A Sudanese driver for the World Food Programme has been shot dead in war-torn South Kordofan state, the UN agency said on Sunday.

Floods which hit parts of North Korea in recent weeks killed 169 people and left 400 missing, the state news agency said Saturday, sharply updating earlier casualty figures.

The World Food Programme has said it is sending a first shipment of emergency food aid to flood-hit areas of North Korea, where torrential rain has killed scores of people and inundated cropland.

The international community must help resolve the "forgotten crisis" in Mali or risk seeing the situation spiral out of control into neighbouring countries, the UN refugee agency chief said Friday.

Australia's conservative opposition on Friday earmarked tighter scrutiny of foreign investment in agriculture as a priority if the party is elected to government next year as recent polls suggest.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un has met a leading Chinese official in Pyongyang, state media said Friday, his first reception of a senior foreign guest since taking power last December.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un met with a senior Chinese official late Thursday to discuss closer ties with its main ally Beijing, state media said.

Three million Syrians need food, crop and livestock assistance due to the conflict, the United Nations food aid agencies said Thursday, citing a report by the UN and the Syrian government.

Three million Syrians need food, crops and livestock assistance, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation said Thursday, citing a survey by the United Nations and the Syrian government.

Tens of thousands of flood-hit North Korean families urgently need clean drinking water to prevent disease outbreaks, UN agencies said Thursday.

The Red Cross said Thursday it had allocated almost $308,000 for victims of North Korea's floods and storms, after state media reported 119 deaths and major crop damage in the food-scarce nation.

Severe storms in North Korea have pushed the death toll from bad weather this month up to at least 119, state media reported Wednesday, as an aid group said those affected urgently needed help.

North Koreans hit by recent deadly floods badly need drinking water, food and medical assistance, an aid group said Wednesday after official media had reported 88 dead and nearly 63,000 homeless.

United Nations teams were heading for flood-hit areas of North Korea to assess possible aid, a UN official said Tuesday, after Pyongyang reported scores dead and tens of thousands homeless.

A United Nations team will visit flood-hit areas of North Korea to consider possible aid, a UN official said Tuesday after Pyongyang reported scores dead and tens of thousands homeless.

A United Nations team will visit flood-hit areas of North Korea to consider possible aid, a UN official said on Tuesday after Pyongyang reported scores dead and tens of thousands homeless.

North Korea said Sunday it was being lashed by severe thunderstorms that could cause major damage, just days after flooding that killed scores and left tens of thousands homeless.

North Korea warned that more rainstorms will hit the country's north and western coastal regions this week, after recent flooding killed 88 people and left tens of thousands homeless.

Flooding across impoverished North Korea this month has killed 88 people, left tens of thousands homeless and devastated swathes of farmland, state media said Saturday.

About 1.6 million of Zimbabwe's estimated 12 million people will need food aid during the peak of the dry season due to poor harvests, the UN World Food Programme said Friday.