New York  - "Emerging players" have created a new situation requiring the participation of all parties, in addition to governments, to resolve the world's problems, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Thursday.

Ban topped the situation in Georgia on his list, saying that his good offices will facilitate international discussion to settle the conflict between Tbilisi and Moscow.

New York  - The United Nations asked the international community on Wednesday to finance massive humanitarian efforts in Haiti, where 328 people have died and
800,000 were left homeless from a series of natural disasters.

The UN humanitarian office made an appeal for 108 million dollars to cover essential relief demands in Haiti for six months.

The island nation has been battered by consecutive tropical storms and hurricanes in the past three weeks, which flooded residential areas as well as farms, destroying this year's crops, the UN said.

New York  - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday expressed "deep concern" over the increased hostilities in northern Sri Lanka, warning that this would have grave humanitarian consequences for civilians.

The Sri Lankan government had requested the relocation of UN humanitarian staff in areas affected by the fighting between government and rebel forces.

New York  - High profile Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt and scores of lesser known victims of terrorism on Tuesday appealed to the international community to focus on their unique needs and stop treating them as mere statistics.

Victims of terrorist attacks in Nairobi, London, Baghdad, Amman and Colombia met at United Nations headquarters for the first UN symposium designed to give them a voice, and shared their experiences with decision-makers.

New York  - Victims of terrorist activities including high profile Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt are to speak Tuesday about their ordeals at the UN's very first symposium on terrorism to focus on victims and their families.

The event coincides with the observance two days later of the seventh anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks on New York, Washington and on an airplane over Pennsylvania.

The UN did not draw a direct connection between the two events.

New York  - The United Nations said Friday it was rushing relief assistance to some of the worst-hit Caribbean islands, with Haiti and Cuba heading the list, while damage and threats to residents were being assessed.

John Holmes, chief coordinator of the UN humanitarian emergency programme, said the Bahamas, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic have been affected by heavy flooding.

The Caribbean has been hit by three Atlantic storms and hurricanes in three weeks, with the latest - Tropical Storm Hanna - now heading toward southeastern United States.