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As part of a United Nations-backed effort to rid the planet of some of the worst pollutants tied to cancer, birth defects and immune system damage, 800 government officials and observers from 130 countries will gather next week in Uruguay for the first meeting of a treaty banning the world’s most dangerous pesticides and chemicals.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan met today with India's top leaders for talks on a range of issues, including United Nations reform, regional security, post-tsunami recovery work and HIV/AIDS.

With Djibouti currently facing worsening drought conditions following three consecutive failed rainy seasons, the United Nations today appealed for some $7.5 million to stave off the severe food crisis threatening the tiny Horn of Africa country.

Twelve Nepalese soldiers, the vanguard of what will eventually be a 10,000-member United Nations peacekeeping force in southern Sudan, has arrived on the ground at the start of the launch of a massive operation to help the vast region stabilize and its people rebuild their lives after the devastation of a 21-year civil war.

Proposing guidelines to protect the safety of those involved in the global struggle against HIV/AIDS, the United Nations labour and health agencies said health-care workers looking after infected people are facing not only the risk of infection, but also the psychological burdens of patients' deaths and the physical burdens of overwork.

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has reduced child mortality significantly over the past decade and has expanded its mandate to cover protecting youngsters from exploitation, the HIV/AIDS pandemic and the consequences of extreme poverty, outgoing Executive Director Carol Bellamy said today.

The United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) today filled vacancies on a number of its subsidiary bodies, including the Geneva-based Commission on Human Rights.

To meet the requests of Ivorian leaders for greater United Nations assistance in resolving post-conflict issues, the Security Council would need to expand the peacekeeping mission's mandate to include supervising elections, policing rebel-held areas and funding the rehabilitation of former combatants, a South African official said today.

With information and communication technologies (ICT) spinning off new industries in Africa, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) today called on the continent's governments to commit themselves to policies that create information and knowledge economies.

The United Nations peacekeeping mission has welcomed the start of voter registration in Haiti in preparation for elections later this year.