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Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today spoke out against the second deadly attack in as many days on peacekeepers serving with the joint African Union-United Nations mission in the war-ravaged Sudanese region of Darfur, issuing a call for the perpetrators to be brought to justice immediately.

War-torn and drought-ravaged Somalia is facing a humanitarian crisis with no funding so far raised or pledged for next year for food, water, sanitation, health and other vital needs and the potential that the situation could spill over into a major regional crisis for its neighbours, senior United Nations officials warned today.

International aid agencies and the Government of Zimbabwe today appealed for $378 million to support humanitarian and early recovery efforts in the Southern African country over the next year, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) announced today.

The highly-anticipated United Nations climate change conference kicked off in Copenhagen, Denmark, today with countries issuing urgent calls for action to curb global warming.

The United Nations today pledged to give Iraq support and technical assistance for holding delayed national elections following parliamentary approval of a revised electoral law, noting that the poll could now be held as early as the end of February.

The top United Nations envoy in Sudan has voiced his concern over the detention and alleged beating of some prominent Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) leaders, opposition supporters and civil society activists during demonstrations earlier today, noting that they could impact negatively on the 2005 peace pact that ended the country’s north-south civil war.

United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon Michael Williams met with Prime Minister Saad Hariri today, reassuring him once again of the world Organization’s readiness to lend assistance to the new unity Government in all fields through all its various agencies whenever requested.

In the wake of clashes following a recent eviction drive in eastern Nepal, the United Nations human rights office in the Asian nation today called on the Government and Maoists to take a step back from further violence.

Bananas are withstanding the impact of the global economic crisis more than most agricultural commodities, with consumers regarding the fruit as a necessity in their diets, according to a new report issued by the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO).

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to become directly involved in securing the release of two staff members of the joint African Union-United Nations mission in Darfur who have been held hostage now for over 100 days, stressing that the situation is critical given that one of them is gravely ill.