The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary), during its organizational meeting this morning, agreed on its provisional programme of work for the first week of the sixty-fourth session, on the understanding that necessary adjustments would be made in the course of the session, as required.

Following is United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s address at Uppsala University in Uppsala, Sweden, today, 1 October:

The third segment of the 2009 Disarmament Fellowship Programme starts today at United Nations Headquarters, for a period of three and a half weeks, with the participation of young diplomats from 24 Member States.

The First Committee (Disarmament and International Security), in a brief organizational meeting today, adopted its agenda and programme of work for the sixty-fourth session of the General Assembly.

Citing ever greater risks to the nuclear non-proliferation regime, which were challenging Security Council resolution 1540 (2004) to effectively bind every State to enforce domestic controls to prevent weapons of mass destruction from falling into the hands of non-State actors, concerned organizations grappled with the text’s far-reaching legislative and technical obligations today, as a comprehensive review of implementation continued at Headquarters.

In a brief organizational meeting today, the Fourth Committee (Special, Political and Decolonization) approved its work programme for the current session, during which it planned to consider more than a dozen topics, ranging from the peaceful uses of outer space to the University of Peace and the decolonization of the remaining non-self-governing territories.

Following is UN Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro’s informal briefing to the General Assembly on the rule of law today, 2 October:

Following are UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s remarks to the round table of Swedish non-governmental organizations, “How can the UN meet the challenges of today?”, in Stockholm, 2 October:

Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message for World Mental Health Day, to be observed on 10 October:

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed Christine McNab of Sweden as his Deputy Special Representative for Iraq.