"Stand Up" breaks a Guinness world record

To follow-up on the "Stand Up, Take Action" events of the past weekend, more people stood up this year than any year before. In fact, so many people stood up to be counted that it broke a Guinness World Record. 173 million people participated in "Stand Up" events around the world.

From Business Day, re read more about the epic participation in this event.

``Over 3,000 events were held in more than 120 countries in the fourth year of the `Stand Up, Take Action, End Poverty Now!' campaign, last weekend,'' a UN statement made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) said.

It said nearly 60 million more people took part in the festivities this year.

It said UN Secretary General Ban Ki moon was joined by 1,500 school children at the UN International School (UNIS) in New York, last Friday in calling for an end to hunger, which currently afflicts one billion people worldwide.

``At least 100 million people in Asia took part in the campaign, while Africa saw the participation of almost 40 million, the Arab region over 30 million, Europe more than 2 million, Latin America and North America some 200,000 each, and Oceania more than 170,000,'' the statement said.

The statement further said that, in spite of the deadly typhoons which recently slammed into the Philippines, more than 35 million people took a stand in that country.