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The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) will have to halt distribution to millions of hungry people in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) within weeks unless fresh pledges are made soon.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan today nominated a veteran Norwegian diplomat with Middle Eastern and United Nations experience to be his new Personal Representative for southern Lebanon, focusing on containing tensions along the line marking the withdrawal of Israeli forces.

The compromises in the Karlstad agreement between Norway and Sweden in the peaceful dissolution of their union 100 years ago are an inspiration to a world still riven by conflict, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said today, marking the anniversary year of the separation.

The United Nations envoy seeking the withdrawal of some thousands of Syrian troops from Lebanon discussed his mission with United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice today on the eve of his return to the region.

United Nations Security Council members, winding up the month's work with a discussion on Africa, said the continent is still the focus of Council efforts to maintain international peace and security and that both the UN and Africa itself have learned valuable lessons from past developments in peacekeeping.

Ministers and senior officials from 52 Asian and Pacific countries meeting under United Nations auspices today pledged to alter current patterns of production, consumption and distribution to promote cleaner, environmentally sustainable growth as they fight to eradicate poverty.

Reiterating its “serious concerns” over new European Union (EU) legislation on asylum, the United Nations refugee agency today warned that without additional safeguards the measure might lead to breaches of international refugee law, and it urged Member States to adopt more favourable provisions.

The United Nations health agency has offered assistance to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) in preparing a response to an epidemic of bird flu among chickens.

The United Nations special envoy for West Africa today called on the people of Guinea-Bissau to unite in respecting the new 19 June election date, a month later than earlier scheduled, and to do their utmost to put in place a political environment conducive to peaceful, free and transparent elections.

United Nations agencies sprang into action today in Indonesia after last night’s undersea earthquake, sending observation helicopters and boats with relief supplies to islands off the coast of Sumatra, where preliminary reports described the situation as serious with many injured and dead and people buried under tons of rubble.