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An assessment of the recently imposed timber sanctions on Liberia has determined that the embargo will have an impact on the country only when the security environment does not already preclude logging and timber exports, according to a new United Nations report released today in New York.

Commemorating the 58th anniversary of the world’s first atomic bomb attack, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today called on the international community to accelerate nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation, especially with the new “major concern” that such weapons could fall into the hands of terrorists.

In an effort to bring about greater standardization in cyberspace, the United Nations telecommunications agency has agreed on a unique partnership deal with a non-profit global organization of over 340 companies that provides guidance on improving communications services.

The United Nations development agency has called for immediate action to address the needs of Palestinian communities affected by Israel's Separation Wall, launching an appeal for $18 million in emergency assistance to address job needs and improve vital social, municipal and agricultural infrastructure requirements.

The United Nations today launched an appeal for some $69 million in emergency aid for war-torn Liberia, with Secretary-General Kofi Annan and other UN officials urging world governments to seize the opportunity to help end the unnecessary suffering of nearly 1 million Liberians and to let them know they are not alone in the quest for development and peace.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is supporting a Bulgarian initiative to improve living conditions and expand job opportunities for 46,000 Roma and 5,000 ethnic Turks living in run-down neighbourhoods in six municipalities.

The second stage of weapons disposal in Bougainville is now complete, bringing the island closer to the hope of holding elections to establish an autonomous government, the head of the United Nations mission there told the Security Council today.

The United Nations mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and a contingent of the UN-authorized peacekeeping force in the country have dispatched a joint assessment team to Nyanda to investigate reports that fresh ethnic violence in the tiny northeastern village claimed the lives of at least nine people.

Stepping up its campaign against tobacco use, which kills 4.9 million people each year, the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) today urged governments to include anti-addiction treatments as part of comprehensive tobacco control programmes.

In the wake of the car bomb attack at the Marriott Hotel in Jakarta, Indonesia, which killed over a dozen people, the Acting United Nations human rights chief renewed his appeal for a rallying of public sentiment against terrorism and for justice to be meted out to terrorists in accordance with international human rights law.