Two mummified babies found this year in a steamer trunk from the 1930s were the children of a nurse who died 16 years ago – but the way they died may never be known.

Hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis were fleeing a southern region today after the bloated Indus River crushed an embankment and flooded new areas, officials said.

PAKISTAN battled yesterday to save areas threatened by more devastating flood waters as the United Nations warned that 800,000 people in desperate need of aid had been cut off by the deluge.

Pakistan is bracing itself for countrywide outbreaks of disease after the weeks of flooding damaged hospitals and clinics and turned tens of thousands of medical workers into refugees.

Pakistan thanked the world for coming to its aid and said more than 20 million flood victims now knew that nations and people around the globe were standing with them during the worst disaster the country has ever faced.

Rebels attacked a UN peacekeeping base in eastern Congo today killing three Indian soldiers and wounding seven others.

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.

The United Nations launched an appeal to raise almost $460m (€357m) for flood-hit Pakistan tonight.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon promised Haitians that the world has not forgotten the quake-torn nation as it suffers from a shortage of shelter and growing violence in teeming camps for the homeless.

UN peacekeepers and US troops have been helping keep order around aid deliveries and clinics in the stricken city, which seemed relatively calm yesterday, even if looters continued to pillage pockets of downtown.

THE five-month-old patient at the Israeli field hospital has a number rather than a name.

The staggering scope of Haiti’s nightmare came into sharper focus today as rescuers estimated 200,000 dead and 1.5 million homeless in the quake-ravaged country.

The people of Haiti were tonight still reeling from the earthquake that killed thousands of them and left the fate of millions more hanging on aid supplies.

UN aid agencies today called on the government of Yemen and rebels to ensure humanitarian access to civilians caught up in fighting that flared up in the north last month.

THE United Nations yesterday revealed a record $4.8 billion (€3.37bn) funding gap for its 2009 aid programmes due to strained foreign assistance levels and a ten-fold increase in needs in Pakistan.

A United Nations team visited Pakistan’s battle-scarred Swat Valley today as hundreds of refugees made their way back to the troubled area.

Aid groups pushed for access to Sri Lanka's former battlefield today to check on the fate of any wounded civilians stranded there, as the country celebrated a holiday to honour the military's victory over the Tamil Tiger rebels.

A MORTAR shell struck the only functioning medical facility in Sri Lanka’s northern war zone yesterday, throwing bloody bodies into the dirt outside and killing 49 people, a government health official said. It was the second time this month the hospital was hit.

THE Sri Lankan government, under intense pressure to prevent civilian deaths, said yesterday it would immediately stop air strikes and artillery attacks, but rejected calls for a ceasefire in its war against the Tamil Tiger rebels.

Facing imminent battlefield defeat, Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tiger rebels have declared a unilateral ceasefire and called on the government to halt its offensive to spare the tens of thousands of civilians trapped by the fighting.

SRI LANKA’S rebels declared a unilateral ceasefire yesterday, but the government refused to halt its offensive into the last strip of land the insurgents hold despite concerns for tens of thousands of civilians trapped there.

Tens of thousands of civilians trapped in Sri Lanka’s northern war zone are facing starvation, the Tamil Tiger rebels warned today as the UN sent its top humanitarian official to assess the crisis.

Police will not be looking to prosecute anyone in the case of a 13-year-old boy who has become a father, it was disclosed today.

THE United Nations urged Israel to reopen Gaza crossings as senior officials assessed war damage and the Jewish state warned it would strike again if Hamas rearms through smuggling tunnels.

The future of Britain’s newest racetrack was in doubt after administrators were called in.

Britain’s newest racetrack, Great Leighs, has been placed into administration.

Israel ignored mounting international calls for a ceasefire, vowing not to stop its crippling 10-day assault until “peace and tranquillity” was achieved in towns in the line of Palestinian rocket fire.

Haiti needs an immediate boost in relief funding to help hundreds of hungry people still living in shelters nearly two months after a string of devastating tropical storms, the UN humanitarian chief said.

Britain’s newest racecourse Great Leighs moved into overdrive this week with a valuable three-day meeting and the opening afternoon saw an impressive victory for the Paul d’Arcy-trained Fazbee.

BURMA needs at least €630 million ($1 billion) over the next three years to put the survivors of Cyclone Nargis back on their feet, a UN-led report said yesterday in the first comprehensive assessment of damage caused by the disaster that killed more than 84,000 people.

I suppose you can understand

The EU today insisted it will stick with compulsory targets for biofuel use despite growing unease over their ecological benefits.

Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe shrugged off calls for his resignation today as his chief spokesman told Western critics to “go hang”.

Up to €12.6bn may be needed each year to increase food production and fight hunger caused by soaring fuel and food prices, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon said today.

Great Leighs opened its doors to the paying public for the first time and received a mixed reaction from the 3,500 people who turned up to test facilities at Britain’s newest racecourse.

Burma’s military regime has invited representatives of several countries to visit the cyclone-hit delta in a bid to deflect criticism that it is mismanaging relief operations, diplomats said today.

Burma's military regime allowed a United Nations envoy into the devastated Irrawaddy delta for a brief tour today after barring almost all foreigners from the cyclone disaster zone for days.

The leader of Burma’s increasingly isolated ruling junta made his first public visit to a relief camp today as state media lashed out at swelling international criticism that it was closing the door on aid to millions in desperate need following Cyclone Nargis.

A senior UN envoy headed for Burma today to plead with its military junta to accept more international aid for cyclone survivors, amid mounting fears of starvation, especially among children.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is sending UN humanitarian chief John Holmes to Burma after he failed to sway the leaders of the cyclone-hit country to act more swiftly in helping victims.

The official death toll from Burma's killer cyclone nearly doubled to 78,000 today as aid workers shackled by the country's uncooperative military regime struggled to get even the most basic data about the needs of up to 2.5 million desperate survivors.

BURMA’S military leaders were accused yesterday of deliberately keeping the full plight of suffering cyclone survivors from aid agencies.

Burma's military leaders were accused today of deliberately keeping the full plight of suffering cyclone survivors from aid agencies.

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.