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The United Nations mission in Timor-Leste today rebutted recent media allegations that the world body's police force had failed to adequately investigate the trafficking of women and organized prostitution in the country.

The President of the United Nations Security Council for July said today that while tackling volatile developments in Africa would be a major focus throughout the month, the 15-nation body was also set to hold the first review of the implementation of its resolution on arrangements for post-war Iraq.

A United Nations Security Council delegation on a seven-country assessment mission in conflict-plagued West Africa, arrived in Ghana today for a briefing on the status of the Liberian peace talks underway in Accra.

A former colonel in the Yugoslav Peoples Army (JNA) has been transferred to the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) detention unit where he awaits trial for crimes against humanity and other war crimes, including the murder of at least 200 non-Serbs.

Though hampered by and uncertain security environment and a shortage of supplies, United Nations and other humanitarian agencies took advantage of a relative lull in the fighting in and around the Liberian capital of Monrovia to resume some basic relief activities today.

The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog agency will go to Tehran next week for talks on Iran’s nuclear programme following an agency call for environmental samplings and enhanced inspections in the face of the country’s failure to disclose certain nuclear material and activities.

In what it bills as “the most comprehensive and rigorous international effort to date” to assess student performance, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) reported today that 15-year-old Finns are among the world’s best in terms of reading literacy, while students in Japan, Hong Kong-China and the Republic of Korea lead in mathematics and science.

The United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) said today failure to continue taking prescribed medicine for chronic diseases is a problem of striking magnitude globally regardless of the type of disease, particularly in cases where patients are required to self-administer their treatment.

A senior United Nations official is visiting the southern Caucasus where he is meeting with senior leaders and making extensive field visits to assess the plight of refugees and those displaced in Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan.

United Nations envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello, fresh from a two-day workshop in Baghdad on how to ensure justice for past human rights violations by the ousted regime of Saddam Hussein, said today the world body would facilitate nationwide discussions throughout Iraq to identify further necessary action.