The United Nations said Sunday that Bangladesh is battling "a silent emergency" with nearly half of the impoverished country's children under age 5 suffering from chronic malnutrition. UNICEF and the U.N. World Food Program estimated in a report that 48.6 percent of the country's 20 million children aged 6 months to 5 years are chronically malnourished, a devastating problem caused by food shortages and high prices. [...] Food prices in Bangladesh have been relatively stable over the past two months, but some officials say the food crisis still poses a major threat. "Even if the prices of food are now falling, the crisis is far from being over," John Aylieff, the WFP chief in Bangladesh, told a news conference Sunday.