Murray top of seeds

The yearning to acclaim a British tennis champion on home soil will start two weeks earlier this year as Andy Murray carries a top seeding and favourite's tag into the newly named Aegon Championships at Queen's Club - the traditional warm-up tournament and form guide for Wimbledon. Andy Roddick, twice triumphant at the West London venue and Lleyton Hewitt, four times the champion, feature in the draw but the focus will be sharply on Murray over the next week as the young Scot takes top billing in the absence of the injured Rafael Nadal.

Tim Henman, who carried the British flag so gallantly through a decade of near misses at Wimbledon, came closest to providing Queen's club with a home-bred winner, losing in three finals - two to Hewitt and once to Pete Sampras but a victory for the archetypal English gentleman would always have been regarded as a bonus in illustrious company. That is not the case with Murray who, at 22, has already surpassed Henman's career high ranking of four and has every chance of rising higher than his current third place behind Nadal and Roger Federer.

Murray is the first Briton to feature at the top of the Queen's draw in 38 stagings of the event and will be expected to prevail over a powerful field that features the French pair of Gilles Simon and Gael Monfils in prominent seeding positions along with Roddick. Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, ranked second and fourth in the world respectively are scheduled to meet in the final of this week's other main grass court event in Halle, Germany.

Federer, who has won that tournament five times, was a late withdrawal two years ago suffering from exhaustion after his Roland Garros exploits. The organisers will be hoping they do not receive a repeat message today from the Swiss maestro. wjohnson@thenational.ae

One in nine do not have enough to eat

Created in 1961, the World Food Programme is pledged to fight hunger worldwide as well as providing emergency food assistance in a crisis.

One of the organisation’s goals is the Zero Hunger Pledge, adopted by the international community in 2015 as one of the 17 Sustainable Goals for Sustainable Development, to end world hunger by 2030.

The WFP, a branch of the United Nations, is funded by voluntary donations from governments, businesses and private donations.

Almost two thirds of its operations currently take place in conflict zones, where it is calculated that people are more than three times likely to suffer from malnutrition than in peaceful countries.

It is currently estimated that one in nine people globally do not have enough to eat.

On any one day, the WFP estimates that it has 5,000 lorries, 20 ships and 70 aircraft on the move.

Outside emergencies, the WFP provides school meals to up to 25 million children in 63 countries, while working with communities to improve nutrition. Where possible, it buys supplies from developing countries to cut down transport cost and boost local economies.

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The yearning to acclaim a British tennis champion on home soil will start two weeks earlier this year.

One in nine do not have enough to eat

How it works