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An international team of archaeologists has begun a three-year survey, coordinated by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), of the archaeological ruins of Lumbini, the birthplace of Buddha in Nepal.

United Nations peacekeepers intensified their patrols in the border area between North and South Sudan after reports of deadly clashes as the week-long independence referendum in the South entered its third day today.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will travel next week to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Oman, during which he will attend the annual summit on energy that opens in Abu Dhabi on Monday.

Floods caused by heavy rainfall in Sri Lanka have affected nearly a million people, including more than 127,000 displaced from their homes, the United Nations humanitarian office reported today, quoting figures provided by the Government.

On the eve of the first anniversary of the devastating earthquake that killed 220,000 Haitians and made 1.5 million others homeless, the United Nations today looked back at a year of achievements, albeit at times spotty, and forward to the enormous challenges still ahead.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today welcomed a donation of $196.6 million from Japan, the largest-ever single contribution to the agency, which will use it to provide essential food and nutritional assistance to millions of needy people in 20 countries in Africa and Asia.

The earthquake which devastated Haiti a year ago, killing at least 220,000 people, also took the lives of more United Nations personnel than any other single event and today the world body’s Staff Union mourned the colleagues killed there and in other parts of the world in 2010.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has reiterated his support for the work of the United Nations-backed tribunal set up to try suspects in the 2005 murders of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri and 22 others, as he met with the slain leader’s son and current Premier, Saad Hariri.

With only five days left before the mandate of the United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) ends, the world body’s envoy to the country once again today urged all parties to the peace process there to reach consensus on the crucial issue of the monitoring of arms and armed forces after the mission departs.

The independence referendum in South Sudan, which could split Africa’s largest country in two and produce the United Nations’ 193rd Member State, has got off to a good start with officials successfully handling a large initial turnout, the head of the UN monitoring panel has said.