New York  - The Palestinian envoy to the United Nations called on the Security Council on Monday to take "practical steps" to stop the fighting in the Gaza Strip to avert a potential Israeli invasion.

Riyad Mansour and Egypt's UN Ambassadpr Maged Abdelaziz met with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the UN Security Council president, Neven Jurica, the envoy from Croatia, urging them to proceed with demanding an immediate ceasefire from Israel.

New York - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Monday urged Israel and Hamas to declare an immediate ceasefire and for the world community to do more to assist victims of the three-day-old conflict.

Ban reiterated his condemnation of the fighting by the two sides, warning of the "frightening nature" of the crisis because of its affect on civilians in the Gaza Strip, half of whom are children.

He called for the observance of humanitarian law in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Geneva  - The United Nations top human rights expert said Sunday that she was concerned and distressed by "the enormous loss of life in the escalating violence in Gaza."

Navi Pillay, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said in a statement that she "strongly condemned Israel's disproportionate use of force" in the enclave, which has so far resulted in more than 280 dead, and called for respecting international law.

Many of those killed were civilians, Pillay said.

She also condemned Hamas rocket fire which killed one Israeli civilian.

More than 100 rockets have been fired from Gaza since the Israeli military began its offensive on Saturday.

New York  - The United Nations Security Council called an emergency meeting late Saturday to discuss the situation in Gaza.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was to attend the closed-door session, which was expected to begin at 10 pm (0300 GMT), UN spokeswoman Marie Okaba said.

Israel unleashed waves of airstrikes against the Gaza Strip Saturday, targeting Hamas installations and personnel, and killing 225 people, most of them militants. More than 750 people were injured in the strikes.

United Nations, Dec. 27 : Ahead of the first death anniversary of Pakistan's former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, the UN Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon has assured Pakistani people of his commitment to investigate the Bhutto's assassination case.

Ban ki-Moon issued a statement saying that a commission would be set up to investigate the murder of the former Pakistani PM Benazir Bhutto, The News reported.

Benazir Bhutto was assassinated on December 27, 2007, after addressing an election rally in a suicide bomb attack in Rawalpindi.

New York  - The United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday approved a 17-per-cent rise in the international body's budget for the 2008-09 fiscal year.