Latest News

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned today that the coming year promises to be no less difficult than 2008, which he called the year of multiple crises, and he stressed the “responsibility to deliver” on the full range of global endeavours.

Preparations are in place enabling the people of the oil-rich Iraqi province of Basra to officially demonstrate their support of a proposed referendum to form a region with some devolved power from the central Government, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) announced today.

A United Nations-backed global treaty that will ease the process of registering and licensing trademarks is set to become effective next year, having now received the required number of ratifications to enter into force, the world body announced today.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the lifting today of the state of emergency in Bangladesh as “a positive step” towards ensuring the right of all of its citizens to free, fair and credible parliamentary elections, which are slated for 29 December.

Delegates attending a pan-African ministerial conference have welcomed a proposal attempting to secure billion-dollar commitments for building critical hydropower and agricultural irrigation systems across the continent, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) announced today.

The year 2008 is likely to rank as the 10th warmest year on record since the beginning of the instrumental climate records in 1850, although the global average temperature was slightly lower than previous years of the 21st century, according to the United Nations meteorological agency.

The top United Nations official in Afghanistan today called for a revision of the agreement between the Government and international military forces on detention, house searches and the use of air power, which has led to the deaths of many civilians.

The Security Council today extended for a further two months the mandate of the independent probe into the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri and several other political killings in Lebanon.

All crossings for goods going from Israel into the Gaza Strip, home to 1.5 million Palestinians, are closed today, the United Nations reported.

The global crisis in financial markets and looming economic recession has focused the corporate world’s attention on critical non-financial issues – such as climate change – important to its future survival, the head of the United Nations initiative for ethical business told reporters today.