Culturite

Movie dancer Cyd Charisse – whose elegant legwork wooed Fred Astaire in such classic ’50s musicals as The Bandwagon and Silk Stockings and Gene Kelly in Singin’ in the Rain and Brigadoon – died early Tuesday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center after suffering an apparent heart attack, says her rep. She was 86.

The resident MGM ballet dancer at the height of Hollywood’s golden era of musicals had danced in the Ballet Russes before landing at the studio – though for all the glamour she exuded, Charisse, who was adored by her coworkers, was often referred to by her real name, Tula Finklea, from Amarillo Texas.

The number of people in Somalia in need of emergency food aid is likely to rise to about 3.5m in the coming months, the United Nations has warned.

Mark Bowden, the UN’s humanitarian co-ordinator for the region, says the food crisis is dramatically worsening.

Somalia faces a worse situation than Darfur, Mr Bowden says.

Contributing to the crisis are fighting between rival militias, successive droughts, sharply rising food prices and a collapse of the Somali currency.