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United Nations sanctions against the Taliban regime in Afghanistan are taking their toll against the civilian population, but their effects are limited in comparison to the ongoing conflict and other factors, according to a report released today at UN Headquarters in New York.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan today denounced the abduction by rebel Colombian forces of a former state governor who had been taken from a United Nations vehicle after visiting a village near the site of peace talks between the Government and the rebels.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan has scaled back his requests for financing of a special court for Sierra Leone, citing continued shortfalls in receiving funds and pledges for the first three years of its operation.

Responding to charges put forward by Baghdad, the Executive Director of the United Nations Iraq Programme has defended its record on humanitarian issues.

Efforts at lasting disarmament will not be successful without addressing the root causes of poverty and providing real opportunities to the poor, the head of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) told a UN conference on the illegal trade of small arms and weapons today.

More than 30,000 East Timorese have turned out for a month-long series of public hearings, sponsored in part by the United Nations transitional administration, to solicit views on what should be included in the territory's first constitution.

Ministers and diplomats will meet in Bonn over the next two weeks in an effort to finalize the rulebook for implementing the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the treaty's secretariat said today.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today concluded his official visit to Germany, collecting a pledge from Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder for $131 million to the Global AIDS and Health Fund.

A 16-year-old Bosniac girl was killed when shots were fired into a house near Srebrenica, the United Nations Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina (UNMIBH) reported today.

A deep slowdown in the world's major economies - triggered by the downturn in the United States - is dragging down growth prospects of developing and transition economies, and threatens to continue well into the second half of 2001, according to the latest United Nations survey of the world economy released today.