AFP - China on Thursday ruled out Taiwan joining agencies of the United Nations, frustrating hopes that its stance might soften after the island elected a more China-friendly president earlier this year.

AP - The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously Wednesday to keep a peacekeeping force in Lebanon for another year, calling for stepped-up efforts to achieve a permanent cease-fire and long-term resolution of the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war.

AFP - Children in South Asia need stronger legal protection from trafficking, the United Nations said in a report released in Nepal on Wednesday.

AP - In a stark warning to U.S. forces, the Afghan government said it will try to regulate the presence of U.S. troops and their use of airstrikes, while the U.N. on Tuesday announced that "convincing evidence" exists that an American-led operation killed 90 civilians.

Reuters - U.S. President George W. Bush on Tuesday condemned Russia for recognizing Georgian rebel regions as independent, calling it an "irresponsible decision," and said Moscow was escalating tensions.

AP - Russia's U.N. ambassador said Tuesday he doesn't think Russia's recognition of two separatist regions in Georgia will lead to a new Cold War though he predicted a difficult period ahead in relations with the West.

Reuters - The United Nations said on Tuesday it had found convincing evidence that 90 Afghan civilians, most of them children, were killed in air strikes by U.S.-led coalition forces in western Afghanistan last week.

AP - The United Nations said Tuesday it has found "convincing evidence" that U.S. coalition troops and Afghan forces killed some 90 civilians, including 60 children, in airstrikes in western Afghanistan.

AFP - Senior officials in the administration of US President George W. Bush have questioned US ambassador to the United Nations Zalmay Khalilzad over "unauthorized" ties to Pakistan's Asif Ali Zardari, the New York Times reported Tuesday.

AFP - A United Nations team has found "convincing evidence" that 90 civilians, including 60 children, were killed in US-led air strikes last week, the body's representative in Afghanistan said Tuesday.

Reuters - The United States on Tuesday criticized Russia for its "unfortunate decision" to recognize Georgian rebel regions as independent and called the move "dead on arrival" at the United Nations.

AFP - Nepal's former rebel Maoists, who now lead the country's government, should immediately release children from their remaining guerrilla army, the United Nations said in a statement Tuesday.