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Following a resurgence in the number of Liberian refugees fleeing into Guinea, the United Nations humanitarian affairs office today expressed concern over the early warning signs indicating a lack of compliance with the recent peace agreement signed by the warring factions in Liberia and fears more people will be forced to flee across the border.

With flowers and tears, solemn words and lighted candles, the United Nations family gathered in the great hall of the General Assembly today, exactly one month after a terrorist's bomb destroyed UN headquarters in Baghdad, to pay tribute to its fallen and renew allegiance to the principles of altruism guiding the world body.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) today called for informal contacts to resume trade talks after Sunday’s collapse of a major conference, declaring a fair and open world market to be in the interests of rich and poor alike but stressing that developing states must have a better chance to sell their produce.

Warning that drug trafficking bankrolls global terrorism, the head of the United Nations anti-narcotics agency today called on the newly independent states of the former Soviet Union to step up the war on illicit drugs, especially in view of large-scale opium production in nearby Afghanistan.

The top United Nations communications official today launched an initiative that will link thousands of students from around the world in one of the largest educational events ever attempted on the Internet and said the programme fits well with the world body’s desire to see the benefits of information technology spread as widely as possible.

In light of the impending establishment of a new United Nations mission in Liberia, Secretary-General Kofi Annan has decided to close an office that was set up in the war-torn West African country six years ago but whose efforts to bring peace, reconciliation and respect for human rights were hamstrung by renewed fighting.

One month to the day after the terrorist bombing of 19 August destroyed the United Nations office in Baghdad, killing 22 people including top envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello, the world body will tomorrow hold a memorial ceremony at its New York Headquarters, where the bereaved families will light remembrance candles.

United Nations agencies and other humanitarian organizations are stepping up operations to address food shortages and their underlying causes in Zimbabwe as whole communities have exhausted stocks long before the next harvest, according to the latest update released today.

The United Nations General Assembly will hold a special emergency session tomorrow in a move by Arab and Non-Aligned Movement states to circumvent a United States veto of Tuesday's Security Council resolution demanding that Israel not deport or threaten the safety of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

The United Nations panel set up to process claims and pay compensation for losses and damage suffered as a result of Iraq's invasion and occupation of Kuwait in 1990-1991 today approved awards of more than $315 million, bringing the total awarded so far to $46.6 billion.