Reuters: UN calls for death penalty stop 19 December

So far this year, 42 people have been executed in the United States.

New York - Meeting at a time of decision for the United Nations and the world, a time when UN forces in Korea are fighting against an enemy using Soviet arms, the UN Assembly hears US Secretary of State Acheson plead for a moral peace and forthright action to save that peace for generations to come. Much of the UN debate will centre on whether UN forces will continue across the 38th parallel in Korea, and important issues on the agenda include the seating of Communist China and the overriding of the Soviet veto against censuring North Korea.

The United Nations votes to fill one of the highest posts in world diplomacy - that of Secretary-General of the world body. In a rare show of unanimity they vote Acting Secretary-General U Thant, who distinguished himself during the Cuban Missile Crisis, into a full term.

Cubans began voted Sunday for a national legislature that will choose the country's next president, amid growing doubts that ailing leader Fidel Castro is well enough to retake the reins of power. More than eight million voters on this island of some 11 million inhabitants were eligible to cast ballots for parliament, which is charged with deciding Castro's political fate.

The aim of the resolution is to quell violence in Darfur, where more than 2.1 million people have been driven into camps and an estimated 200,000 have died over the past four years. Sudan, after months of hesitation, has agreed to the troop numbers, but U.N. officials expect it will take a year to get the entire force in place.

The plea came as fresh floods occurred in South and East Asia. More people have died in India and the flooding is now officially the worst for many decades. Residents in Bangladesh are among the worst affected but there's also severe flooding in India, Vietnam and the Philippines. Tens of millions of people are homeless and health authorities are faced with thousands of cases of diarrhoea and other water-borne illnesses.

The French Foreign Minister leads his entire delegation off the floor in protest when the UN votes to place the French-Algerian debate on the agenda. Meanwhile in North Africa, the Sultan of Morocco is escorted into exile by the Franch Resident General in

As nations talked about ways to slow global warming without derailing world economic growth, thousands of protesters took to the streets of Indonesia to demand swift action. For the first time, ministers other than environment ministers are participating in the talks attended by more than 10,000 delegates. The conference plans to lay the groundwork for a broader treaty to succeed the Kyoto Protocol global warming pact beyond 2012. But the United States still has no binding goals under Kyoto, nor do developing nations led by China and India.

The President and the Commander-in-Chief of the United Nations forces meet on Wake Island for a conference on the Korean War and the Far Easter situation in general. The President presents MacArthur with his fourth Oak Leaf Cluster. While UN troops close in on the Communist North Korean capital of Pyongyang.