The Secretary‑General strongly condemns this morning’s attack against a United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon vehicle near the town of Tyre, which injured five UNIFIL military personnel. UNIFIL and Lebanese authorities are cooperating closely in the ongoing investigation, and the Secretary‑General expects that the perpetrators will be swiftly identified and brought to justice.

The High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, will brief the Security Council on the human rights situation in Syria, under the agenda item “The situation in the Middle East”, today at 3 p.m.

Tiina Intelmann, President of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, introduced the institution’s newly elected Prosecutor, Fatou B. Bensouda, at a Headquarters press conference today. The Assembly elected Ms. Bensouda earlier today at the start of its tenth session, which is scheduled to run through 21 December, after a year-long nomination process.

The Secretary‑General briefed the Security Council this morning on his visit last week to Somalia. He told Council members that we finally face a moment of fresh opportunities in Somalia, and we must seize it. We must secure gains and extend them beyond Mogadishu, he said.

Although malaria mortality rates had fallen significantly, a projected funding shortfall threatened that progress, leading experts in the fight against the disease said at Headquarters today.

Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, briefed the Security Council this morning on his investigations regarding Darfur. He reiterated his call for Sudan to transfer indicted suspects to the Court, noting its repeated failure to do so.

As he worked to prepare a transition plan for the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno-Ocampo told correspondents during a press briefing today that he had just called on the Security Council to devise a comprehensive strategy before his departure in June for implementing all outstanding arrest warrants related to the situation in Darfur.

Speaking at a high‑level conference on the UN Central Emergency Response Fund this morning, the Secretary‑General said that the Fund has far exceeded expectations since it was launched by the General Assembly five years ago. He said that the Fund has disbursed more than $2 billion in assistance, making it one of the largest sources of humanitarian funding in the world.

To remain relevant as the world’s only forum for cases beyond national jurisdiction and capabilities, the International Criminal Court must cement commitments to bolster its annual budget, improve its election process and eliminate some weaker practices, members of a coalition of 2,500 civil society organizations in 150 countries said today at a Headquarters press conference.

The Secretary-General has learned that the leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), Kim Jong Il, passed away. The Secretary-General extends his sympathy to the people of the DPRK at this time of their national mourning and reaffirms his commitment to peace and security on the Korean peninsula.