Geneva - Rwandan President Paul Kagame criticized on Wednesday the decision to arrest his aide, Rose Kabuye, earlier this week, saying it was a violation of his nation's sovereignty.

"If we are to believe that any village judge in France can indict someone from Rwanda, then I assume the reverse is also true," Kagame told reporters, adding that the international justice system needed to be "harmonized."

Kagame was speaking at a press conference of the International Telecommunication Union on cybersecurity and climate change in Geneva.

Geneva - A World Food Programme (WFP) appeal issued last month for 140 million dollars to help feed a growing portion of Zimbabwe's population has gone completely unfunded, a UN spokesperson said Tuesday.

"So far we have received none of the funding, zero," said WFP spokeswoman Emilia Casella .

Geneva - At least 26 per cent, or 30 species, of north-east Atlantic sharks, rays and chimaeras are threatened with extinction, a study released Monday by the International Union for Conservation of Nature said.

An additional 20 per cent of species surveyed are in the Near Threatened category.

The IUCN said the actual number of sharks threatened may be higher as its study group could only assess about a quarter of all species in the region.

The species in the north-east Atlantic Ocean, off Europe's coasts, are more threatened than in other parts of the world, primarily due to overfishing.

"This is due to accidental and targeted fishing," said Sarah Valenti, one of the report's authors.

Geneva - Children have been recruited as soldiers by rebel groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo and woman and girls have suffered sexual violence, UN officials said Friday.

"The rebels need to immediately release the children," said Veronique Taveau of UNICEF, the UN Children's Fund, adding that her organization was using the radio in Congo to issue this message to the fighters.

Geneva - The global financial crisis could cost some 20 million jobs worldwide, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) warned Monday.

ILO Director-General Juan Somavia issued the warning in Geneva, coupled with the advice that "we need prompt and coordinated government actions to avert a social crisis that could be severe, long-lasting and global."

By current calculations, worldwide unemployment could rise from 190 million last year to a level of 210 million by the end of 2009.

Geneva  - The pay gulf between the captains of industry and those performing the menial and administrative work is growing ever wider, according to an International Labour Organisation study.

The income of top bosses in the United States rose in real terms by an average of 45 per cent between 2003 and 2007, according to an ILO study published Thursday.

In Germany, top bosses' salaries last year were around 148 times higher than the country's average wage, said the Geneva-based organisation, which is affiliated to the United Nations.