THE world welcomed its symbolic “seven billionth” baby yesterday, but celebrations were tempered by worries over the strain that humanity’s population explosion is putting on a fragile planet.

THE world’s population of seven billion is set to rise to at least 10 billion by 2100, but could top 15 billion if birth rates are just slightly higher than expected, the United Nations has warned.

SHE’S a 40-year-old mother of eight, with a ninth child due soon.

A car laden with explosives rammed through two gates and blew up at the United Nations’ offices in Nigeria’s capital Abuja today, killing at least 16 people and shattering part of the concrete structure.

At least 16 people have died in a car bomb attack on the United Nations’ offices in Nigeria’s capital of Abuja.

Hundreds of thousands of women are taking part in rallies around the globe to mark International Women's Day.

THE battle against global warming could be helped if the world slowed population growth by making free condoms and family planning advice more widely available, the UN Population Fund said yesterday.

The United Nations is to audit all its operations in North Korea, where the US claims that money from at least one UN programme could be ending up illegally in the hands of the communist regime.

Ireland is to contribute over €40m the United Nations for vital development work, it was confirmed today.

The Irish Family Planning Association has called on the Government to directly fund birth control projects in developing countries.

The world’s population will increase by 40% to 9.1 billion in 2050, but virtually all the growth will be in the developing world, especially in the 50 poorest countries, the United Nations Population Division said.

Sexual violence against women is taking place “on a massive scale” in wars and in countries emerging from conflict and the international response remains inadequate, one of the UN’s highest-ranking women told the UN Security Council.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said the world is not safer than it was a few years ago, but did not comment on whether the US is more secure, which has become an issue in the US presidential campaign.

The global HIV/Aids epidemic is threatening efforts to achieve sexual and reproductive health goals that are supposed to improve the lives of women and reduce poverty, a UN chief said today.

A GROUP of UN agencies is asking for $221 million in international aid for North Korea, where food shortages, poverty and poor health care services have put the country in a state of “chronic emergency”, an agency spokesman said yesterday.

IN 2001 Galway For Life sought to highlight allegations that the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), an organisation that the Government financially supports, had in the late 1990s been involved in a campaign of compulsory sterilisation of over 100,000 Peruvian women.

THE Government has pledged that a special HIV/AIDS fund of €30m announced as part of its overseas aid budget this year will not be a “once-off measure”.

WHILE many people, especially the unfortunate first-time house buyers, are coming to terms with the recent spate of government cutbacks, it should be noted that these are not being applied consistently.

WOODY ALLEN, in one of his early comedy records, tells the joke of what his parents allegedly did when he went missing once as a child: "They snapped into action, and rented out my room."

DIPLOMATS and officials are appalled at the Bush administration's decision to cut support for the UN Population Fund, and say the move was motivated by domestic politics at the expense of women's and children's health.

The Irish Family Planning Association has called on the Government to condemn US President George W Bush’s decision to withhold $35m (€35.2m) from the United Nations Population Fund.