The United Nations on Wednesday launched its largest ever aid appeal, saying it will need seven billion dollars (5.5 billion euros) to help 30 million people in 31 countries during 2009.

The United Nations on Wednesday launched its largest ever aid appeal, saying it will need sevn billion dollars (5.5 billion euros) to help 30 million people in 31 countries during 2009.

ISLAMABAD, Sept 28, 2007 (AFP) - Lawyers for Pakistan's opposition said Friday that they would appeal against a ruling that President Pervez Musharraf can stand for re-election while keeping his role as army chief.

The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a raft of petitions by the opposition that said Musharraf, who seized power in a 1999 coup, should not be allowed to contest the October 6 while still in uniform.

GENEVA, Sept 18, 2007 (AFP) - The World Health Organization and other United Nations agencies on Tuesday launched an appeal for 84.8 million dollars to help more than two million Iraqi refugees in neighbouring countries.

'The funds are required to support host governments in meeting the health and nutrition needs of the displaced populations until the end of next year,' the WHO said in a statement.

THE HAGUE, Sept 13, 2007 (AFP) - The UN war crimes court is set to rule in the appeal case against two Kosovo Albanians cleared of war crimes charges in 2005 on September 27, the court announced Thursday.

The prosecution appealed the acquittal of former Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) commanders Fatmir Limaj and Isak Musliu who were cleared of charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity at a KLA prison camp in Lapushnik.

MANILA, Sept 12, 2007 (AFP) - Former Philippines leader Joseph Estrada is to appeal his conviction for corruption, his lawyer said Wednesday, minutes after a court sentenced him to life in prison.

'He is going to fight this out. He will be acquitted in the Supreme Court,' defence lawyer Rufus Rodriguez told reporters.

Estrada slumped in his chair as the verdict sank in, and later denounced the trial as a sham.

'This is a special (court) division created to convict me,' he told reporters as police ushered him out of the courtroom.

DHAKA, Aug 22, 2007 (AFP) - Bangladesh's military-backed emergency government on Wednesday appealed for calm after it failed to quell a string of violent protests that left one man dead.

'The government appeals to all concerned to maintain peace and discipline,' an official statement read.

'If these unlawful acts continue, the government will be compelled to take stern actions against the perpetrators for bringing back normalcy.'

NEW DELHI, Aug 20, 2007 (AFP) - India's Supreme Court on Monday granted Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt 'interim' bail as it reviews the details of his six-year prison sentence for arms possession.

An anti-terror court last month sentenced the burly actor to 'rigorous imprisonment' for possessing illegal weapons received from plotters of the 1993 Mumbai blasts, which killed 257 people and injured 800 more.

LONDON, Aug 17, 2007 (AFP) - Petr Zhukov, son of Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov, lost his appeal Friday against a 14-month jail term for his part in beating up a man in a vicious alcohol-fuelled attack.

Two judges in the Court of Appeal in London dismissed the 24-year-old's challenge on the length of his sentence.

Judge Richard Henriques, rejecting the appeal, said it was 'the extent of the violence' used which 'prevents our quashing this sentence and substituting a lesser one.'

MUMBAI, Aug 9, 2007 (AFP) - A bail plea by jailed Bollywood star Sanjay Dutt following a six-year sentence for arms possession linked to 1993 Mumbai terror blasts will be heard by India's Supreme Court Friday, his lawyers said.

Dutt is currently serving the jail term in the high-security Yerawada prison in the western Indian city of Pune.