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The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) today warned the region’s governments to reduce exposure to the impact of a sudden or unexpected market downturn, urging a mood of protection and preparation rather than the celebratory atmosphere of current prosperity.

In a step forward towards fulfilling international goals for Kosovo, which the United Nations has administered since 1999, the world body has turned over responsibility for transportation services for minorities to the local Government.

The United Nations today held a solemn ceremony in Cyprus to mourn Augustine Bielonwu, a civilian staff member of the UN Interim Force for Lebanon (UNIFIL) who died last month during an Israeli rocket attack in Tyre.

Warning of a “race against time” to rebuild Lebanon after the recent devastating month of conflict, the United Nations Deputy Secretary-General today urged donors to provide funds for the task, as he repeated calls for Israel to lift its air and sea blockade, saying it severely hinders relief efforts.

Now that hundreds of thousands of survivors of last October’s deadly earthquake in Pakistan have returned home from temporary camps, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) today closed the offices in the region, handing over full responsibility for managing remaining relief camps to local authorities on schedule.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) announced today that it will distribute rations among 25,000 people that were evacuated in the Andean region after the Tungurahua volcano erupted earlier this month affecting more than 100,000 people affected in six provinces of Ecuador.

Despite significant progress, Sierra Leone faces numerous threats to its stability as it continues on the path to recovery from the disastrous and brutal civil war that engulfed the country in the 1990s, according to a new report from Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

The Security Council agreed today to deploy a United Nations peacekeeping force of more than 17,000 troops in Sudan’s strife-torn Darfur region by the end of the year to try to end the spiralling violence and displacement there that has led senior UN officials to warn of an imminent humanitarian catastrophe.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) today sent a new report on Iran to the United Nations Security Council, which has threatened sanctions if the country does not suspend uranium enrichment and reprocessing activities and take steps to assure the world that it is not developing nuclear arms.

Although a major global economic crisis is unlikely, significant trade imbalances are posing a threat to long-term world economic health, a new United Nations report warns.