In addition to its tense border dispute with Ethiopia, Eritrea is involved in a heated geopolitical standoff with its significantly smaller neighbor to the south.

The tiny port nation of Djibouti, a key U.S. ally in the Horn of Africa, has urged the U.N. Security Council to take immediate action to prevent a conflict with its northern neighbor Eritrea.

In a letter to the council president circulated Tuesday, Djibouti's Foreign Minister Mahmoud Ali Youssouf said Eritrea has launched a major military buildup on their border overlooking critical Red Sea shipping lanes.

It is not yet clear how the Security Council will respond to Youssouf's appeal, and Djibouti is as yet unsatisfied with the mediation from the Arab League and African Union. According to Djibouti's president, the Eritrean and Djiboutian armies are each massed along the border, and "the situation is explosive." With Russia and Georgia also -- at least rhetorically -- sparring over the region of Abkhazia, yet another regional confrontation over territory is clearly not in the UN's interests. In the border spat with Ethiopia, though, Eritrea's government did not exactly welcome the continued presence of UN peacekeepers, eventually forcing them out of the country by withholding necessary fuel supplies. In that case, the UN had even ruled that the disputed border territory at hand belonged to Eritrea, so one can only imagine how the country would react to UN involvement in a case in which its claim to Djibouti's land seems much more dubious.

According to conservative estimates, over 15 million children worldwide have lost at least one parent to AIDS. That population, equivalent to the population of New York, Paris, and Bangkok combined and mostly living in sub-Saharan Africa, is vulnerable to exploitation, including forced labor, prostitution, and child soldiering, and stands a greater chance of suffering from malnutrition and contracting HIV themselves. That population also constitutes a tremendous strain on communities already straining under the weight of other significant health and development challenges.

Simply put, resources are needed. As such, in 2002 FXB International founded World Aids Orphans Day, a grassroots campaign to push all nations to direct at least 10 percent of their HIV/AIDS funding to the care of orphans. So far, the US, UK, and Ireland are the only nations to do so. To join the effort, go to www.worldaidsorphans.org.

This Happens:

[World Food Program] now has more than 800 metric tonnes of food stocks available in its warehouses in Yangon, and will deliver these food resources to all areas in need, including the Ayeryawaddy Division, the largest and hardest hit of the five major divisions affected by the cyclone. WFP's $500,000 initial emergency operation will fund the airlifts of food supplies and emergency staff deployments.

The UN refugee agency, for its part, is emptying its emergency shelter material stockpiles in neighbouring Thailand of plastic sheeting and tents for some 10,000 people for urgent dispatch to Yangon. The supplies would be distributed through a Disaster Management Committee that had been established by the Myanmar Government.

Jennifer Pagonis, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), told journalists in Geneva that the agency's office in Myanmar yesterday purchased $50,000 worth of urgently needed basic supplies in Yangon for distribution, including emergency tarpaulins, plastic sheeting and canned food.

In addition, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) has dispatched teams to make initial assessments in Yangon, Pathein and Bago, and is positioning relief supplies. The agency says it will work with partners and the Government to provide access to clean water, safe sanitation and improved hygiene, and will seek to protect children and help them return to school as soon as possible.

UNICEF's Myanmar field staff have started delivering urgently-need supplies to the Irrawaddy delta, and has provided medicines, first-aid kits and oral rehydration tablets to Laputta township, one of the most severely impacted areas.

It deserves mention that the UN is able to do all these things even though the Myanmar junta is obstructing the UN's inter-agency disaster management team and other aid workers from obtaining entry visas.

>>Lebanon - Gunmen supportive of Hezbollah and those of the U.S.-backed government clashed in the streets of Beirut today. Hezbollah supporters blocked the main roads with barricades made of old cars and burning tires. Yesterday the government accused Hezbollah of violating Lebanon's sovereignty by operating its own telecommunications network, which the government has said it will shut down, and installing spy cameras at the airport.

>>Chile - The once-thought-dormant Chaitén volcano in southern Chile erupted again yesterday, blasting ash and lava dozens of miles into the air. Residents living withing a 30-mile radius were evacuated, and, with the help of navy warships, moved to Patagonia. Since it began on Friday, the eruption has covered a 60-square-mile block with 15 inches of ash, destroying farmland, rendering the air unbreathable, contaminated water supplies, and making rescue efforts difficult.

>>Myanmar - As the death toll in the wake of Cyclone Nargis (damage graphic) rises to 22,500, Myanmar's military junta is experiencing increased pressure from abroad to further open its doors to international aid. The World Food Program has said that as many as a million people have lost their homes. Over 24 million people live in the declared disaster areas. A UN assessment team is still waiting on their visas. Some, including President Bush speaking yesterday in Washington, have also taken the opportunity to press on political reforms.

• Significant Progress in Sierra Leone
• Bears and Bugs
• Obama's Influence in Nigeria?
• The Necessity of a Building
• Major UN Renovation Officially Underway

Africa

• South Africa - South Africa seeks new laws to fight terror financing
• South Africa - Zuma deputy poised to become MP
• Rwanda - Kenya freezes assets of top Rwanda genocide suspect
• Sudan - U.N. seeks urgent access to Darfur bombing victims
• Zimbabwe - Zimbabwe observers question presidential results
• Somalia - Food Prices Set Off Second Day of Unrest
• Nigeria - Niger Delta push for US mediator

Americas

• Ecuador - Ecuadoreans may force out US military
• Brazil - Brazil jury absolves rancher in murder of U.S. nun
• Columbia - U.S. Accuses Russian of Arms Smuggling
• Mexico - Mexican Drug Cartels Making Audacious Pitch for Recruits

Asia

• Myanmar - As Myanmar Reels, Election Is Delayed in Some Areas
• Myanmar - Aid Faces Difficulties Reaching Remote Myanmar Regions
• North Korea - US plans to send envoy to North Korea for nuclear talks
• China - China hits at Baxter in heparin probe
• Japan - After panda goodwill, Japan, China tackle disputes
• China - Deadly China child virus won't be another SARS: doctor
• Hong Kong - HK to introduce competition law

Europe

• Italy - Italy facing heavy fines over mounting rubbish piles in Naples
• Poland - Conditions Set for Planned U.S. Missile Shield
• Germany - Germany bans far-right groups

Middle East

• Lebanon - Beirut to axe Hezbollah telecoms
• Iraq - 'Saddam's jail diaries' published
• Israel - Olmert Tied to New York Developer in Scandal
• Iraq - Greek Islands, Overwhelmed by Refugees, Seek Help
• Lebanon - Anti-government protesters paralyze Beirut
• Israel - Palestinians see peace deal delay if Olmert quits
• Iran - Iran hardliners criticize Khatami's 'insulting' speech