BRUSSELS, April 23 (UPI) -- EU Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Louis Michel said Thursday's conference in Brussels helped raise nearly $250 million to combat Somali piracy.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, Jan. 30 (UPI) -- The estimated 250,000 civilians in the conflict zone in northern Sri Lanka want to stay to be protected by the Tamil Tigers, the rebels say,

GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo, Oct. 31 (UPI) -- The rebel forces of Gen. Laurent Nkunda sat outside Goma as a cease-fire remained in place Friday in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

HAVANA, Oct. 24 (UPI) -- The European Union and Cuba have restored ties and have said the EU will send millions of dollars in aid to assist the Caribbean nation.

BRUSSELS, Aug. 11 (UPI) -- The European Commission says it has released $1.5 million in "fast-track" humanitarian aid for civilians affected by fighting in South Ossetia and Georgia.

SHARM EL-SHEIK, Egypt, June 30 (UPI) -- British Prime Minister Gordon Brown called on the African Union to tell Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe the African country needs a new government.

HAVANA, March 10 (UPI) -- An official of the European Union is calling for an end to EU sanctions imposed in 2003 against Cuba.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 14 (UPI) -- Hopes are growing that a new government in Mogadishu may be able to reach a peace deal with the opposition Alliance for the Re-liberation of Somalia.

MOGADISHU, Somalia, Dec. 20 (UPI) -- Heavy fighting erupted near the base of the weak Somali interim government in Baidoa, after a deadline calling for Ethiopian troop withdrawal passed.