Europe urged to combat rising food prices
UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling will call on European Union finance ministers to combat rising food prices by removing import levies and scrapping rules that keep food prices in the 27-nation bloc artificially high. Darling said the action is needed to curb headline inflation rates and to help the poorest households deal with a 7% increase in food prices that took place in the year through March, according to a letter he will send his EU counterparts tomorrow. Darling is due to meet with ministers in Brussels this week.