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In a wide-ranging critique of a high-level panel's report on the challenges facing the United Nations, members of the General Assembly have questioned what they see as the panel's inadequate treatment of the role that economic development plays in safeguarding collective security, according to Assembly President Jean Ping of Gabon.

Pushing ahead with his agenda for United Nations reform, Secretary-General Kofi Annan today met with regional groups of Member States to discuss the findings of the high-level panel he appointed to submit recommendations on the issue.

The United Nations is working on developing "important new tools" to strengthen its support for the rule of law and transitional justice in States that are either still facing or just emerging from conflict, Secretary-General Kofi Annan told the Security Council today.

From the dangers of terrorism and the importance of regional solidarity to the concerns of small island States and calls for the introduction of debt relief, leaders from around the world spotlighted a diverse array of issues during the annual high-level debate at the United Nations General Assembly this morning.

Security Council reform, calls for a fairer global trading system, disarmament, the threat of terrorism and the gap between the haves and have-nots were among the subjects debated this morning when the United Nations General Assembly's annual high-level debate resumed for its second week.

As the General Assembly wrapped up the fourth day of its annual high-level debate, Prime Minister Ayad Allawi of Iraq appealed to its neighbours and the international community for help in rebuilding the country ruined by war and a brutal regime and defeating terrorists bent on destroying the dreams of the Iraqi people for a country rooted in democracy.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan today appointed a legal adviser and scholar from Switzerland as the new head of the United Nations legal office.

Dismissing a former Bosnian Serb army general’s appeal against his conviction, the United Nations war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia today unanimously confirmed that Bosnian Serb forces committed genocide during the notorious massacre in Srebrenica in July 1995.

Actress Angelina Jolie of the United States has signed on for another two years as Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the agency reported today.

The United Nations General Assembly opened its 58th annual session today with a minute of silence for staff killed in the terrorist attack in Baghdad, a pledge to persevere in the speedy restoration of sovereignty to the Iraqi people, a promise to pursue the benefits of multilateralism embodied by the world organization and a plea for reform.