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Emphasizing that Iraqis who have complaints about their recent elections should get a hearing, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today welcomed the decision by the International Mission for Iraqi Elections (IMIE) to establish a team of experts to examine the issue.

The number of passengers flying on scheduled airlines worldwide rose 7 per cent over last year’s total to a record 2 billion this year, the United Nations International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) said today.

A micro-credit system in Ecuador set up by the United Nations and a local foundation is fostering harmonious relations between Colombian refugees and the local population as the two groups work together to bring their small business dreams to fruition, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) reported today.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has named three new senior officials to head, respectively, its bureaus for Arab States, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Africa.

Despite a consistent and forceful Security Council response to the crisis in Sudan’s western Darfur region, reports from there confirm a marked deterioration since September, including an increase in ethnic clashes, destabilizing elements crossing in from Chad and continuing banditry, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan says in a report released today.

In a case concerning fishing that pits Chile against the European Community, the United Nations International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea today announced that it is extending the deadline on the proceedings for two years, through 1 January 2008.

The United Nations Operation in Burundi (ONUB) is funding nearly a dozen new initiatives aimed at boosting education and health across eight provinces in the country, which is stabilizing despite continued rebel activities.

The military situation in the Temporary Security Zone (TSZ) separating Ethiopia and Eritrea remains “tense and potentially volatile,” a spokesman for the United Nations peacekeeping mission there, which has been forced to relocate some staff because of Eritrean demands, said today.

Appealing to donors to prepare for the challenges of 2006, the head of the United Nations food aid agency today described this year as the most demanding the humanitarian aid world had faced since World War II, from the devastating Asian tsunami to the plague of locusts in Africa.

Acting as a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein of Jordan is headed to Malawi today to spotlight the food crisis in the country.