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The United Nations war crimes tribunal for Rwanda today adjourned until September the trial of the alleged mastermind behind the country's 1994 genocide one day after it began to give the prosecution and defence teams more time to ensure the case would proceed smoothly.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) warned today of a humanitarian crisis in the West Bank, where Israeli actions have undermined the Agency's emergency operations and put its personnel at risk.

The United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) today helped launch a territory-wide campaign to raise public awareness about HIV/AIDS and avoid the kind of epidemic that has crippled other developing nations.

The chief United Nations envoy for Afghanistan, Lakhdar Brahimi, today hailed the success of a donors meeting in Geneva on the reform of Afghanistan’s security forces, which are widely considered a key element for the country’s future stability.

The senior United Nations envoy in southern Lebanon today met with the country's officials to convey Secretary-General Kofi Annan's concern about the volatile situation along the Blue Line, which marks the withdrawal of Israeli forces.

The United Nations plans to evacuate its personnel in Ambon, Indonesia, to Jakarta after a deadly clash between thousands of Muslims and Christians today killed five people and left the UN office there in ruins.

Representatives of Israel and Palestine at the United Nations today offered diverging views on the current conflagration in the Middle East as delegates from close to 60 countries were inscribed to take part in a daylong debate in the Security Council on the volatile situation in the region.

The United Nations Department of Public Information (DPI) today launched an E-mail UN News Service, which will bring breaking stories and reports on key UN developments - at headquarters and in the field - straight to the computers and E-mail in-boxes of its subscribers around the globe.

The alleged mastermind behind the 1994 genocide in Rwanda and his three co-defendants went on trial today as United Nations prosecutors said in their opening statement that they would bring to light "the central and pivotal role" the accused played in the plot to exterminate the country's Tutsi population.

Reacting to the escalating death toll in the Middle East, the top United Nations human rights official today called on the Geneva-based UN Commission on Human Rights to consider immediately sending a mission to the occupied Palestinian territories in order to gather information and make recommendations on a future course of action.