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China’s wealth gap between urban and rural communities is among the highest in the world, but a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report released today finds the Government is coming to grips with the widening disparities that threaten the country’s stability.

With the year’s last convoys leaving Pakistan for Afghanistan before winter sets in, over 445,000 Afghans will have returned home from in 2005 under the voluntary repatriation programme of the United Nations refugee agency.

United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Louise Fréchette, appointed to the newly created post in 1998, will be leaving the United Nations early next year to become Distinguished Fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation in Waterloo, Canada, the UN spokesman announced today.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan has called on the people of Bolivia to maintain a “peaceful and constructive attitude” during elections to be held on Sunday.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today called on the people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to vote peacefully and in large numbers in Sunday’s constitutional referendum to bring democracy and prosperity to the vast country that has known neither during decades of civil war and factional fighting.

As staff members of the United Nations mission meant to keep the truce between Ethiopia and Eritrea began pulling out of Eritrea for security reasons following new restrictions placed on them by that Government, the head of UN peacekeeping stressed that the Mission is at a critical crossroads.

The United Nations General Assembly adopted for the first time today a resolution on human rights violations in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) reflecting its serious concern over reports of torture, public executions, arbitrary detention, the lack of due process, extensive use of forced labor, high rates of infant malnutrition and restrictions on humanitarian organizations.

A United Nations genocide expert today voiced disappointment in the efforts of Sudan’s Government to address the crimes committed in the country’s western Darfur region, where conflict has been marked by massive displacement, rights abuses and widespread killings.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned today that rain failure could cause the number of people needing food aid in Kenya to more than double – from the current 1.1 million to 2.5 million – while appeals for funds have come up short.

With the first anniversary of the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami fast approaching, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned today that many areas on the west coast of Aceh, Indonesia, the worst affected region, were still in a critical condition.