AFP - The UN said on Thursday it had airlifted more than 250 civilian staff from Sudan's flashpoint town of Abyei, where thousands of Sudanese are believed to have fled clashes in the contested oil region.

AP - The United Nations wants to send its top emergency relief coordinator to Myanmar — if he can get a visa from the ruling military junta.

AP - Iran's new offer for international talks touches on a broad range of topics, but fails to address U.N. Security Council calls for Tehran to give up uranium enrichment, according to a copy of the offer obtained Thursday by The Associated Press.

Reuters - The U.N. Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution on Thursday that opens the door to a stronger U.N. presence in Somalia and possible deployment of U.N. peacekeepers in the lawless Horn of Africa country.

AFP - UN humanitarian chief John Holmes plans to travel to cyclone-hit Myanmar in the next days to persuade its military rulers to open up to foreign aid, the United Nations said Thursday.

AP - The United Nations said Thursday it had evacuated 250 civilian staff from the town of Abyei following three days of clashes in the oil-rich region between Sudan's army and former southern rebels.

AP - The Security Council unanimously approved a resolution on Thursday calling for a U.N. political presence in conflict-wracked Somalia for the first time in years and setting conditions for the deployment of U.N. peacekeepers.

AP - The United Nations said Friday that severe restrictions by Myanmar's military junta have left aid agencies largely in the dark about the extent of survivors' suffering, two weeks after a killer cyclone left up to 2.5 million people destitute.

AFP - UN chief Ban Ki-moon Wednesday called an emergency meeting on Myanmar's aid crisis, as the junta refused to open up to a full-scale relief effort despite grave fears for two million survivors.

AFP - The United Nations evacuated non-essential staff from the flashpoint Sudanese town of Abyei on Wednesday after deadly fighting erupted between government troops and southern ex-rebels.

Reuters - The United Nations is investigating allegations that its peacekeepers in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo committed sexual abuses, which aid workers said involved paying children for sex.

AFP - The United States groped Wednesday for a way to support Lebanon's besieged pro-Western government, mulling action within the UN Security Council and speeding up modest aid deliveries to the army.