BBC News with Julie Candler

A new study has found that the number of adults with diabetes worldwide has more than doubled since 1980 and now stands at nearly 350 million, many more than previously thought. The authors of the research published in The Lancet say diabetes rates are climbing almost everywhere in the world, with grave

consequence

s for healthcare budgets. James Read reports.

This study is the largest ever conducted into the global diabetes epidemic. Blood samples were taken from nearly three million people over a period of three years. Advanced statistical methods were then used to estimate the global

prevalence

of the disease. The new figure of nearly 350 million is 65 million more than the last estimate in 2009. The researchers say diabetes has

ceased to

be a disease of rich countries and will soon become the largest single burden on healthcare systems around the world. The main causes for the increase: an aging population and rising obesity rates.

The Taliban have strongly denied that they were responsible for a suicide car bomb attack that destroyed a hospital in eastern Afghanistan. At least 27 people were killed in the blast in Logar province, most of them in the clinic's maternity ward. Afghan intelligence sources said the bomber detonated his device after being stopped by police. From Kabul, Paul Wood reports.

With Afghan soldiers and local people still

frantically