Nairobi/Mogadishu  - Gunmen have kidnapped four United Nations aid workers in the south of conflict-ridden Somalia, the UN said Monday.

Dawn Elizabeth Blalock, a spokeswoman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said that the four were taken on Monday morning as they travelled to the airport in the town of Waajid, around 340 kilometres north-west of the capital Mogadishu.

Blalock said that while the kidnappers were armed, there was no violence or shooting during the kidnapping.

Three of the aid workers were believed to be foreign, with some reports suggesting one of them is a Russian. However, no official confirmation on their identities or nationalities was forthcoming.

Washington, Mar 16 : In a breakthrough study, scientists from Duke University Medical Centre and Arkansas Children''s Hospital have successfully cured peanut allergy by building up children''s tolerance to the oval-shaped nut.

During the study, tests of several immunologic indicators suggest the body builds tolerance quickly.

"It appears these children have lost their allergies," said Dr Wesley Burks, Chief of the Division of Pediatric Allergy and Immunology at Duke.

New York  - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon asked the UN Security Council on Friday to extend the mandate of the UN mission in Afghanistan another 12 months so it can assist Kabul in the critical elections in August.

He said the UN mission will set up a political-electoral unit to work with Afghan political parties, civil society and the candidates to prepare for the general elections on August 20, including election of a new president.

The Hague  - Chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Luis Moreno Ocampo has appealed against the decision by the ICC not to charge acting Sudanese President Mohammed al-Bashir with genocide, it emerged Friday.

On March 4, The Hague-based court decided to charge al-Bashir with crimes against humanity and war crimes, but excluding genocide, and issued a warrant for his arrest.

New York  - The dispute involving China over Tibetan sovereignty can be resolved like any other conflict by the creation of "very harmonious atmosphere worldwide," UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Thursday.

Ban made the description of a hoped-for forum to settle the long- running dispute over Tibet at a news conference where he was asked for his reaction to a comment by the Dalai Lama, who had criticized Chinese oppression in his homeland.

New York  - The Sudanese government should allowed relief organizations to return to Darfur before a humanitarian crisis breaks out, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Thursday.

Khartoum has expelled at least 13 international relief organizations responsible for half of the humanitarian assistance in the war-torn Darfur region. More than 2 million Darfurians depended on those relief groups.