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Hundreds of business leaders attending a United Nations meeting in Geneva today pledged to comply with labour, human rights, environmental and anti-corruption standards in a wide-ranging declaration on making globalization more beneficial to the world’s people.

Some 700 ethnic Kunama refugees from Eritrea are getting a new start in the United States thanks to a United Nations-backed operation that is flying them there after years of exile in northern Ethiopia.

The head of the United Nations Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste (UNMIT) today congratulated the country’s political parties for their democratic conduct following the parliamentary election held at the end of last month.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) today urged States to step up and assist the two countries caring for the biggest proportion of Iraqi refugees – Syria and Jordan – which have still received “next to nothing,” despite the pledges of support made during an international conference on the issue in April.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) announced today that Beirut has been chosen as the 2009 World Book Capital as part of the agency’s ongoing efforts to promote books and reading.

On the eve of the entry into force of the International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism, the Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) pledged support for the pact.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is teaming up next week with the world’s top female tennis player, Belgium’s Justine Henin, to promote sporting values such as fair play and honesty and to warn of the dangers of using performance-enhancing drugs.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today urged action on climate change and other shared international concerns in an address to the Global Compact Leaders Summit – a gathering in Geneva of business leaders, government ministers, and heads of civil society groups committed to United Nations principles.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today appealed to governments, United Nations organizations, civil society, parliaments, the private sector and academia to make the most of a newly established forum to advance the world’s shared anti-poverty goals, including by scaling up funds to ensure they are achieved on time.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has warned that swarms of desert locusts from East Africa are expected to cross the Indian Ocean and could reach India and Pakistan within days, creating a potentially dangerous situation for a region already suffering from the impact of last week’s deadly storms.