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The Prosecutor of the United Nations-backed tribunal set up to try the perpetrators of recent political killings in Lebanon, including the February 2005 murder of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, met today with the country’s Justice Minister.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has led United Nations condemnation of today’s suicide attack at a graduation ceremony for medical students in Somalia’s war-scarred capital, Mogadishu, which has claimed at least 15 lives.

The United Nations agency entrusted with accelerating sustainable industrial development in poorer states today pledged to help the world’s 49 least developed countries (LDCs), 33 of them in Africa, to withstand global financial crisis.

Contemporary forms of slavery remain a “grave” and unresolved problem across all continents, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned today as he called for greater efforts to address poverty and social inequalities which leave people vulnerable to enslavement.

The recent killing of 57 people in the southern Philippines, including some 30 journalists, must be seen as a watershed moment for the country, two independent United Nations human rights experts said today, stressing the need to bring the perpetrators to justice and take measures to prevent such crimes in the future.

As the World Trade Organization (WTO) holds a ministerial-level gathering on global food security, a United Nations human rights expert today appealed for the trade community to place hunger high on its agenda and to join multilateral efforts to eradicate the scourge.

The prosecutor of the United Nations-backed court set up to try suspects in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri and other killings has arrived in Lebanon on a seven-day visit, stressing his commitment to carry out his work with total independence.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today welcomed the new United States plan for Afghanistan announced by President Barack Obama, and said the United Nations remains committed to supporting a transition to increased Afghan ownership, responsibility and leadership for peace and development in the country.

Although the situation in the buffer zone separating the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot sides of Cyprus has remained calm, efforts by the United Nations peacekeeping mission on the Mediterranean island to further talks on military confidence-building measures have not borne fruit, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said.

Ameerah Haq of Bangladesh, a veteran United Nations official with wide experience in crisis areas ranging from Afghanistan to Sudan, is to become the top UN representative in Timor-Leste as the small South-East Asian country seeks to consolidate its halting path to stability after gaining independence from Indonesia seven years ago.