The world needs to more than double its spending if it is to achieve its 2015 target of halving the proportion of people without access to sanitation and drinking water, a senior United Nations official told a UN commission set up to promote sustainable development in poor countries. José Antonio Ocampo, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, said that while there has been progress towards meeting targets for access to clean drinking water and improved sanitation, especially in East and South Asia, it has not been fast enough, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.

The International Criminal Court could begin investigations this year into war crimes committed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, following a request by the country's president, the ICC said. President Joseph Kabila sent a letter to Louis Moreno Ocampo, the court's chief prosecutor, asking him to look into alleged war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity, the court said in a statement. When the court was launched last July, Ocampo said he intended to probe the situation in the war-torn Ituri region, and he has received six complaints of atrocities in the northeastern region since that time.

It has a reputation for being as calm as the lake that bears its name, but as Malawi heads into its third multiparty presidential and parliamentary elections in May, serial attacks allegedly perpetrated by ruling party youth militias against opposition leaders and journalists cast doubts over the stability of the sliver-shaped central African country. The Malawi Human Rights Commission has warned that rising incidents of pre-election violence by the Young Democrats, the militant youth wing of the ruling United Democratic Front, is polarising the country along ethnic and regional lines. Political analysts, furthermore, worry that voters are losing faith in the democratic process. The upcoming vote marks the second consecutive poll to be marred by ruling- party violence.