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Climate change is among a host of new challenges that is making it increasingly difficult for the world’s poorest people to escape from poverty and hunger, the head of the United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) said today.

Since the start of a new repatriation season almost one month ago, some 10,000 Afghans have returned to their homeland from neighbouring Pakistan, the United Nation refugee agency reported today.

The United Nations Security Council today extended until the end of the year its arms embargo and other sanctions meant to keep weapons out of the hands of militias in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which it said continue to threaten stability in the eastern part of the vast country.

The world is waiting anxiously for a durable and economically feasible solution to the pressing issue of climate change, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told participants at the latest round of United Nations-sponsored talks which began today in Bangkok.

Lebanon started a national measles and rubella vaccination campaign today targeting more than 900,000 schoolchildren, as part of its commitments under a United Nations strategy to eliminate the diseases by the end of 2010.

Marking the fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today called for accelerated efforts to reach international development goals to usher in a century of flourishing on the continent.

B. Lynn Pascoe, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, met today in Nicosia with Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot leaders as part of his current mission to assess how the United Nations can help the two communities on the Mediterranean island resolve their long-running dispute.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has stressed that peace and progress in the Middle East “hinges on a just and lasting solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict,” pledging the support of the United Nations to help achieve this goal.

A meeting hosted by the United Nations and the World Bank wrapped up over the weekend, with participants underscoring the need for stepped-up local and international involvement to spur economic growth and bring a durable peace to Somalia.

The United Nations and non-governmental organizations working in Timor-Leste are seeking $33.5 million to help the country’s most vulnerable, including internally displaced persons (IDPs) and those most at risk from natural disasters.