Geneva  - A United Nations' expert on food said Wednesday that free trade and greater liberalization won't help solve the problems of the nearly 1 billion hungry people in the world.

"Trade is not a substitute for building the capacity of a country to feed it own people," Olivier De Schutter said, presenting the conclusions of his report on the World Trade Organization.

He admitted that a certain amount of international food commerce was needed, but that trade so far has not worked to combat hunger.

United Nations, Dec. 17 : US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said that the proscribed Jamaat-ud-Dawa remains a terror outfit in the eyes of the international community, notwithstanding its protestations of being a charity organization.

Talking to reporters at the UN headquarters in New York, Rice said: "Pakistan is going to have to untangle the difficult circumstances the Jamaat offers -they are - because I understand there are so called charitable activities. But we learned - the United States learned the hard way - that sometimes these are too intertwined with organizations that have terrorists ties and have just been designated here."

New York  - UN Security Council members met Tuesday to demand again that Israelis and Palestinians end their decades-long conflict with a comprehensive settlement that includes a Palestinian state.

"A Palestinian state is long overdue," said US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, adding that the two sides must take political and security steps to arrive at a full-fledged Palestinian state.

New York  - A UN special enjoy to Niger has gone missing while driving outside the capital, Niamey, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said.

New York  - Israel's decision to expel a US expert on human rights was a "dangerous" move that contravened mandates given to rights advocates working for the United Nations, the UN General Assembly president said Monday.

Richard Falk was detained at Jerusalem's airport on Sunday and then deported back to the United States. Falk's mandate given by the 192-nation assembly is to assess the situation in Palestinian- occupied territories.

The Israeli foreign ministry on Monday said Falk was "unwelcome in Israel."

New York  - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was scheduled to brief the UN Security Council later Monday on the deterioration of living conditions in Zimbabwe, where a cholera epidemic has killed more than 900 people.

The 15-nation council was to hear Ban behind closed doors as is the normal practice for sensitive issues. Last week, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called on the council to take "meaningful action" against Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe for his leadership in the worsening situation.