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Armed with a $4.7 million grant from the European Union (EU), the United Nations children’s agency can now help half a million Zimbabweans hit by the HIV virus tap into cleaner water and improved sanitation facilities.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan considers anyone who would try to deny the truth of the Holocaust or make false claims about it to be a bigot, his spokesman told reporters at United Nations Headquarters in New York today.

A team from the United Nations force in Lebanon has destroyed more unexploded ordnance in the south of the country in a controlled explosion, the mission said today, as it continues humanitarian work for Lebanese civilians and also coordinates troop movements as part of the international agreement that ended the recent fighting.

Viet Nam, Cambodia and the United Nations refugee agency have agreed to further cooperate to resolve the situation of Montagnards who cross the border into Cambodia, after holding their first full meeting to discuss the issue since signing a joint agreement last year.

With heavy rains still lashing Ethiopia, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is working with other humanitarian groups and the Government to help almost 120,000 people affected by devastating floods over the past month, and warns that the number of victims could rise over the next few weeks.

Briefing the Security Council today on the situation of Palestinians in the Middle East, the top United Nations political officer painted a grim picture of developments over the past 12 months, warning that the vision of Israel and Palestine living peacefully side-by-side has slipped “further away,” and stressing the need for a renewed international effort in the region.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, working to defuse tension in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), has been in touch by telephone with the two leading candidates in the country’s landmark presidential elections, calling on them to meet and demanding an end to the violence, the world body said today.

With most Lebanese who fled the devastating month-long conflict in their homeland now having gone back to their homes, United Nations agencies on the ground have identified shortages of clean water and shelter as two of the most pressing needs faced by the hundreds of thousands of returnees.

As the humanitarian and security situation in Sudan continues to worsen, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has called on all parties to put an end to grave child rights violations and grant humanitarian workers unfettered access to children.

Expressing serious concern about clashes that have taken place in the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) since presidential election results were released on Sunday, the Security Council today called for an end to the violence and expressed its hope that the two leading candidates in the polls would meet to resolve their differences peacefully.