf has revealed that he was forced to quit drinking whisky because it turned him into a ''''werewolf'''', and now he is thinking of kicking the butt as well.

The ''Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen'' actor is seriously considering quitting both drinking and smoking because they have a negative effect on him.

Jerusalem, June 19 : Middle East envoy Tony Blair has said that an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement could be reached “within the year,” but only if all sides agree to peaceful negotiations.

The former British Prime Minister said there was a “great sense of hope and expectation” in the Middle East after US President Barack Obama’s recent outreach speech to the Islamic world delivered in Cairo.

Seoul  - The health of North Korean ruler Kim Jong Il is getting worse, a news report said on Friday.

Representatives of the Ponghwa hospital in Pyongyang are attempting to obtain expensive medical equipment via China, the South Korean daily Chosun Ilbo said citing North Korean informants in Beijing.

The Ponghwa hospital treats the 67-year-old dictator.

"Kim seems to be in a serious condition," the source said.

Washington, Jun 19 : Brit actor Orlando Bloom has managed to do his bit for charity after he auctioned himself off for a dinner date for 9000 pounds.

Bloom, 32, who is rumoured to be engaged to Australian supermodel Miranda Kerr, auctioned off a dinner date at a star-studded charity bash for London's Great Ormond Street Hospital on June 17, reports Contactmusic.

London, June 19 : British number one tennis player Andy Murray has reportedly bought a new 5.45 million pound house having a triple garage, a cinema and a Jacuzzi, but no tennis court.

Murray, 22, is to move from his riverside apartment in Wandsworth, south London, for the Regency home in Surrey.

He is expected to share the home with his girlfriend, Kim Sears, 21, an English student at Sussex University, The Telegraph reports.