The UN Security Council said it will consider a request from West African countries for military intervention in Mali to root out al-Qaida-linked Islamists who have seized control of the country's northern region.

Syria has granted permission for aid workers to enter four hard-hit provinces, the United Nations said today.

MORE than 3,000 people were killed in South Sudan in brutal massacres last week in an explosion of ethnic violence that forced tens of thousands to flee, a local official said yesterday as the UN increased patrols.

United Nations investigators took samples of foul-smelling waste trickling behind a Nepalese peacekeeping base in Haiti amid claims that sewage from the newly arrived unit caused the cholera epidemic that has made more than 4,000 people ill.

An outbreak of severe diarrhoea has killed at least 135 people in rural central Haiti and sickened hundreds more who overwhelmed a crowded hospital seeking treatment.

The UN humanitarian chief demanded that Sudanese authorities allow aid agencies into a camp in Darfur and surrounding areas where more than 80,000 displaced people were unable to receive food and other relief supplies for nearly two weeks.

Rescuers in three countries across Asia struggled to reach survivors from massive flooding that afflicted millions of people, as the death toll climbed in a remote Chinese town where hundreds died and more than 1,100 were missing from landslides.

THE Pakistan floods could affect more people than the world’s last three great disasters combined, the UN warned yesterday.

The Pakistan floods could affect more people than the world’s last three great disasters combined, the UN warned today.

Devastating floods have affected one million people in Pakistan, the United Nations said today.

Devastating floods have affected one million people in Pakistan, the United Nations said today.

The Government today pledged more than half a million euro in emergency funding to support people forced to flee their homes during the conflict in north-western Pakistan.

Israeli troops were today accused of evacuating more than 100 Palestinians to a house in Gaza then shelling it, killing 30 of them.

THE death toll from Zimbabwe’s cholera epidemic neared 600 yesterday and President Robert Mugabe’s government accused western powers of exploiting the outbreak to force the veteran leader’s departure.

An aid flight has crashed in Congo with all 17 on board feared dead.

Relief supplies pushed into Burma by the international community remain far below the needs of up to 2.5 million victims of the devastating cyclone, the United Nations said.

Two planes carrying more than €100,000 of aid have been ordered to help relief efforts in flood-hit areas of Sudan and Pakistan, it was revealed today.

A new crack team of humanitarian experts will be ready to be deployed to a disaster zone by the Autumn, the Government said today.

THE humanitarian situation in Lebanon is deteriorating rapidly as the country becomes more isolated because of damage in continued fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, the United Nations and Red Cross said yesterday.

The UN is evacuating all non-essential staff from Beirut because of the Israeli military strikes on Lebanon, the world body’s refugee agency said today.

Rescuers said hopes of finding more survivors from a devastating earthquake that killed more than 5,400 people were waning today, as aid workers from around the world arrived in the disaster zone in central Indonesia.

A trickle of aid began reaching survivors of the Indonesian earthquake that killed more than 5,400 over the weekend, but desperate villagers said today the meagre deliveries were not enough.

Hundreds more survivors of Pakistan’s huge earthquake sought treatment today for weather-related ailments following a cold snap, hospital officials said.

THE United Nations said yesterday it has received only $85 million of the $550m it has requested for the survivors of Pakistan’s devastating earthquake.

The estimated death toll in South Asia’s earthquake jumped to more than 87,000 today, the one-month anniversary of the disaster, as survivors prepared for the region’s savage Himalayan winter.

Countries and other donors told the United Nations today they were pledging an additional £300m (€440m) for Pakistani earthquake victims, but UN officials said it was unclear how much was going to combined emergency relief efforts.

The Government is expected to increase its aid for yesterday’s earthquake in Pakistan as the death toll mounts.

Niger, Zimbabwe and North Korea are all set to benefit from a €2m aid package announced by the Government today.

Gangs of militia have attacked five villages in south-eastern Congo, raping girls as young as eight and forcing more than 1,000 people to flee, a UN official said today.

THE global death toll from the Asian tsunami shot above 226,000 yesterday after Indonesia’s Health Ministry confirmed the deaths of tens of thousands of people previously listed as missing.

Foreign relief workers could be expelled if they don’t declare travel plans in Indonesia’s tsunami-devastated Aceh province, the government said today citing security concerns, as the United Nations appealed to donors to follow through with promises of aid.

The UN World Food Program suspended food convoys to the Darfur region in western Sudan after rebel forces attacked the market town of Ghubaysh and the government retaliated, UN humanitarian officials said.

The death toll from the killer waves unleashed across the Indian Ocean by the megaquake climbed inexorably toward 50,000 tonight.

The Indonesian megaquake may be history’s costliest natural disaster, the United Nations said.

A HUMANITARIAN crisis may be looming in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a UN agency has warned.

Palestinians in the small West Bank village of Jubara have been warned by Israel that they must apply for special permits to remain in their homes.