Geneva - The United Arab Emirates came under close scrutiny Thursday, particularly on the treatment of migrant workers, during its periodic review before the United Nations' Human Rights Council.

Labour exporting countries in south Asia, as well as European states, questioned the UAE over what steps were being taken to improve the conditions of blue collar labourers.

Estimates say foreigners make up about 85 per cent of the Gulf state's population, and they account for about 99 per cent of the private sector workforce, according to Human Rights Watch, an advocacy group.

Geneva  - Changes taking place in the Arctic and Antarctica, as well as the unique conditions existing at those ends of the planet, make the polar regions key to understanding climate change and a host of other topics, scientists said.

Polar weather influences climates in areas as far away as the tropics and changes will have effects across the world.

"The melting of the ice caps is a dramatic thing," said Geir Braathen of the United Nation's World Meteorological Organization. "It can change the entire planet's climate."

Geneva - Security conditions in Iraq in the first half of 2008 improved greatly the United Nations said Tuesday, but "grave human rights violations" remained a serious issue.

In addition to large casualties in heavy fighting between militias and government forces, allegations that civilians were targeted by "all parties to the conflict" were still under investigation, the UN's mission to Iraq (UNAMI) said in its biannual report.

Geneva - More Swiss companies have been going broke in recent months, with over 20 per cent more businesses announcing bankruptcies since September than in the same period last year, Swiss media reported Tuesday.

Over 1,200 companies became insolvent in the past three months, while the number of new companies created dropped steeply, according to data from the firm Dun and Bradstreet.

The year as a whole would likely see the number of bankruptcies exceed the rate of 2007.

Geneva  - There are over 200 million international migrants in the world, a report released Tuesday said, with nearly as many people moving within developing countries as there are migrants from poorer nations moving to rich ones.

The 2008 annual report by the International Organization for Migration, said 61 million migrants had moved from developing countries to other developing countries and 62 million moved on the South-North axis.

Geneva - The United Nations Human Rights Council restarted Monday a special session on the situation in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

In the first part, which took place last Friday, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, warned of a deteriorating situation in areas of the DR Congo where the Tutsi rebels of General Laurant Nkunda have fought government forces.

She said both forces had committed severe abuses against the civilian population, including sexual violence against women.