300,000 children need food, UN official says
ETHIOPIA
ADDIS ABABA -- As many as 300,000 Ethiopian children will die from malnutrition this year if donors do not come forward with food aid and funds, a UN official said yesterday. The UN children's agency urgently needs $13 million in the next 60 days to feed about 170,000 of those who are now close to starving to death, said Bjorn Ljungqvist, the agency's head in Ethiopia. Most of those in danger are living in parts of southern Ethiopia and in the north along the Eritrean border. He said: ''300,000 children are dying every year from poor nutrition or nutrition-related" causes in Ethiopia. (AP)
ECUADOR
Referendum sought on political overhaul
QUITO -- Ecuador will hold a referendum this year to overhaul its discredited and unstable political system, which has seen three presidents ousted since 1997, the country's new president said yesterday. The government will hold the referendum after popular consultations to decide questions on issues such as whether to replace the presidential system with parliamentary government, President Alfredo Palacio told reporters. The referendum could be held within six months. Palacio was named president after Congress fired President Lucio Gutierrez for abuse of power during mass protests last month. (Reuters)
TOGO
Son of late dictator sworn in as president
LOME -- The son of Togo's long-ruling late dictator was sworn in as president yesterday, one day after being declared the winner of last month's disputed poll. Street riots have left dozens dead and sparked the flight of 20,000 people from this West African nation. Faure Gnassingbe, 39, was sworn in during a ceremony attended by thousands of supporters, diplomats, and top military officers in the capital, Lome. Noticeably absent were foreign heads of state. (AP)
PERU
British journalist loses libel case
LIMA -- A judge yesterday found a British journalist guilty of libeling a businessman, identified by the US government as Peru's ''drug kingpin." Judge Alfredo Catacora ordered Sally Bowen, a former correspondent for the BBC and Financial Times, to pay Fernando Zevallos $3,070 after she quoted a former US drug informant saying he was a major cocaine trafficker. ''Not only am I not in agreement with the sentence, I am indignant," Bowen told the judge. Catacora found insufficient proof of intentional malice to mete out jail time against Bowen. But he said she had failed to properly evaluate Zevallos's character, given that he has never been convicted of a crime. The case stems from a lawsuit Zevallos filed against Bowen, coauthor Jane Holligan, and their Peruvian publisher a year ago, seeking $10 million in damages. Holligan now lives in Scotland. Bowen, a 16-year Lima resident, co-authored ''The Imperfect Spy: The Many Lives of Vladimiro Montesinos," about Peru's now-imprisoned former intelligence chief. (AP)
JAPAN
Children under 15 at post-WWII low
TOKYO -- The number of Japanese children under 15 years old hit a post-World War II low this year as the nation's birthrate continues to decline, the government said yesterday. As of April 1, the number of children in that age group was 17.65 million, 150,000 fewer than a year earlier, the Internal Affairs Ministry said in its annual survey. It was the 24th straight year of decline in the nation's child population. The ratio of children under 15 to Japan's total population of 127 million also fell to a low of 13.8 percent, down 1 percentage point from a year earlier, the ministry said in a report. Japan's falling birthrate is a national concern, and it now stands at a record low of 1.29 births per woman. Officials say leading factors for the decline include improved career opportunities for women and married couples delaying having children. By contrast, the US birthrate is 2.13 births per woman. (AP)
