Staples such as cassava on which millions of people depend become more toxic and produce much smaller yields in a world with higher carbon dioxide levels and more drought, Australian scientists say. The findings underscored the need to develop climate-change-resistant cultivars to feed rapidly growing human populations, said Ros Gleadow of the Monash University in Melbourne.

Even as the government confirmed "cyanide poison in ragi balls" as a cause for the elephants' death, the Karnataka High Court on Friday directed the Forest Department to find out the culprits behind the episode in Kappasoge village near Nanjangud and submit a report before December 9.