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Presenting a new United Nations budget to the General Assembly's finance committee, Secretary-General Kofi Annan today appealed to Member States to maximize the Organization's scarce resources.

A United States payment of over half a billion dollars to the United Nations has put the world body on its best financial footing in recent years, the Organization's top budget official said today.

Preparations for an upcoming United Nations conference on financing development projects for developing countries resumed today at UN Headquarters in New York with a call for continued commitment and cooperation on the issue.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan has recommended that the Security Council extend the mandate of the United Nations Peace-building Support Office in Guinea-Bissau (UNOGBIS) until 31 December.

Warning that violations of Lebanese airspace could cause greater tension in the area, a United Nations envoy today again called on Israel to halt its flights across the withdrawal line.

Concerned about the lack of progress in Somalia's peace process and the deteriorating humanitarian situation there, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan is considering establishing a "Committee of Friends" for the war-torn country.

Embargoed diamonds worth over $1 million are smuggled out of Angola each day, constituting an estimated 5 per cent of last year's world supply of rough gems, according to a just issued report by a United Nations panel monitoring Security Council sanctions against the rebel National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA).

Two suspicious envelopes received last week by the United Nations - which gets over 20,000 pieces of mail each day - have tested negative for anthrax, a UN spokesman said today.

The United Nation Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) today warned that hunger reduction rates around the world were slowing down, with most developing countries even experiencing increases in the number of hungry people.

The head of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today called on national governments and the humanitarian aid community to help create a global school feeding programme for the world's undernourished children, calling such a scheme a "key weapon" in the war against hunger and poverty.