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With more than 1 billion people living in urban slums, the United Nations today marked World Habitat Day with calls for major government action to prevent the scourge from doubling in the next 30 years.

The Lebanese army started deploying along the line separating Israel and Lebanon today following Israel’s withdrawal from nearly all the positions it occupied in this summer’s conflict with Hizbollah, the United Nations mission reported.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki today briefed the top United Nations official there on various initiatives that he hopes will combat terrorism and bring down the level of sectarian violence in the war-torn country.

Stressing the need to restore stability and peace in Timor-Leste following the deadly violence that erupted earlier this year, the United Nations envoy in the tiny nation said today that all Timorese should resolve their differences at the ballot box and not through conflict.

Facing what he called a “moment of truth,” the head of the United Nations refugee agency today called for fully expanding its mission from assisting those displaced from their countries to also helping the tens of millions uprooted within their own homelands. And he appealed for concerted international action to preserve the institution of asylum.

Speaking at a high-level forum in Liberia, which is run by Africa’s only female president, the top United Nations envoy to the country praised the role of women at all levels of Government, saying they bring a “different perspective” to development and stressing the benefits of their involvement, particularly in the health and education sectors.

Security is deteriorating further in southern areas of Sudan’s strife-torn Darfur region, the United Nations mission in the country said today, citing reports of tribal conflict.

The head of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) today appealed for enhanced dialogue between civilizations, cultures, religions and peoples, noting that “recent events have once again highlighted, in some cases tragically, the crucial importance of this issue.”

The world can expect a robust economic growth rate of 3.6 per cent this year but a deceleration to 3 per cent is projected for 2007, according to the latest United Nations assessment.

As its four-year programme of voluntary repatriation for Angolans who fled nearly three decades of civil war nears its end on 31 December, the United Nations refugee agency today began transferring some 15,000 people from the Nangweshi refugee camp in western Zambia.