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The United Nations global treaty to curb tobacco use, which now claims nearly 5 million lives a year and causes an estimated annual net loss of $200 billion in treatment and lost productivity, comes into force on Sunday with a host of tools to clamp down on the world's leading cause of preventable deaths.

Continuing his talks across the full political spectrum of Iraqi politics, the top United Nations envoy in the country today met with the man who had previously sought to be candidate for prime minister of the coalition that won a majority in national elections last month.

More than $1 billion will be needed to fund the first year of the proposed United Nations peacekeeping mission in southern Sudan, set up to help the vast region stabilize and its people rebuild their lives after a 21-year civil war.

Sustainable tourism in built-up areas must ensure a better urban environment for both residents and tourists, respect cultural diversity and guide observers in interpreting the distinctive building types in different destinations, according to a declaration from the United Nations World Tourism Organization (WTO).

The world's population will reach 6.5 billion by July and, despite lower expected fertility rates, is likely to reach 9.1 billion by 2050, with most of the increase taking place in developing countries, the United Nations Population Division says in its revised report for 2004.

The world's poorest countries spend so much of their income paying off their foreign debts that they have to cut back on funding essential health and education programmes, the United Nations envoy for those nations said today as he called for greater action worldwide to combat the crippling effect of the HIV/AIDS pandemic on the developing world.

A preliminary investigation into a Haitian woman's rape accusations against United Nations peacekeepers suggests that the encounter involved prostitution, but since the personal code of conduct for "blue helmets" forbids that kind of contact, the soldiers will be disciplined, a UN spokesman said today.

With disputes over rights to inventions, discoveries and traditional knowledge sometimes leading to expensive lawsuits, the United Nations World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) prepares to accept new students next week for its online courses.

A high-level United Nations labour agency mission to Myanmar to look into allegations of the use of forced labour has called off further discussions because its visit did not include meetings necessary for it to successfully complete its mandate.

Facing an unusually cold winter and heavy snowfalls in Afghanistan, leading to outbreaks of whooping cough, measles and pneumonia, road blockages and food shortages, United Nations agencies are using airdrops to get urgent supplies into some regions, where land convoys have been stuck for up to three weeks.