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United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today urged the General Assembly’s powerful budget committee to set aside contentious issues blocking agreement on his management reform proposals so as to achieve progress on the matter.

The United Nations today marked the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, the worst nuclear power plant accident in history, with calls for generous aid to help the communities still suffering the consequences and renewed determination to see that such a calamity never happens again.

Over 15 million people are at risk of losing their livelihoods due to the severe drought currently affecting countries in the Horn of Africa, with 8 million of them in need of emergency food aid and supplies, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said today.

The United Nations war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia today sent 306 old computers to Bosnia and Herzegovina, scene of most of the crimes during the Balkan conflict of the 1990s, as part of its initiative to use its replaced office equipment to benefit the victims of the strife.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today named his former envoy to Ethiopia and Eritrea as the new Special Adviser on Africa while appointing a top aide to the Deputy Secretary-General as a senior official in the Department for General Assembly and Conference Management.

Concerned at the prospect of a further deterioration in the living conditions of Palestinians in the new political climate, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said today that the United Nations would most likely increase the scale of its assistance and urged intensified donor support to the people, while stressing that the Palestinian Authority remains critical to averting a humanitarian crisis.

From literature and music to bicycles, bio-fuels and microchips, all human advancement starts with ideas that must be nurtured and protected, the head of the UN agency charged with that task said on the occasion of World Intellectual Property Day 2006, celebrated today.

There are two main options for a United Nations peacekeeping force in Sudan’s strife-torn Darfur region - one heavier on the ground, the other with larger air assets – but no major planning can take place pending an on-the-spot assessment, which the Sudanese Government at present opposes, the Security Council was told today.

To protect the estimated 10,000 people kidnapped throughout the world every year, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) today launched a manual to help States handle the scourge, which often results in the death of victims.

Renowned primatologist and United Nations Messenger of Peace Jane Goodall has met at UN Headquarters with Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who voiced strong support for her advocacy of informed, compassionate action to protect the environment for all living beings.