New York/Taipei  - A committee of the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday tossed out Taiwan's request to join UN specialized agencies, like the World Health Organization, even though the Taipei government has downgraded its global campaign to return to the world body.

The decision by the General Committee was made during a closed- door session to adopt the agenda of debate for the 192-nation assembly, which opened its 63rd session on Tuesday.

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Karachi  - Pakistan's leading human rights body on Wednesday called for an immediate United Nations intervention to avert an unfolding humanitarian disaster in the country's north due to a prolonged war with Islamic militants.

New York  - The United Nations plans to renew the mandate of its military observer force in Georgia by mid-October, but the situation may change after an international agreement is reached to monitor the conflict in that country, a UN official said Wednesday.

The UN, the European Union and the Organization for Security Cooperation in Europe are to meet in Geneva next month to decide on an international mechanism to end the conflict between Georgia and Russia, which erupted over the break-away province of South Ossetia in August.

Washington  - The attack on the US embassy in Yemen on Wednesday serves as a reminder that "we are at war with extremists," President George W Bush said, offering condolences to the families of those killed.

"This attack is a reminder that we are at war with extremists who will murder innocent people to achieve their ideological objectives," Bush said at the White House.

San Francisco  - Sarah Palin has taken the political world by storm since she was named the running mate of Republican presidential candidate John McCain last month. Now comes evidence that she's also sparking record interest in the online world.

According to online tracking firm Hitwise, "Sarah Palin" was the most searched-for political term, accounting for 2 per cent of all political searches in the four weeks ending September 6, the Saturday after the Republican National Convention. At that time, the previously-unknown Palin had been in the national headlines for only eight days.