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Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today that the newly designated Lebanese Government should continue to cooperate with the United Nations-backed tribunal set up to try suspects in the 2005 murders of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri and 22 others.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has condemned an attack on a supermarket in the centre of Kabul today, which has reportedly killed at least six civilians, including a child.

High levels of malnutrition among children in communities affected by last year’s massive floods in Pakistan’s Sindh province remain one of the most challenging humanitarian problems six months since the disaster first hit the Asian country, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said today.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will at the weekend travel to Ethiopia, where he will attend the summit of the African Union in Addis Ababa before proceeding to London for meetings next week with senior United Kingdom officials and then on to Germany.

On the eve of co-chairing an African meeting on the post-electoral turmoil in Côte d’Ivoire, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today again called on ex-president Laurent Gbagbo to step down in the face of his United Nations-certified defeat by opposition leader Alassane Ouattara.

Landmines and explosive remnants of war continue to put thousands of communities in Afghanistan at risk of death or injury, but the problem can be solved with adequate funding of the de-mining effort, a senior United Nations official said today, lauding the world body’s partnership with global transport workers to make the country’s roads safer.

Voicing concern at the humanitarian impact of continued fighting between Government and rebel forces in Sudan’s Darfur region, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today called on all sides to enter immediately into discussions on a final settlement of the conflict.

United Nations officials in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) today reported another 53 alleged cases of rape in the conflict-rife eastern part of the country, bringing to 120 those reported since the beginning of the year and attributed to all sides, including the national army.

The United Nations envoy on sexual violence in conflict has called on authorities in Côte d'Ivoire to swiftly investigate reported rapes that have occurred during the post-election crisis and to ensure better protection for women and girls in the West African nation.

The United Nations commission that settles damage claims in connection to Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait today made $680 million available to nine successful claimants.