New York  - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon Thursday commended an international tribunal for its conviction and sentencing of a key player in the 1994 Rwandan genocide, former army colonel Theoneste Bagosora.

Bagosora and two other senior army officers were sentenced earlier Thursday to life in prison for their role in the massacre of more than 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus within the span of several months in 1994.

New York  - A move was launched Thursday at the United Nations to expand universal recognition of human rights to homosexuals, with 63 countries having already signed a declaration to push for the change.

At a meeting that was not part of official UN proceedings, France, Argentina, Brazil, Croatia, Gabon, the Netherlands and Norway announced the drive to collect more signatures - a move that could eventually bring the declaration into the General Assembly for a vote.

New York  - The economic crisis crippling the world has a direct impact on its 200 million migrant workers, putting them at risk of destitution, stigmatization, discrimination and abuse, the United Nations said Thursday on International Migrant Day.

It said reports of layoffs and lower remittances have been just the beginning of what could be a long story of human suffering. At the same time, migration policies of some governments have become more restrictive.

Geneva - Agreement was reached Thursday to allow humanitarian aid workers and assistance to reach some of the most vulnerable refugees from the Russian-Georgian war this past summer, senior diplomats said.

While the agreement said the sides would strive to let the aid into areas within South Ossetia and Abkhazia to aid internally displaced people there before the end of the year, no rigid timeline was agreed upon, the negotiators told dpa.

Taipei  - Taiwan plans to apply for world heritage status for the complex Chinese characters that China stopped using after 1949 but Taiwan continues to use today, a newspaper said Thursday.

Taiwan plans to set up a task force in February to prepare for making the application to UNESCO, the United Daily News quoted Premier Liu Chao-Shiuan as saying.

It was not clear whether Taiwan's not being a member of the United Nations would hinder the effort, but Taiwan's government does not believe China would oppose the move because the complex characters are part of the Chinese heritage, the News said.

New York  - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon complained Wednesday that governments in the United Nations have called for a peacekeeping force in troubled Somalia, but none has volunteered to lead it with large ground troops to stabilize the country.

Ban offered a rare glimpse into the working of the UN system in which members made loud proposals but failed to back them up with resources and manpower, the two components needed to deploy peacekeeping forces around the world.