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Responding to the mounting death toll of media professionals in Iraq, the Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) today condemned the killing of the latest victim: Shehab Mohammad al-Hiti, editor of a new Iraqi weekly, al-Youm.

The United Nations African Union hybrid peacekeeping operation for Darfur (UNAMID) today began operations at its El Fasher Headquarters in what the senior UN official there called a milestone for the strife-torn Sudanese region.

Stopping the flow of deadly drugs out of Afghanistan, where opium production has soared to record levels this year, is the focus of a two-day summit that kicked off today in Kabul, organized by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

Voicing concern about the ongoing crisis in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where tens of thousands of people have been displaced by recent fighting, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today announced that his senior aide will travel to the country for talks with top officials.

Security conditions and political stalemate are combining to create a “climate of ongoing crisis” in Lebanon, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon writes in a new report, emphasizing the need to hold free and fair presidential elections next month without any foreign interference.

A new United Nations Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) office tasked with utilizing space technologies to respond to all stages of disasters globally has opened in Bonn, Germany.

United Nations Special Adviser Ibrahim Gambari is set to arrive in Myanmar on Saturday, his second visit to the South-East Asian nation since authorities used force in responding to a wave of peaceful protests that began in August.

The Security Council today voted to extend the mandate of the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) by six months, urging all parties to fully put into the practice the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) ending a 21-year civil war between north and south Sudan.

The Security Council today extended through next April the mandate of the United Nations mission in Western Sahara (MINURSO), which has been in the Territory since 1991 to monitor the ceasefire between Morocco and the Frente Polisario.

The United Nations General Assembly today urged all countries to observe the Olympic Truce during the 2008 Beijing Games – a move backed by its president, who advocated greater use of sport to promote peace and development.