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The United Nations and its humanitarian partners today launched a $20 million appeal to guarantee back-up power supplies in Kyrgyzstan for crucial facilities such as medical centres and to help 800,000 vulnerable citizens as part of efforts to address significant energy shortages at the start of the Central Asian nation’s tough winter season.

The international tribunal being set up to try those responsible for political killings in Lebanon, particularly the 2005 attack that killed former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, is on track to begin its work on 1 March 2009, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced on Sunday, following a meeting with Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.

An independent United Nations human rights expert today voiced his deep concern over the diminishing freedom of expression and association in Burundi, warning that violations of these freedoms imperil the rule of law in the African Great Lakes country.

Low-volume wood-burning stoves to protect forest habitat, alternative livelihoods to replace bush meat hunting with beekeeping and the promotion of ecotourism are among steps planned under the United Nations Year of the Gorilla 2009, launched today, to save of one of humankind’s closest but critically endangered relatives.

The humanitarian crisis in Somalia has deteriorated to a point where nearly half of the Horn of Africa nation’s population requires assistance, a senior United Nations aid official warned today, calling on donors to urgently fund an appeal for more than $900 million for relief operations.

Early HIV testing and treatment procedures have proved to be life-saving for newborn babies exposed to the virus, according to a United Nations report released today to coincide with World AIDS Day, as several top UN officials warn that much work remains to be done in combating the epidemic.

United Nations economists today called for massive coordinated global economic stimulus packages, linked with sustainable development measures, beyond liquidity and recapitalization steps already taken, to counter the worldwide economic meltdown.

United Nations refugee officials are still unable to get shekel notes into banks in Gaza, where Israel has imposed closures or restrictions on crossing points, leaving 94,000 of the poorest people without their regular cash assistance.

Senior United Nations officials in Afghanistan have urged the Government to look at alternatives to imprisonment as well as ways to ensure the rights of detainees, citing the growing number of people being held in pre-trial detention and various abuses such as being kept in prison even after a sentence has been completed.

A senior United Nations today began a six-day visit to Nepal, focusing on the release and reintegration of former child soldiers as well as the current use of children by armed groups and their participation in political violence.