World Bank to release 250 million dollars in quake aid: UN

UNITED NATIONS, Dec 30 (AFP) - The World Bank will release 250 million dollars for the relief effort after the deadly South Asia tidal waves, the United Nations announced on Thursday.
A UN spokesman said the sum was announced by World Bank President James Wolfensohn in a conversation with Secretary General Kofi Annan, who was to give a press conference on the crisis at around 1730 GMT.
Annan was to speak after meeting at UN headquarters with ambassadors from Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Maldives, Myanmar, Somalia, Sri Lanka and Thailand, the nations pounded by the deadly waves.
His spokesman said Annan had earlier also spoken with US Secretary of State Colin Powell and representatives from Australia, India and Japan, the so-called "core group" of countries coordinating a response to the tsunami disaster.
A spokeswoman for the World Health Organisation in south Asia said that the death toll had reached nearly 119,000 and that up to five million people have been left homeless.

12/30/2004 17:31 GMT - AFP