The United Nations appealed to European countries today to contribute troops to an expanded UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon to balance the commitments from Muslim countries, so that both Israel and Lebanon will view it as legitimate.

The United Nations has received pledges of 3,500 troops for an expanded peacekeeping force in Lebanon, but it is unclear whether the soldiers represent the right mix of countries and units that could deploy quickly.

The United Nations’ second highest-ranking official yesterday accused the US government of leaving Americans in the dark about the world body’s good works, a rare direct criticism that drew an angry response yesterday from US Ambassador John Bolton.

The United States today demanded UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan renounce a speech in which his No 2 official broke with tradition and accused the United States of undermining the United Nations.

More than 240 women from at least 50 countries accused UN secretary-general Kofi Annan yesterday of paying lip service to gender equality but failing to take action to promote women and their rights.

The UN summit marking the 60th anniversary of the United Nations opened today with an appeal for collective action to prevent conflict and genocide and to protect human rights.

A US congressional committee has drafted a Bill that threatens to withhold tens of millions of pounds from the United Nations unless the world body launches wide-ranging reforms, possibly setting the stage for a funding battle like the one that plunged the UN into financial crisis a decade ago.

QUESTIONS raised by a probe of the UN oil-for-food programme for Iraq may have given critics more ammunition against the world body, even though Secretary-General Kofi Annan was cleared of corrupt practices.

After months of criticism, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan decided that UN refugee chief Ruud Lubbers had to go because of the growing controversy over allegations that the former Dutch prime minister had sexually harassed female staffers.

The UN has vowed to discipline two officials implicated in a report that detailed conflicts of interest and flawed management in the UN oil-for-food programme, while the man leading the investigation warned that more revelations were forthcoming.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has ordered disciplinary action against the head of the UN oil-for-food program in Iraq, who was sharply criticised in an investigation that accused him of a “grave conflict of interest” and “undermining the integrity” of the UN.

THE Government is to tap private industry in an effort to build trade links and swap skills with the world’s poorest countries.

THE figures are all shameful — and the reality behind each one is the unnecessary and avoidable death of millions of innocent people.

U2 frontman Bono was expected to urge rich countries to help end world poverty at the launch of a United Nations report in Dublin today.

The international community was today discussing plans for the recovery and rebuilding of Afghanistan, which the United Nations likens to the five-year reconstruction of war-ravaged Mozambique that cost $6.5bn (£4bn).