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The United Nations envoy to Sudan has appealed to a working group of international donors to give $4.3 million to help some 95,000 Sudanese refugees who have fled the country's war-torn Darfur region and taken shelter inside neighbouring Chad.

The United Nations refugee and food relief agencies have sent staff to the town of Pochalla in southern Sudan to assess reports that thousands of Ethiopian and Sudanese Anuaks have fled there to escape inter-ethnic violence in western Ethiopia.

A three-country meeting this week in China has agreed to streamline customs procedures, coordinate transit routes and establish a common regulatory framework - moves meant to boost export capabilities and living standards in northeast Asia, United Nations officials said today.

Acknowledging that the advent of a transitional national government had changed the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the United Nations Security Council today unanimously withdrew its demand for the complete demilitarization of a key town.

The successful conclusion of Afghanistan's recent constitutional Loya Jirga promises great hope, but the country faces many onerous challenges if it is to capitalize on that accomplishment, the outgoing senior United Nations envoy to Afghanistan told the Security Council today.

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the UN mission to Afghanistan have set a target of demobilizing 5,000 child soldiers this year as part of their joint campaign to reintegrate war-affected youngsters in the country.

Leading executives from worldwide media organizations gathered today at United Nations Headquarters in New York to meet with Secretary-General Kofi Annan and launch a global initiative that aims to reach people everywhere - especially youth - with information about how to prevent and treat HIV and to help battle AIDS-related stigma and discrimination.

The greatest weapon in the war against poverty is the empowerment of women and the education of girls, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said today, calling for international support for efforts to achieve these goals.

Despite a good harvest, 7.2 million Ethiopians – nearly one in 10 –will require outside aid to meet minimum food requirements in 2004, according to a joint report released today by two United Nations agencies.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) today mourned the death of its top official in Uzbekistan, who was among the 37 people killed in the crash of a passenger airliner Tuesday in the capital Tashkent.