ROME, Sept.

Thursday, the United Nations warned that the global economic crisis could make 100 million more people hungry as it wipes out jobs in poorer countries.

Experts suspect the current spread of bird flu in Asia, Africa and Europe is mainly a result of trade in infected live birds rather than transmission through wild birds, the U.N. official coordinating the global fight against avian influenza said Friday.

The world should expect more bird flu outbreaks in the coming months, the U.N. official coordinating the global fight against the virus warned Sunday after Britain recorded its first case of the H5N1 strain on a commercial farm.

The U.N. on Tuesday reported progress in the fight against the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu, but said that risks remain and at least $1.3 billion is still needed as the virus threatens poor regions like Africa.