Even though many delegates expressed a newfound optimism that United States-Cuba relations could improve with the change of Administration in Washington, the United Nations General Assembly today once again adopted a stern resolution calling on the United States to end a trade embargo, which had created human suffering and wrecked havoc with the economy of the island nation.

Noting with concern continuing human rights violations against civilians in Côte d’Ivoire, including numerous acts of sexual violence, the Security Council this morning renewed for another year its arms embargo and diamond trade ban in Côte d’Ivoire, as well as targeted sanctions restricting the travel of individuals that threatened the peace process in the West African country.

The Security Council this morning adopted its annual report to the General Assembly for the period 1 August 2008 to 31 July 2009.

Combined efforts by the United Nations, Governments, civil society and operational implementing partners to efficiently coordinate mine action-related activities gone far to end the suffering caused by landmines and explosive remnants of war, Assistant Secretary-General for the Rule of Law and Security Institutions of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations told the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) today.

Following are UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s remarks at the Forum on the Food and Economic Crises in Post-Conflict Countries, in New York, today:

With more than 1 billion people hungry in the world for the first time in history, the challenges of food security demanded multilateral commitment, creativity and leadership, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said this afternoon at a special ceremony to mark World Food Day.

Presented with the Organization’s 2010-2011 budget that approached $5 billion today, numerous members of the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) advocated strict financial discipline, close scrutiny of requirements, clear prioritization and redeployment of resources from lower-priority areas, while also insisting on the need to present a full picture of all requirements at the time of the introduction of the budget proposal.

This is the text of remarks by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today at a Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) ceremony in the Economic and Social Chamber of United Nations Headquarters in New York to mark the recent observance of World Food Day 2009:

This is the text of the statement by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today to the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) on the proposed programme budget for the biennium 2010-2011:

On 22 October 2009, the Security Council Al-Qaida and Taliban Sanctions Committee approved the deletion (de-listing) of the four entries specified below from its Consolidated List. The Committee approved these de-listings following its review of the four names, as called for in paragraph 25 of Security Council resolution 1822 (2008).