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With some 30,000 babies expected to be born in the coming months in cyclone-hit parts of Bangladesh, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) today announced plans to help pregnant women there avoid life-threatening delivery complications.

The situation in the Golan Heights has been “generally quiet” recently, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says in a new report, which warns that the overall region remains tense and a United Nations force observing the ceasefire between Israel and Syria should stay on for another six months.

Ahead of an international meeting on cluster munitions, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today reiterated his appeal to Member States to eradicate the arms which cause “unacceptable harm to civilians.”

Stressing that the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) provide a “unique road map” for building a better world, Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro has warned against faltering in global efforts to deliver on the pledges to slash poverty, hunger, disease and illiteracy by 2015.

The United Nations Special Envoy for Darfur heads to Sudan tomorrow for talks with all sides to the four-year conflict as the UN and the African Union continue their joint mediation efforts to expedite preparations for direct negotiations between the Sudanese Government and rebel movements.

As negotiators meet in Bali, Indonesia to frame a legally binding regime on international responses to climate change, a new United Nations-backed report was released today on how communities spanning the globe are coping with the problem.

Twenty-two international donors today pledged over $160 million to support the main United Nations agency providing vital humanitarian aid to some 4.5 million Palestinian refugees in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.

The Council would address the issue of Kosovo, after having received the report on negotiations on the future status of the UN-administered province. “When the time comes we will assess and decide how to go forward on process and on substance,” the President said regarding the Council’s next steps with regard to Kosovo.

The United Nations refugee agency today issued a warning that the surge in fighting in eastern Chad between Government forces and rebels over the past 10 days has limited its access to camps that are home to hundreds of thousands of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) and heightened tensions in the area.

Acting on an Iraqi Government request, the United Nations Assistance Mission in the country (UNAMI) today announced that it will support efforts to help returning refugees by providing a relief package under a new plan that can be expanded as necessary.