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After a briefing by the United Nations lead envoy on Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, members of the Security Council today backed his efforts in the search for a political solution in the country while expressing concern about the humanitarian plight of the Afghan people.

Despite an infusion of more than $19 million over the weekend, cash contributions for the first phase of operations to help people fleeing Afghanistan still fall far short of what is needed, the United Nations refugee agency said today.

A special envoy of the United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, today said the Middle East was at "the most dangerous moment in a decade" and called for "courageous leadership" on the part of the Palestinians and the Israelis.

The Security Council has decided to extend the mandate of the United Nations Office in Liberia for one year, according to an exchange of letters made public today in New York.

A United Nations expert has reiterated his earlier calls for the Government of Iraq to protect the human rights of Iraqi citizens, particularly as relating to religious freedom, forced relocations, the death penalty and the rights of women.

The United Nations International Labour Organization (ILO) will convene a series of crisis meetings to assess the economic turbulence buffeting the tourism and aviation industries in the aftermath of the 11 September attacks in the United States.

Female staff members have made slight headway in some areas of the United Nations system over the past year - for the first time accounting for 40 per cent of positions subject to geographical distribution - but are still lagging behind men in such fields as peacekeeping, according to the latest report by Secretary-General Kofi Annan on the status of women in the UN system.

The United Nations World Food Programme today said it was rushing emergency rations to tens of thousands of flood victims in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), following freak rains in the southeast of the country that caused large-scale damage to crops, homes and infrastructure.

A former governor in Rwanda has been arrested on genocide charges and transferred to a United Nations detention facility in Arusha, Tanzania, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) said today.

The United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan's special envoy for Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, returned to New York today after visiting Washington, D.C., over the weekend for talks with United States government officials.