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The number of Mauritanian refugees that have returned home from years of exile in Senegal under a programme launched by the United Nations refugee agency last year has now topped 10,000.

A judge in the tribunal set up to try suspects in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri today decided to grant the release of four generals detained in connection with the 2005 bombing.

Nearly 2,500 ex-combatants from the decades-long civil war in southern Sudan have been demobilized in a recently-begun programme, the top United Nations envoy to the country said, as he called for full funding of the crucial effort.

Ensuring gender equality and promoting the participation of women in the search for peace in Darfur are among the aims of a new initiative launched by the United Nations in the strife-torn Sudanese region.

Seeing the swine flu virus spread within a raft of countries, the United Nations health agency today raised the international alert to Phase 5 on a six-point scale, signalling an imminent pandemic and urging all countries to intensify preparations.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today called on the Security Council to take firm action against countries which recruit children as soldiers and appealed to all States to ensure that the protection of children in armed conflict is placed above other considerations, such as politics.

The estimated 50,000 people still trapped in the conflict zone in northern Sri Lanka are at great risk and the top priority must be to get them out as quickly as possible, the top United Nations relief official stressed today, again appealing for a further humanitarian pause in the fighting.

A new United Nations study finds that the global financial crisis is impacting the ability of people with HIV to obtain life-saving drugs, a serious concern given that some two thirds of those in need of such medications still do not get them.

The United Nations humanitarian chief warned today that Sri Lanka faces what amounts to two distinct crises, as he toured camps for people who fled fighting in the country’s north between Government troops and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

The leaders of Timor-Leste thanked the United Nations for its support in restoring security, but cautioned that the situation in the small nation remains fragile since it was rocked by violent clashes three years ago.