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The top United Nations human rights official today called for increased attention to the plight of those worldwide – including some one million children – who are deprived of their liberty and are being held in prisons and other places of detention, often illegally.

Voicing concern over the recent rash of bombings in Iraq that have killed dozens of civilians and wounded scores more, the top United Nations official in the country today called on all Iraqis to maintain their unity in foiling “those who want to push them back into the murderous cycle of sectarian violence.”

The United Nations war crimes tribunal set up in the wake of the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s has granted temporary release to a former senior Yugoslav government figure facing trial over an alleged campaign of terror and violence against Kosovo Albanians and other non-Serbs in 1999.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has expressed concern over the volatile security and political atmosphere in Guinea-Bissau, where crucial elections are slated to take place next month, in his latest report to the Security Council on the West African country.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is expanding its relief operations across hurricane-devastated Haiti, supplying enough stocks of food to reach 500,000 people as the Caribbean country tries to recover from the recent series of deadly storms.

The United States retailer Marshalls has signed on to a United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) campaign to bring an end to violence against women.

The humanitarian situation in Zimbabwe is deteriorating and will continue to worsen into next year, according to the top United Nations humanitarian official, who has called for urgent aid to avert increased human suffering in the Southern African nation.

United Nations attack helicopters firing rockets went into action in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) today after rebels attempting to advance against the Government opened fire on UN reconnaissance planes.

Levelling opportunities will be key to development in Latin America, where 15 to 50 per cent of total income inequality is due to factors such as gender, race, place of birth and parents’ education and occupation, according to a new report released by the World Bank.

A hippopotamus sanctuary, an agrofarmers’ group and an association of beekeepers are among the 25 projects selected by the United Nations-backed Equator Initiative as winners of a prize for exceptional leadership in slashing poverty through conservation and sustainable biodiversity efforts.