UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon stated that fighting drug mistreatment, trafficking and other social immoralities must be parts of the fight against impoverishment.

In his message on the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, Ban said, "Our work to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and fight drugs must go hand-in-hand. In seeking to eradicate illicit crops, we must also work to wipe out poverty."

The UN chief said that major health challenges, which include HIV spread, stem from drug abuse.

Of those committing crimes against humanity, U. N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that a new "age of accountability" is replacing the "old era of impunity."

The United Nations News Center reported on Monday that meeting in Kampala, Uganda, at the first-ever review of the International Criminal Court established 12 years ago in Rome, Ban noted the ICC's "collective determination that crimes of humanity cannot go unpunished."

The United Nations says that a conference this month of those donating to Haiti's recovery will highlight the organization's effort toward donor solidarity.

CNN reported on Monday that U. N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon have said that the March 31 international donors conference at U. N. headquarters in New York is focused on obtaining the means to provide shelter to displaced people, sanitation and reconstruction.

New York, Jan 12 - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Monday he would provide "all possible efforts" to make the Korean peninsula free of nuclear weapons.

Ban's remarks were in reaction to North Korea's proposal to negotiate a peace treaty with the US to replace the ceasefire agreement that ended the 1950-53 Korean War.

New York, Jan 9 : The world community has a "new window of opportunity" to advance disarmament and nuclear non-proliferation programmes in 2010, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Friday.

Ban cited the review conference scheduled in May of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) as a major event. The NPT regulates nuclear programmes of countries that are parties to it.

"The treaty is facing a number of challenges," Ban told a meeting of UN heads of disarmament and nuclear agencies, including Yukiya Amano, the new director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna.

New York, Jan. 1 : UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has accepted the demand of extending the mandate of the commission probing the assassination of former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto until late March to enable it to complete its work, The News reports.

According to Ki-moon’s spokesperson, Martin Nesirky, following the commission’s call for extending the mandate, the UN Secretary General has notified both the Pakistani government and the UN Security Council about the decision.

New York, Dec 23 : UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon decided Tuesday to call 2010 the year of Millennium Development Goals, which will review progress to achieve a set of eight programmes by 2015.

The goals were set by the UN General Assembly in 2000, including halving extreme poverty, universal education for children, ending child and maternal mortality and stopping the spread of HIV/AIDS.

The assembly is planning meetings in 2010 to review progress made so far by governments and whether the goals can be reached in 2015.

Copenhagen, Dec. 19 : United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has hailed a United States-supported climate deal here and described it as an "essential beginning".

Moon, however, said the accord, reached with key nations including China and Brazil, must be made legally binding next year.

It could be possible after intense wrangling, when delegates passed a motion simply taking note of the deal, without formally adopting it.

Copenhagen, Dec 18 : Negotiations at the Copenhagen climate summit \"have been very slow\", UN chief Ban Ki-Moon rued Thursday evening, \"but I have not seen anything to indicate we can\'t seal a deal\".

In a briefing for select media from around the world, Ban said: "I believe we can seal a deal because all major players want it. Over 130 world leaders are here. If they can't seal a deal, who can?"

Pointing out that there were only 24 hours before a Copenhagen agreement had to be finalised, Ban said: "What must be the keywords now are common sense, compromise and courage.

Copenhagen, Dec 16 - Financing will be the key to success at the climate summit, particularly for the world's poorest countries, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said here.

Opening the High Level Segment of the Dec 7-18 summit where around 120 heads of state and government are scheduled to attend, Ban welcomed the Copenhagen Launch Fund by which rich countries will pay $10 billion a year for the next three years to help poor nations cope with climate change effects.

Copenhagen, Dec 16 :Financing will be the key to success at the climate summit, particularly for the world's poorest countries, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said here.

Opening the High Level Segment of the Dec 7-18 summit where around 120 heads of state and government are scheduled to attend, Ban welcomed the Copenhagen Launch Fund by which rich countries will pay $10 billion a year for the next three years to help poor nations cope with climate change effects.

New York, Dec. 15 : UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has extended the mandate of the UN commission probing the assassination of former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto by three months.

Speaking at a regular briefing here, Ki-moon said the commission needs more time to complete its probe.

“It is a reasonable request. And I am considering it positively since the commission needs more time to complete its work,” The News quoted Ki-moon, as saying.

New York, Dec 12 : The United Nations has become a terrorist target with increasing deadly attacks taking place since 2003, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said.

The UN paid tribute to the more than 15 UN staffers killed in Algiers in 2007 when the UN office in the Algerian capital was bombed. The office housed several UN organisations involved in development assistance as well as child welfare.

"We are here to remember, and pay tribute to, the dear colleagues and friends we lost in the horrific bomb attack in Algiers two years ago today," Ban said Friday in a statement.

London, Nov 30 : Zoos and aquariums will become the last places on Earth to see species such as polar bears and coral if climate change negotiations fail at Copenhagen, the world's zoos warned Monday.

A petition delivered to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on behalf of over 200 zoos belonging to the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) urged governments to set targets of atmospheric carbon di-oxide below 350 particles per million in order to prevent "the next mass extinction".

New Delhi, Nov 25 : UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon Wednesday said that new infections are fast out-pacing the gains achieved in controlling the spread of HIV, and urged all countries to stop discrimination against the HIV-infected.

"On World AIDS Day (Dec 1) this year, our challenge is clear. We must continue doing what works, but we must also do more, on an urgent basis, to uphold our commitment to reach universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support by 2010," the secretary general said in his message.

New York  - United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon issued sharp criticism late Tuesday of Israel's latest plans to build new housing units on the occupied Palestinian territories.

A spokesman said that ban considered the construction "illegal," as well as undermining peace efforts and casting doubt on the possibility of a two-state solution.

The comments follow the announcement of plans to build 900 new units on Arab land in a Jewish area around Jerusalem. (dpa)

Rome  - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon opened Monday the United Nations food summit in Rome with a stark reminder of the plight affecting the world's hungry, and a warning that the situation will worsen unless harmful climate change is curbed.

"This day, more than 17,000 children will die of hunger. One every five seconds. Six million children a year," Ban said.

Rome  - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon opened Monday the United Nations food summit in Rome with a stark reminder of the plight affecting the world's hungry, and a warning that the situation will worsen unless harmful climate change is curbed.

"This day, more than 17,000 children will die of hunger. One every five seconds. Six million children a year," Ban said.

Rome  - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon opened Monday the United Nations food summit in Rome with a stark reminder of the plight affecting the world's hungry, and a warning that the situation will worsen unless harmful climate change is curbed.

"This day, more than 17,000 children will die of hunger. One every five seconds. Six million children a year," Ban said.

Stockholm  - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Saturday called the UN climate change conference in Copenhagen that opens in one month's time "a unique opportunity that should not be wasted."

"It is crucial that we achieve an ambitious climate agreement in Copenhagen," Ban wrote in an article penned exclusively for the Stockholm daily Svenska Dagbladet.