Latest News

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Personal Envoy to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), Maurice Strong, will suspend his assignment until the question of his association with Korean businessman Tongsun Park is resolved, a UN spokesman said today.

The United Nations-backed panel meeting in Geneva to examine Internet-related issues wrapped up its third session today having made headway on measuring the adequacy of existing Web governance arrangements, and discussing key public policy issues, such as spam, network security and cyber-crime.

Ted Turner, who in 1997 established the United Nations Foundation with his $1 billion contribution to support the world body's goals, was honoured today with a peace award for his outstanding work to end threats posed by nuclear weapons, his advocacy for sustainable development, and his visionary leadership in communications.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today urged respect for the rule of law in Ecuador after Vice-President Alfredo Palacio assumed the functions of the presidency.

As a new peace accord in southern Sudan opens up the prospect of the return home of millions of people uprooted by two decades of civil war, the top United Nations refugee official has called on the Government to live up to its duty to protect its own citizens after it demolished a camp and dumped its residents in the desert with no services.

With an estimated 500,000 rural Cambodians struggling to cope with food shortages caused by a searing drought, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) announced today that it had started distributing emergency rice rations to more than 150,000 vulnerable people, many of whom have not seen rain since November.

United Nations agencies are helping the Government of the Indian Ocean archipelago of the Comoros to cope with a volcanic eruption that has forced up to 10,000 people to flee their homes.

Propelled by peace initiatives between India and Pakistan, such as bus services between the two countries, and general economic health, tourism in South Asia is taking off with unprecedented growth, according to the United Nations tourism agency.

Despite efforts to counter attacks in the media, and other successful initiatives to tell the world body’s story to people around the globe, “the United Nations’ standing in many countries has never been lower,” and the organization is mobilizing fully to meet the challenge, according to a top UN information official.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) today launches a loan and grant programme to help small- and medium-sized businesses conserve biodiversity at the same time as they reduce poverty.