Hunger levels soar in East Africa

Rising food prices have hit Ethiopia hard Nearly 17 million people in the Horn of Africa are in urgent need of food and other aid - almost twice as many as earlier this year, the UN has said. Some $700m (£382m) in emergency aid is needed to prevent the region descending into full-scale famine, it said. Top UN humanitarian official John Holmes said food stocks were critically low in parts of Ethiopia, Somalia, Eritrea, northern Kenya and Uganda. The area has suffered from drought, conflict and rocketing food prices. More from BBC