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The head of the United Nations refugee agency today strongly urged the international community to bring greater support to both the peace process and the African Union (AU) peacekeeping role in Sudan's strife-torn Darfur region, pledging UN support to the AU in achieving success in this difficult yet necessary mission.

Issuing a plea for calm in strife torn Côte d’Ivoire today, the United Nations Operation in that country (UNOCI) condemned “in the strongest terms” the desecration of the tomb of the mother of a major opposition leader.

A new combination treatment, co-sponsored by the United Nations Health Organization, could dramatically shorten the length of tuberculosis treatment from six months to four.

With an historic new Parliament scheduled to be inaugurated in Afghanistan tomorrow, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) is urging its newly elected members to ensure that children are top of the new assembly's agenda.

Three soldiers serving with the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) were injured in an attack on Friday, the UN reported today.

The United Nations today commended the Iraqi people for their active nationwide participation in yesterday’s elections, congratulated the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq (IECI) for the conduct of the poll, and pledged its continued support on the path to peace and democracy in the strife-torn country.

After helping the voluntary repatriation of 225,000 people who fled to West Timor to escape the violence after the 1999 referendum on independence for East Timor, the United Nations refugee agency is scheduled to finish six-years of humanitarian operations in the Indonesian half of the island on December 31.

Seeking to curb the scourge of landmines and other explosive remnants of war that kill or injure between 15,000 and 20,000 people annually worldwide, the United Nations is appealing for more than $85 million to tackle the crisis in three of the most affected countries – Sudan, Somalia and Uganda.

A continuing flow of people fleeing fighting in northern Central African Republic (CAR) between unidentified armed men and the military have forced the United Nations refugee agency to open a third camp in Chad to accommodate the new arrivals whose number has swelled to 12,500 since June.

Three countries - the United Kingdom, United States and China - produced 40 per cent of the world’s cultural trade products in 2002, such as books, compact disks, videogames and sculptures, while Latin America and Africa together accounted for less than 4 per cent, according to a new United Nations report.