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More than half a million Afghans have gone home from Iran and Pakistan so far this year, bringing the number of returnees since 2002 to over 3 million out of the 4.6 million estimated to have fled decades of war and violence in their homeland, the UN refugee agency reported today.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today reiterated his condemnation of all hostage-takings and acts of violence against innocent civilians following the killing of two Pakistani nationals Thursday in Iraq.

In a bid to reverse a three-year-long decline in food security in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) today announced a pilot project to help Palestinian farmers, with activities ranging from replanting orchards to installing irrigation systems to rehabilitating rangeland.

Millions of children in Bangladesh's capital city of Dhaka are facing an increasing risk of potentially fatal diseases as fetid sewers mix with the floodwaters that have devastated the South Asian country, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has warned.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) today announced plans to cut drug use in Afghanistan under a project receiving financial backing from the Government of Japan.

The Security Council today extended the mandate of the United Nations peacekeeping operation in Lebanon, backing the mission’s efforts to maintain a ceasefire along the line of withdrawal where Hezbollah and Israeli military forces have been engaging in a recent flurry of deadly exchanges.

Citing reports of rapes and other attacks by militiamen against villagers in Sudan's Darfur region, Secretary-General Kofi Annan today called on the Government to protect civilians, while the Security Council prepared to vote tomorrow on a resolution threatening measures against Khartoum if it does not disarm the militias and bring the leaders to justice.

The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) is not only in the Caribbean country to improve security but also to stimulate the economy and restore the political and electoral systems, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General said there on Wednesday.

Addressing a West African summit in Ghana, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today appealed to the opposing parties in Côte d'Ivoire to use the meeting to break the present deadlock in the peace process and to speak candidly about any contentious issues.

Responding to prevailing insecurity in Gaza, the head of the main UN agency helping Palestine refugees has relocated some staff out the area while pledging today that the move will not hamper the provision of aid or services to those in need.