Inbrief

Walmart is to double its donations to US national food banks in response to the country’s growing poverty. The retail giant will donate $2billion (£1.3bn, €1.6bn) during the next five years through a mixture of grants to buy refrigeration equipment, programmes to feed poorer children in the summer out of school, and more than a billion pounds of food. Staff will offer assistance to food banks, which are trying to meet an increasing demand as the number of Americans receiving food stamps has reached one in eight. Walmart says the food will provide a billion meals, making the poundage donated 72 per cent higher than the 2009 total.