United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has hailed the world body's peacekeeping achievements while urging further reforms to allow operations to meet the challenges ahead.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon led mounting United Nations concern about the continuing deadly clashes between the Lebanese army and Fatah el-Islam gunmen at a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon, urging all sides to avoid more bloodshed.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed concern about the fighting in Lebanon and called on all sides to protect civilians.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today welcomed the latest agreement between Chad and Sudan aimed at calming tensions in the strife-torn Sudanese region of Darfur and the eastern area of the neighbouring country.

The first woman Prime Minister of Norway, the former President of Chile, and the President of the 56th Session of the United Nations General Assembly were today named Special Envoys for Climate Change by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who has made the issues one of his top priorities.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said that the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), which limits the spread of nuclear weapons, is suffering a crisis of confidence.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has expressed grave concern at the violence in Somalia. VOA's Peter Heinlein at U.N. headquarters reports officials also fear the consequences of Somalia's burgeoning humanitarian crisis.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Pope Benedict XVI has accepted his invitation to visit the United Nations. During a meeting with the pope at the Vatican last week, Ban said he invited the pontiff to visit the United Nations "at a mutually convenient time."

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called for a renewal of international social- and economic-development aid for areas lying in the shadow of the nuclear disaster at Chornobyl.

The Bush administration confirmed Thursday it put off the imposition of new sanctions against Sudan at the urging of U.N. Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon. However U.S. officials are skeptical that diplomacy by the U.N. chief will lead to a breakthrough on peacekeeping in Darfur. VOA's David Gollust reports from the State Department

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is expressing optimism that Sudan will soon accept the presence of attack helicopters in a robust peacekeeping presence in Darfur. VOA's Peter Heinlein reports the U.N. chief also called for the immediate release of a British journalist kidnapped in Gaza.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is urging Iran to heed Security Council demands that it stop enriching uranium. VOA correspondent Peter Heinlein reports from U.N. headquarters in New York.