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The United Nations health agency today welcomed a contribution of $125 million to a worldwide anti-smoking initiative from New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg as part of the larger drive to restrict tobacco use, which currently kills some 5 million people a year.

The international community must maintain the United Nations arms embargo on Somalia, refrain from interfering in the strife-torn Horn of Africa country’s internal affairs and urge the disputing parties there to resume dialogue, the senior UN envoy to the nation told the Security Council today.

The Liberian Government has formally re-possessed a public rubber plantation that had been illegally occupied by ex-combatants, part of a United Nations-backed effort to restore state authority and the rule of law across the formerly war-torn West African country.

With 60,000 displaced Lebanese already having crossed the border back to their homes since Monday, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today appealed for more funds, warning that emergency aid to the almost one million people displaced by the recent fighting could stop unless more international assistance is forthcoming.

The number of people receiving HIV antiretroviral therapy in sub-Saharan Africa has surpassed the one million mark for the first time, but much work remains to be done to reach the goal of providing universal access to prevention, treatment and care by 2010, said a UN health care agency official at the International AIDS Conference in Toronto today.

With food stocks running short, rations for 6 million people in Darfur could be scaled back as early as October unless funds are raised, the United Nations food agency warned today, calling on the international community to help the region’s beleaguered population.

The United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) today cited alarming reports about the forced relocation of a large area for internally displaced persons (IDPs) outside Khartoum and the demolition of their houses, urging the authorities to immediately halt these activities.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan is sending a high-level mission to Lebanon and Israel tomorrow to talk to leaders of the two countries about how to implement last Friday’s Security Council resolution on the recent conflict in the Middle East, Mr. Annan’s spokesman announced today.

An International Assistance Action Plan has been drawn up to deal with the oil spill off the Lebanese coast caused by Israel’s bombing of the Jiyyeh power station last month, a spokesman for the United Nations announced today.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) today started a six-day visit to the southern Caucasus, an area that is host to over 1 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) and refugees.