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The United Nations country team and Government officials in Zimbabwe reached agreement today to establish a working level joint committee to draw up a new draft of a flash humanitarian appeal to raise money to help the 700,000 people left destitute by a Government slum clearance campaign, the United Nations humanitarian agency said today.

Despite isolated clashes involving martial arts and political opposition groups, the overall situation in Timor-Leste has remained “calm and stable” since May, when the Catholic Church and the Timorese Government peacefully resolved their dispute over religious teaching in schools, the senior United Nations envoy for the world’s newest country reported to the Security Council today.

Venezuela, citing historical ties, has offered to assist Haiti in the areas of energy, education and economic development, the head of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Caribbean country, Juan Gabriel Valdés, said.

The United Nations civil aviation agency has called on its 188 contracting States to eliminate remaining deficiencies in the global air transport system, some of which may have contributed to five major accidents in August that claimed at least 330 lives in four countries, making it one of the worst months in aviation history.

Calling for an end to speculation surrounding a shooting over the weekend in which two Kosovo Serb men were killed and another two were injured, the United Nations administrator in Kosovo today appealed to the political leaders there and in Serbia to give the police time to carry out a thorough investigation of the incident.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has presented a plaque to World No. 1 tennis player Roger Federer in appreciation for the efforts of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) to raise money for relief programmes after the Indian Ocean tsunami struck last December.

Arriving in a small village in South Sudan after for seven days travelling throughout the country to spotlight the plight of 4.5 million people displaced by years of war, the head of the United Nations refugee agency has vowed to tell the political leaders of the world’s richest nations to do more to improve the lives of African people.

After returning from a visit to drought-stricken, locust-devastated Niger, where the people are struggling to recover from widespead malnutrition, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has called for better early warning about potential emergencies, more focus on prevention, the strengthening of regional institutions and a “look in the mirror instead of pointing fingers.”

The senior United Nations envoy to Kosovo today condemned a shooting incident last night in which two Kosovo Serb men were killed and another two injured.

Welcoming the completion of Iraq's new draft constitution, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today urged the parties to maintain their spirit of national reconciliation as the process moves towards the document's adoption – an important milestone in the country's political transition.