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Only full international cooperation can counter global security threats, from long-standing issues like terrorism and nuclear proliferation to newer challenges such as cyber-crime to violent unrest from hunger and climate change, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned today.

United Nations peacekeepers and Government forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) today seized one of the rebel leaders suspected of being behind the mass rape of more than 300 civilians two months ago in the country’s east.

In the run up to next month’s major climate change conference in Cancún, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) will release one case study daily for 30 days to prove that solutions to combat global warming – ranging from planting trees to creating mass markets for solar water heaters – are available, accessible and replicable.

Donor countries, private foundations, corporations and individuals meeting at the United Nations have pledged over $11.5 billion in new funding over the next three years for the global partnership to fight three killer diseases – HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.

Development models that harness the potential of specific areas can help solve the problem of regional disparities in social advancement in the world’s poorest countries, according to experts attending a United Nations-convened forum on local development.

Governments, the private sector and civil society have to work much more closely together if the world is to build and sustain better cities, which are now home to more than half the global population, United Nations officials said today.

The United Nations initiative to bolster cities’ resilience against natural hazards was unveiled in Kuwait today, with a senior world body official voicing hope that Arab cities will sign on to the scheme.

With less than two months remaining before the next United Nations Climate Change Conference in Cancún, a senior world body official called on nations to accelerate efforts to find common ground to reach a concrete outcome at the Mexico meeting.

High rates of deforestation and degradation of woodlands continue to threaten the world's forest biodiversity, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said today, but pointed out that there is a positive trend towards the conservation of forests in many countries.

Warning that “never-ending” conflicts are creating new semi-permanent refugee populations, a top United Nations official today called on governments to expand their efforts to ensure protection for the world’s 43 million forcibly displaced people.