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In what has been widely hailed as a major achievement in the global effort to eradicate poverty, a landmark United Nations conference in Monterrey, Mexico, today approved a series of measures to help impoverished countries and promote economic growth around the globe.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has asked for an additional $58 million to reinforce security at UN Headquarters buildings in New York and elsewhere around the world, measures made necessary following the 11 September terror attacks against the United States.

Cutting services was the only realistic choice facing the United Nations after the General Assembly, the Organization's main legislative body, reduced by $75 million Secretary-General Kofi Annan's proposed budget for the next two years, the UN's top finance officer said today in New York.

Against a backdrop of heightened concern over the link between international security and economic development, the United Nations International Labour Organization (ILO) today announced plans to host a meeting on combating the inequities caused by globalization.

The United Nations Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina (UNMIBH) today welcomed the decision by the Council of Europe to invite the Balkan country to join as its 44th member.

Formal talks between the parties to the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo have recommenced after the Government and a major rebel group agreed to withdraw troops from disputed towns in the country's east, a United Nations spokesman announced today.

As a major United Nations forum on fighting poverty entered its fourth day in Monterrey, Mexico, UN officials and the heads of international trade and finance agencies exhorted rich countries to step up their financial aid to developing nations and to create opportunities for market access and debt relief that would help stimulate economic growth.

As the United Nations today marked the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, top UN officials stressed the need to take stock of what governments and civil society have done since last year's landmark international conference in Durban, South Africa, and to focus on practical ways of implementing its decisions.

The Chief Prosecutor for the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) said today that prosecution of those charged with war crimes was being thwarted by lack of cooperation from the Government of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today announced the launch of its largest-ever drive to feed schoolchildren – a multi-million dollar effort to provide nutritious meals to up to 1 million girls and boys in Afghanistan.