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A new fund aimed at mobilizing resources to help developing countries mitigate the impact of global warming must encourage private sector financing in an effort to tackle its most devastating effects, the top United Nations climate change official said today.

Up to one billion people could die this century from smoking or being exposed to tobacco if current rates continue, a senior United Nations health official warned today, urging governments of low- and middle-income countries to adopt the same measures that many wealthier nations have already taken to deter people from smoking.

Marking the annual Remembrance Day for All Victims of Chemical Warfare, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today urged the world to build on progress so far made towards the complete elimination of chemical weapons and to promote the international convention banning their use and stockpiling.

The Security Council and Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon have both strongly condemned yesterday’s terrorist attack at a café in the Moroccan city of Marrakech that has killed at least 16 people and injured many others.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called for a speedy, effective and mutually acceptable resolution of the long-running dispute between Greece and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia over the latter country’s name, saying he was encouraged by recent steps taken by the two sides.

The head of the United Nations office tasked with assisting countries with disaster risk reduction today stressed that governments and communities must urgently build disaster preparedness to avoid paying higher human and economic costs when such events occur.

The United Nations refugee agency today voiced alarm at worsening insecurity in Somalia, which has forced 50,000 people out of the country in the first three months of this year, more than double the number of refugees who fled the Horn of Africa nation during a similar period in 2010.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) today announced plans to introduce emergency operations in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) to feed an estimated 3.5 million people in desperate need after crop losses and a particularly bitter winter.

Fighting near a border crossing between Libya and Tunisia has stopped the flow of migrants from Libya’s Western Mountains region, the United Nations refugee agency reported today, voicing concern that those fleeing might be caught up in the clashes between Government troops and opposition forces.

Mauritania needs to do much more to eliminate slave-like practices, the United Nations human rights chief said today as she also called on the West African country to take steps to improve the role of women and set up mechanisms to tackle human rights violations by previous regimes.