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The emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from Europe, Japan, the United States and other highly industrialized countries could grow by 17 per cent from 2000 to 2010, despite domestic measures currently in place to limit them, according to a new United Nations report released today.

Calling it “good news” and urging all countries to continue their checks, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said today the discovery of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in a cow in Canada proved that active surveillance and diagnosis programmes are working.

Warning that lack of funding continues to stand in the way of a polio-free world, United Nations agencies today hailed Rotary International for raising nearly $90 million as part of the “front line” battle to immunize every child and urged the global community to follow the organization’s example.

The United Nations envoy for the world’s poorest countries told academics and aid workers at an international humanitarian training seminar that helping the most vulnerable people in times of crisis required assistance combined with long-term development plans – more than just providing “emergency relief.”

With the number of Burundians returning home from Tanzania having rising over the last few weeks, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) today voiced concern that the repatriations have not been fully voluntary.

The United Nations International Labour Office (ILO) opened its three-week annual conference in Geneva today with an agenda ranging from a new plan for fighting poverty worldwide by promoting decent work to enhancing safety and security in the workplace and eliminating discrimination.

Aware that visiting non-self-governing territories can provide an effective way to study the situation on the ground and determine the aspirations of the peoples, a United Nations special panel dealing with decolonization issues called on administering Powers to cooperate with efforts to send UN visiting missions to the such territories.

The top United Nations official in Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello, met with his counterparts from the United Kingdom and United States today to discuss the world body’s role in the country’s reconstruction.

Though conditions in Cyprus have improved somewhat – with continued calm along ceasefire lines and the easing of restrictions at some Turkish Cypriot crossing points – United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has requested that the mandate of the UN mission in the country be extended until the end of the year.

The Government of Germany has approved plans to convert former government and parliament buildings in Bonn over the next two years to a campus housing the offices of various United Nations agencies.