FAO STUDY EXAMINES IMPACT OF HIV/AIDS IN RURAL AFRICA

ROME, 1 December (FAO) -- The steady advance of HIV/AIDS is devastating rural households in Africa, plunging families into poverty and hunger, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said on World Aids Day.

Fifty-eighth General Assembly

Fifth Committee

23^rd Meeting (AM)

FIFTH COMMITTEE DEBATE FOCUSES ON PROPOSED IMPROVEMENTS

TO PLANNING, BUDGETING PROCESS

The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) this morning focused on the proposed improvements to the current process of planning and budgeting and on the administration of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Committee on the Inalienable Rights

of the Palestinian People

276^th Meeting (AM)

SECRETARY-GENERAL MARKS DAY OF SOLIDARITY WITH PALESTINIANS

BY CALLING FOR INTERNATIONAL PRESENCE IN MIDDLE EAST

It Would Hold Israelis, Palestinians

To Their Commitments Under Road Map, He Tells Committee

Fifty-eighth General Assembly

Plenary

65^th Meeting (PM)

SPEAKERS IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY REAFFIRM SUPPORT FOR MIDDLE EAST ROAD MAP, REGRET

LACK OF PROGRESS IN ITS IMPLEMENTATION

SECRETARY-GENERAL REITERATES NEED FOR POLITICAL SOLUTION TO ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN

CONFLICT IN STATEMENT TO COMMITTEE

Each Side Wounds Itself by Harming the Other,

He Says in Message to Mark International Day of Solidarity

‘LET US LISTEN TO DISABLED PERSONS –- NOT JUST ON THIS DAY, BUT EVERY DAY’,

SAYS SECRETARY-GENERAL IN MESSAGE ON INTERNATIONAL DAY

Following is Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s message on the International Day of Disabled Persons, observed 3 December:

SECRETARY-GENERAL WARNS COTE D’IVOIRE ‘COULD SLIP BACK INTO CONFLICT’

IN STATEMENT TO SECURITY COUNCIL

Following are Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s remarks at the meeting of the Security Councilwith the Ministers of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) on Côte d’Ivoire at Headquarters, 24 November:

PRESIDENT OF UNITED NATIONS SECURITY COUNCIL AND CHAIRMAN

OF MILITARY STAFF COMMITTEE IN DECEMBER

In accordance with the principle of alphabetical rotation, the following are the President of the United Nations Security Council and the Chairman of the Military Staff Committee for December:

Security Council

SECRETARY-GENERAL APPOINTS NEW SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR SIERRA LEONE

The Secretary-General has appointed Daudi Ngelautwa Mwakawago as his new Special Representative for Sierra Leone, with immediate effect.

Round-up of Session

COMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS CONCLUDES THIRTY-FIRST SESSION

Issues Final Conclusions on Reports of Republic of Moldova,

Yemen, Guatemala, Russian Federation, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

(Reissued as received.)