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The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) today thanked the former UN expert on the challenges facing children during wars "for being an outspoken advocate for millions of children caught in conflict around the world."

The United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) said today that the region is on track to enjoy four straight years of growth and achieve an increase in gross domestic product (GDP) per person of about 10 per cent for the 2003-2006 period.

The United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) today said it was following closely reports from China that at least 38 people have died and more than 200 others have been made ill by a swine-borne disease in Sichuan province.

Although current locust infestations in Africa are much lower than last year's devastating swarms, and affected countries are much better prepared than 12 months ago, the United Nations agricultural agency continued to call for increased vigilance and intensive survey operations in a desert locust update released today.

With security having been re-established in a town in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) are returning home voluntarily, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said today.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today called on Iran not to restart its nuclear activities before receiving the latest European proposals aimed at finding a diplomatic solution to the issue arising out of Tehran's two decades-long concealment of its nuclear activities in breach of its treaty obligations.

As the United Nations mission in Sudan (UNMIS) reported ongoing violence in and around the capital, Khartoum, after the death of Vice-President and ex-southern rebel leader John Garang, the Security Council today called for calm and urged the world to rally around the Sudanese people to help them shore up the country's fledgling peace process.

Mourning the death of Saudi Arabian King Fahd Bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud, the United Nations Security Council today paid tribute to what Secretary-General Kofi Annan yesterday called the long-time Saudi leader’s “enduring contributions” to international and regional diplomacy.

A tiny head, eyes closed, lolling above a spine and ribs jutting starkly under the skin exemplifies the face of hunger on the front line of the United Nations-backed war against hunger in Niger today, where 3.5 million people have been affected by the food crisis.

Nearly 3 million people registered to vote in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s capital, Kinshasa, before the six-week process was completed on Sunday and the rest of the country has geared up to register for the largest elections ever assisted by the United Nations, the UN spokesman said today.