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Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today reaffirmed the commitment of the United Nations to bring those responsible for the terrorist attack that killed former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri and 22 others to justice, as the country marks the fifth anniversary of the assassination.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon voiced concern today about events in Côte d’Ivoire, where the Government has suspended voter registration ahead of this year’s already delayed presidential election because of rising tensions.

A United Nations independent human rights expert today voiced hope that he will be able to hold talks with pro-democracy leader and Nobel Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi when he visits Myanmar next week.

The United Nations agency that promotes industrial development for poverty reduction and environmental sustainability has teamed up with the Government of India in a $40-million pilot project to help the country’s healthcare system dispose of hazardous medical waste.

The top United Nations envoy to Iraq today called on the country’s political leaders to step up their efforts to ensure that next month’s Council of Representatives election is free and fair, with campaigning for the polls set to start tomorrow.

The United Nations-backed tribunal tasked with trying atrocities committed during the 1994 massacre in Rwanda of ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus today handed down a 15-year prison sentence to a former soldier, convicting him of direct and public incitement to commit genocide.

Although sporadic fighting persists in Sudan’s Darfur region, where the Government and rebels have waged a deadly seven-year war, and formal talks for a political solution have not yet been possible, recent positive developments give rise for some optimism, a senior United Nations peacekeeping official said today.

The United Nations envoy tasked with mediating talks between Greece and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia in the dispute over the latter’s name will travel to the region later this month for further discussions, it was announced today.

The United Nations telecommunications agency is working with a Singaporean wireless broadband equipment provider to set up fast wireless phone and Internet connections to assist aid workers and local authorities in Haiti where the terrestrial network is largely non-operational due to earthquake damage.

Saving the world’s myriad diverse species, which are being lost to human activity at an unprecedented rate that some experts put at 1,000 times the natural progression, is vital not just for environmental reasons but for the economic well-being of humankind, a senior United Nations official said today.