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Whatever happens in the next steps in Iraq's transition to democracy, in the long term it was crucial that Iraqis take ownership of the political process and the maintenance of security in their country, the top envoy of the United Nations in Iraq told the Security Council today.

The failure of the non-proliferation treaty review and the lack of results and progress on disarmament are weakening the system of legal norms and pose a threat to world peace and multilateralism, according to a new report by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan to the General Assembly.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) has brought together, for the first time, what are now the three leading political parties in the West African country emerging from more than a decade of civil strife, as the mission winds down its peacekeeping and peacebuilding work.

The United Nations should convene a meeting of senior officials from across the globe to formulate a plan to deal with terrorism effectively, the Foreign Minister of Egypt told the General Assembly this morning as it continued its annual debate.

Security Council President Lauro Baja today reiterated the Council's support for peace efforts in Côte d'Ivoire while also warning opposing factions that those who threaten the peace or violate human rights in the country will be subject to international sanctions.

As the General Assembly continued the General Debate of its 60th anniversary session this afternoon, government ministers stressed that international agreements and State activities should have concrete, positive impact on the security, rights and peaceful socioeconomic development of the world's people.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has hailed the commitment of the Democratic People´s Republic of Korea (DPRK) to abandon nuclear weapons and rejoin the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) as “a major step towards a comprehensive settlement through multilateral diplomacy of one of the most difficult international security issues.”

Seeking to avert a second wave of deaths among Niger’s undernourished children, the United Nations health agency is dispatching 100,000 antimalarial treatments to the West African country, where the peak malaria season has begun in the midst of a humanitarian crisis stemming from drought and locusts.

Having elicited “strong, unambiguous commitments” on issues ranging from development to human rights to United Nations reform, the 2005 World Summit that ended Friday evening achieved important results despite serious gaps in such areas as nuclear non-proliferation, according to Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

The head of the United Nations agency entrusted with curbing the spread of nuclear weapons has called on Iran to show greater transparency in order to provide assurances that its programme is solely for peaceful purposes, despite good progress made in correcting its past breaches of international agreements.