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Although the past year has seen much progress in Afghanistan, the international community cannot rest on its laurels, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in a message today to a discussion convened in New York on the 12 months since United Nations-sponsored talks in Germany led to agreement on steps towards the re-establishment of permanent government institutions.

Developing countries stand to gain great economic benefits from advances in information and communications technology, particularly in traditional sectors such as publishing, according to the E-commerce and Development Report 2002, which was released today by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

Muhammad Ali, the world-renown boxing champion and United Nations Messenger of Peace, today began a three-day mission to Afghanistan aimed at raising awareness of the country's needs and the UN's work there.

Visiting two Serbian Orthodox churches in Kosovo which were damaged by vandals overnight, the senior United Nations envoy in the province today pledged action against all forms of religious violence.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today contacted key leaders involved in the peace negotiations on the Sudan in a bid to move the process forward.

Aiming to facilitate the national reconciliation process in Myanmar, a United Nations envoy to the country today urged the Government and the opposition to enter into a dialogue on key issues.

An active engagement with human diversity is crucial to democracy, United Nations Secretary-General said in his message on the International Day of Tolerance, marked today.

The genocide trial of Rwanda’s former Minister of Information closed today after a month of hearings, the fastest trial so far heard before the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal (ICTR).

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and its partners will this year provide school materials to 10,000 Burkina Faso children this year, many of whose parents died of AIDS.

Spurred by the ceasefire early this year between the Government of Angola and the rebel group UNITA, more than 70,000 Angolans have spontaneously returned home from neighbouring countries, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said today.