New York  - The International Criminal Court's prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo urged world leaders attending the UN General Assembly on Monday to seek measures to protect civilians in Sudan's Darfur region while the court is prosecuting those charged with crimes there.

Moreno-Ocampo planned to speak in debate on the ethnic war in Darfur, which has killed more than 300,000 people since 2003. In July he asked the ICC at The Hague to issue a warrant to arrest Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir for the killing of Darfurians.

New York  - An international group formed to assist the Palestinian Authority said Monday it had made progress in gaining political and financial support, but much more remained to be done before a Palestinian state is established.

PA's Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said donor countries have delivered their pledges this year to help the Palestinian people. More than 1.3 billion dollars of the total of more than 7 billion dollars have been received.

New York  - The Security Council on Monday condemned "in the strongest terms" a terrorist attack on a hotel in Pakistan's capital that killed some 50 people over the weekend.

The 15-nation council extended sympathy to the victims of the "heinous act of terrorism" during a meeting in New York, adding that terrorism remained one of the most serious threats to peace in the world.

New York  - The UN Security Council on Monday voted to keep international troops in Afghanistan for another year and called on countries to boost their force commitments to deal with growing instability.

The 15-nation council's unanimous decision extends the mandate of the NATO-led force until at least October 2009. The council said more troops and equipment were needed to meet the mission's "operational requirements." A Taliban resurgence has sparked an uptick in violence in Afghanistan since the spring.

New York  - African leaders warned Monday that the financial crisis enveloping advanced economies around the world should not spark a pull-back of aid to poorer countries.

Africa is in danger of falling far short of meeting a series of dramatic poverty-reduction goals set by the United Nations in 2000. Leaders warned during a one-day conference on Africa that they would not be able to get on track without help from the international community.

New York  - The World Food Programme on Monday issued an appeal for nearly half a billion dollars to assist 9.6 million Ethiopians affected by drought and high food prices, for the next six months.

"The Horn of Africa region is facing the worst humanitarian crisis since 1984, and Ethiopia is caught in the middle," said WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran. "We know what needs to be done. We just need the funds to go out and do our job - protecting the hungry."