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On day three of the massive United Nations relief effort after the devastating Asian tsunami, senior officials today issued an immediate call for $130 million ahead of a much vaster appeal next week, stressed that coordination was now vital to save hundreds of thousands of lives, and set a 12-month deadline to install an early warning system to prevent a repeat disaster.

The United Nations peacekeeping mission in the troubled eastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has found evidence that former Mayi-Mayi militiamen have killed seven civilians, a soldier and perhaps another six former officers from a rival militia, the UN spokesman said today.

Half of the estimated 120,000 internally displaced persons in the swollen Kalma Camp in Sudan's strife-torn Darfur region will be relocated to three new sites early next month, the United Nations reported today.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) announced today that it has joined with the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in a two-year project to reduce the impact of the HIV/AIDS crisis in a dozen Arab and Asian countries through education.

With deadly diseases now stalking the survivors of the massive South Asian tsunami that has already claimed an estimated 40,000 lives, the United Nations today turned to the urgent task of providing clean drinking water and health care for millions of people and the longer-term need for an early warning system.

About 260,000 people in Sudan's strife-torn Darfur region will miss their food ration this month because the United Nations' World Food Programme (WFP) has been forced to suspend its relief convoys after rebels yesterday launched a large-scale attack on a nearby town and government forces retaliated.

In the third operation if its kind this month, MONUC, the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), has destroyed three camps belonging to the rebel Integrationist Nationalist Front (FNI) in the north-eastern Orientale province, the UN spokesman said today.

The United Nations envoy for the world's poorest nations today welcomed data showing that donors spent 31 per cent more last year on aid to the least developed countries than they did in 2002 - the highest recorded one-year increase.

The Interim Government of Haiti today began paying former soldiers who have since demobilized following on agreements reached during talks supported by the United Nations mission in the country (MINUSTAH).

The United Nations today rushed in more aid to the victims of the devastating tsunami that struck south Asia as it prepared to launch a flash appeal in what relief officials called an unprecedented effort by the world body to forestall the dangers of disease threatening millions of people.