By December this year, aid agencies estimate that the number of displaced and hungry people in need of life-saving aid in Somalia will swell to 3.5 million-nearly half the country's population. Yet, as drought and conflict conspire to worsen the crisis, the humanitarian space to deliver food and other essential assistance in this conflict zone has all but vanished.

Nearly 180,000 children in Somalia are acutely malnourished, with 25,000 severely malnourished, according to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) which has scaled up its nutrition operation to reach more than 50,000 children under the age of five.

The United Nations Security Council is no stranger to intractable international disputes. But soon Sudan will present it with a different kind of problem, one it has not faced in its 62-year history.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has informed the General Assembly of his intention to appoint Judge Navanethem Pillay of South Africa as the new United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The Federal Government has described the indictment of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir by the International Criminal Court (ICC) as ill-timed and an action that could aggravate the already bad situation in the country.

President Isaias Afwerki today received and held talks with a Sudanese government delegation headed by the Minister of Justice, Mr. Abdulbast Sebderat. The delegation also includes Mr. Al-Semani Al-Wesila, Deputy Foreign Minister.

The first women lawyers' association in Somalia has been established in the Somaliland region with the help of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

The U.N said Friday that Rwandan General Karenzi Karake whose tenure as deputy force commander in Darfur is under fire - should stay still on his job because it was satisfied with his professional service, RNA reports.

The World Bank has provided the sum of US$487,000, which is about N57.5 million in grant towards strengthening the African Diaspora Program of the African Union.

It is empirical that the Ethiopian government curbed spending to bring inflation under control following signs of "growing macroeconomic imbalances," IMF said on Tuesday.

Governor of Nasarawa State, Alhaji Aliyu Akwe Doma, has been chosen to receive an international award by the United Nations Organisation in recognition of his "Directional Leadership and Good Governance" in the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Uganda's new Atomic Energy law will boost technical cooperation between the country and the International Atomic Energy Agency, a senior agency official has said.

In a twist of realism, a new feature film, "Johnny Mad Dog", uses a cast of actual ex-child soldiers from Liberia to portray the violent lives of youth forced to participate in armed conflict.

WORLD Trade Organisation (WTO) boss Pascal Lamy has extended trade talks in Geneva with agreement on key issues still out of reach after four days.

THE British representative to the United Nations calls it a missed opportunity. The British foreign secretary describes it as incomprehensible. The French ambassador to the UN told reporters that it was a failure.

The United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has once again come to the fore to support efforts by the two collective management organisations, the Namibia Reproduction Rights Organisation (NAMRRO) and the Namibian Society of Composers and Authors of Music (NASCAM), in the fight against piracy and counterfeit activities in Namibia.

President Ernest Bai Koroma yesterday received members of the ECOWAS sub-committee ICT and expressed happiness in seeing that the committee was busy carrying out its mandate in preparation for the heads of state summit in December.

The World Bank and the Government of Rwanda yesterday, signed two IDA grant agreements worth US$41 million (Frw22.16 billion).

Micro-finance institutions should support small enterprises to eradicate poverty, a UN expert has said.

THE South African government recently rejected a draft resolution of the United Nations (UN) Security Council for sanctions on Zimbabwe following the presidential runoff elections of June 27.

A contingent of 126 Egyptian engineers today arrived in El Fasher, Darfur, according to the joint United Nations-African Union peacekeeping mission (UNAMID).

Louya, a 16-year-old boy begging in the Fonde market of Pointe-Noire, Congo's southern port city, said he was an orphan who had lived on the streets since 1997.

Rwanda will pull its troops from the Sudanese troubled region of Darfur if the U.N ends the contract of General Karenzi Karake as its deputy force commander, according to a new ultimatum that government has put up.

France and UNICEF signed on Wednesday 23 July 2008 in Kinshasa an agreement for 1.1 million dollars for a UNICEF project entitled: "Support to activities of prevention of recruitment of children and the reintegration of children affected by armed conflicts in the DRC."

The International Criminal Court organized at the beginning of the month in The Hague a conference on visits to prisoners before asking the States Parties to take a decision on this issue.