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Continuing his efforts to bring about the inclusion of all sectors of Iraqi society in writing the new constitution, the top United Nations envoy to that country held a series of meetings over the past 24 hours with Sunni and Shiite Arab leaders and government ministers.

The United Nations International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) today released a former Bosnian Serb police chief serving a 10-year war crimes conviction in Spain, based on time served and his agreement to cooperate with the court in its ongoing investigations into crimes committed during the Balkan wars of the 1990s.

With the closing of Aisha camp this week, the United Nations refugee agency now operates just one camp housing 10,000 Somalis in eastern Ethiopia, an area which at one time hosted the world's largest concentration of refugees, with nearly 630,000 Somalis who had fled war and political turmoil at home.

There is a "significant amount of credible information" to show that grave crimes have taken place in Sudan's Darfur region, and every effort will be made to identify those who bear the greatest responsibility, the chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court (ICC) told the United Nations Security Council today.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's Special Envoy, evaluating the humanitarian aspects of the recent evictions of some 200,000 poor people from housing in Zimbabwe, met President Robert Mugabe in the southern African country today and got the green light to go wherever she liked, a UN spokesman said.

Universal availability of modern contraceptive services would allow more women and children to live healthier lives, while unplanned births would be reduced by 72 per cent per year, according to a new publication by the United Nations population agency.

Global drug use has risen by some 8 per cent in the past year, with cannabis leading the way, and synthetic narcotics such as amphetamines and ecstasy declining, according to a new report out today from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

A new project to increase incomes and agribusiness opportunities among small and medium-scale farmers in 300 rural communities in Georgia has received $10 million, mainly in a loan, from the United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

With the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s parliament having extended the political transition for six months from tomorrow, the United Nations Security Council today called on the Congolese parties to prepare to conduct elections peacefully and on the DRC Government to be transparent in its financial dealings.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan met this afternoon with members of the Security Council to provide an update on the Independent Inquiry Committee (IIC), which is headed by former United States Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker and is looking into the United Nations Oil-for-Food programme for Iraq.