AP - The top U.N. envoy to Darfur is resigning to make room for a new full-time chief negotiator, the Swedish Foreign Ministry said Thursday.

AP - East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta, who narrowly escaped an assassination attempt by rebel soldiers earlier this year, said Thursday he is considering taking a new job as U.N. human rights chief.

AFP - Millions of discarded mobile phones and computers are posing a "major challenge" to human health, the chief of the United Nations Environment Programme said Thursday.

Reuters - Narcotics supplies have increased sharply in parts of Afghanistan and Colombia where insurgents are in control, helping them fund their activities, the United Nations said on Thursday.

AP - President Robert Mugabe faced deeper international isolation Wednesday, with African states demanding that a discredited runoff election be postponed and anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela rebuking the Zimbabwe leader for the first time.

Reuters - Zimbabwe's neighbors on Wednesday urged the postponement of Friday's presidential election, saying the re-election of President Robert Mugabe could lack legitimacy in the current violent climate.

AFP - Beijing is reluctant to launch a full crackdown on Chinese firms conducting business in violation of UN Security Council sanctions, the Pentagon's Asia chief said Wednesday.

AP - President Jose Ramos-Horta, who narrowly escaped an assassination attempt by rebel soldiers earlier this year, has accepted the top U.N. human rights job, members of East Timor's parliament said Thursday.

AP - Zimbabwe's opposition leader briefly emerged from his refuge at the Dutch Embassy Wednesday and called for African leaders to guide talks to end Zimbabwe's crisis, saying a presidential runoff this week was no solution.

AP - The world's poorest nations are unable to manage the mountains of toxic waste flowing in for disposal from rich countries because of a lack of resources and political will, officials said Wednesday.

Reuters - About 2.5 million Nepalis need immediate food assistance and 3.9 million others are at risk of becoming food insecure because of rising prices, the United Nations food agency said on Wednesday.