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A United Nations commission today formally launched a tsunami early warning system for the Indian Ocean and laid the groundwork for similar initiatives around the world’s seas, haunted by the realization that such an operation could have saved tens of thousands of lives lost in last December’s disaster in South Asia.

Although there is no laboratory evidence that human infection with bird flu in Vietnam is occurring more frequently or that the virus is spreading readily among humans, the UN health agency today maintained its current level of alert over a potential pandemic, which in a worst case scenario could kill tens of millions of people worldwide.

The disarmament and demobilization phases of Afghanistan’s disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programme (DDR), a key United Nations-backed step in setting the country on the road to stability after decades of war and factional fighting, formally ended today with more than 61,000 former combatants disarmed.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged Islamic nations to play their full role in tackling issues from terrorism and human rights abuse to poverty and United Nations reform, as he addressed a world meeting of foreign ministers of Islamic countries in Sana’a, Yemen which ended today.

A green thumb, especially among the young, can be a powerful tool to improve nutrition, and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) today cast a spotlight on its TeleFood initiative supporting school garden projects in more than 40 countries.

The United Nations Security Council today extended the mandate of its peacekeeping mission in Sierra Leone for a final six months, until the end of the year, and charged the national security forces with keeping order thereafter in the West African country which is recovering from a long civil war.

Pictures of Mozambican children on their way to school picking up dead twigs to use as firewood to cook their lunch will soon be flashing across Japanese television screens thanks to a renewed partnership between the United Nations food agency and Japanese advertisers aimed at drumming up support in the fight against hunger.

The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Haiti, tipped off about the presence of armed men in a poor district of the country's capital, mounted a security operation that resulted in the deaths of six gang members, the wounding of four and the arrest of 13, as well as the freeing of a kidnap victim.

Programmes providing humanitarian assistance and protection in Sudan and supporting the recently-signed peace agreement there face a $1.3 billion funding shortfall out of the $1.9 billion needed for 2005, the United Nations warned today.

The greatest humanitarian crisis facing the world today is in southern Africa, where more than 8 million people face starvation, and a "lethal mix" of AIDS, recurring drought and failing governance is slowly destroying social structures and undermining peace and security, the head of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned today.