New York - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday called for a summit of world leaders to discuss efforts to complete a new Kyoto Protocol by year's end.

The high level conference will take place on the fringes of the annual UN General Assembly session in September, which will be attended by government leaders of all 192 UN members.

"Reaching a new climate agreement this year will require direct involvement of world leaders," Ban said. "I have been consulting actively about the best way to engage them."

New York  - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon appointed Tuesday a board of inquiry into incidents that caused deaths and destruction at UN compounds in Gaza Strip during the recent Israel-Hamas conflict.

The board will be headed by Ian Martin, a Briton that has led various crucial UN missions around the world, who is called to complete the inquiry and submit a report within one month.

Ban said the board will comprise legal advisers and a military expert.

Geneva  - Mexican Interior Minister Fernando Gomez Mont said Tuesday that while his country had progressed in terms of democracy and human rights in recent years it still had to strengthen the rule of law and overcome the challenges of poverty.

Specifically, the country needed to better combat human trafficking, prevent torture, protect indigenous peoples and end forced disappearances, said Gomez Mont said during his country's periodic review at the United Nations' Human Rights Council.

Islamabad  - Ethnic tribal rebels in Pakistan's insurgency- hit south-western province of Balochistan claimed Saturday that they were holding captive a UN top official kidnapped in the region earlier this week, a local media report said.

The private news agency Online said the Baloch Liberation United Front (BLUF), a secular and nationalist guerrilla organization in Balochistan, had claimed responsibility for the abduction of the local head of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Geneva - The United Nations announced Friday that it was taking the first steps towards a large renovation plan for its historic office in Geneva, which would include large energy-saving measures.

The oldest part of the complex, known as the Palais des Nations, was the original home of the League of Nations, the forerunner of the current United Nations, and is 80 years old.

Electric and water lines as well as windows and other parts of the building were in dire needs of replacement or repairs, said Sergei Ondzhonikidze, the director of the UN Geneva office.

United Nations, Feb 6 : The mandate of the UN commission that will probe the 2007 assassination of former Pakistani premier Benazir Bhutto will not exceed six months and will not extend to conducting a criminal investigation, according to a UN letter.