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From internet cafes in the slums of Nairobi, New Delhi and Lima to flashy office blocks in Europe and North America, thousands of people around the world joined a global internet discussion of urban problems this weekend meant to elicit fresh ideas for the third session of the United Nations World Urban Forum in Vancouver next June.

Noting that Africa is the only continent whose share of reported disasters in the world total has increased over the past decade, government ministers from 40 countries are set to agree on ways to implement a new continental disaster reduction strategy that will also help to eradicate poverty.

United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator, Jan Egeland, arrived in Zimbabwe over the weekend on a three-day mission on behalf of Secretary-General Kofi Annan to assess the humanitarian needs of the population, including those affected by a massive Government slum-clearance effort that left hundreds of thousands homeless.

Deploring today's terrorist bombing in Israel, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan joined his fellow co-sponsors of the Middle East Road Map peace plan in calling on Syria to close at once the offices of the Palestinian group which took credit for the attack and prevent the use of its territory by such groups.

A high-ranking Nigerian army officer will be the next Force Commander of the United States Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan announced today.

The United Nations has helped more than 440,000 Afghans to return home from Pakistan in 2005, the highest annual number since 2002, the UN refugee agency said today.

The United Nations emergency relief office is gathering information on the level of assistance that may be required after an earthquake struck the Lake Tanganyika region of East Africa today.

On the thirtieth anniversary of the entry into force of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention, and ahead of next year's review conference, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today called on States Parties to reaffirm the ban on such weapons and address their possible use by terrorists.

Mandated by the September world summit, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has sent a report to the UN General Assembly on establishing a new ethics office with independent external oversight and auditing, as well as with expanded provisions governing whistle-blowing and staff financial disclosures.

The Special Adviser to the United Nations Secretary-General for the Prevention of Genocide has called on the authorities in to Côte d'Ivoire to break the cycle of impunity for human rights abuses so as to eliminate mistrust and hatred between communities in the divided West African country.