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The President of the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) today welcomed the final results of an independent inquest into the death of Slobodan Milosevic by the Dutch authorities, who confirmed that he died of natural causes and ruled out any suggestion of criminal conduct.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan voiced concerned today over a confrontation developing in Nepal, where the Government has imposed a ban on protests in Kathmandu on the eve of a planned demonstration by the opposition “Seven-Party Alliance,” and has reportedly arrested many government opponents.

Highlighting the fact that providing a daily meal at school for children boosts attendance, improves child nutrition and helps concentration, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today praised the leaders of three Sudanese States for backing the agency’s school meals campaign and urged international donors to provide more assistance to Africa’s largest country.

A new agreement signed today between the United Nations and the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) – comprising Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan – paves the way for joint efforts to fight drug trafficking, terrorism and trans-border crime.

Living conditions for 90,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the conflict ridden Darfur region of Sudan are likely to get worse after Sudanese authorities asked the Norwegian non-governmental organization that was coordinating the largest IDP camp to leave, the top United Nations relief official said today, just a few days after authorities banned him from visiting the impoverished region.

The needs of 600,000 Iraqi children who recently missed out on their formal education were addressed in a three-day workshop involving the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the Iraqi Ministry of Education, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and other experts.

From the front line of the battle against the deadly legacy of landmines in Iraq and Sudan to command offices throughout the world, the United Nations today marked the first International Day dedicated to curbing the scourge with calls for a universal ban and pleas for greater donor support in cleaning up these remnants of war.

A humanitarian emergency is looming among Colombia’s indigenous communities, with some threatened with extinction in the South American country’s decades-long civil conflict, as irregular armed groups encroach upon their land, even torturing and killing their leaders, the United Nations refugee agency warned today.

A United Nations security officer in Nepal is setting out today on a different sort of field mission - to scale the heights of the world’s loftiest mountain in order to raise awareness of the depths of child hunger in one of the poorest regions on Earth.

Violations of international humanitarian law in Nepal have “deepened a great deal” over the past two months, with Maoist rebels increasingly targeting cities and Government forces dropping mortar bombs from helicopters in civilian areas, a United Nations human rights spokesman said today.