Noting that collaboration between the United Nations and the African Union has entered a historic phase with the establishment of a joint peacekeeping operation in Darfur, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today that the year ahead will be a crucial one for the two bodies as they strive to achieve shared goals.

Academy Award-winning actor George Clooney is visiting the United Nations Thursday, in his new role as the world body's messenger of peace.

In 2008, the Chinese mainland will make strong efforts to achieve bright prospects for relations across the Taiwan Strait, according to Chen Yunlin, a leading official in charge of cross-Strait affairs, in an article to be published in the year's No.1 Issue of the "Cross Strait Relations" magazine.

Somalia is facing the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, according to the UN refugee agency. UNHCR's Somalia representative says if nothing changes, the country will spiral further into lawlessness and rule by warlords. He spoke with VOA's Mandy Clark in London. Here is her report.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today called on donors to respond quickly and generously to a $3.8 billion United Nations humanitarian appeal, stressing that for the poorest of the poor, early funding means the difference between life and death.

Former U.N. secretary-general Kofi Annan is in Kenya to begin talks aimed at resolving the bitter political dispute between President Mwai Kibaki and opposition challenger Raila Odinga. Underscoring the urgent need for a solution, opposition supporters and the police clashed again in Nairobi. VOA Correspondent Alisha Ryu has details from Kenya's capital.

More than 130 migrants from Somalia, many fleeing violence in their homeland, died over the weekend when their boats capsized off Yemen as weather and the brutality of people-smugglers continued to exact a grievous toll, the United Nations refugee agency reported today.

The United Nations Security Council says there should be contingency planning for the possible deployment of a U.N. peacekeeping force in Somalia, despite the U.N. secretary general's warning that such a force would not be viable.

United Nations envoy Ibrahim Gambari has arrived in Burma for talks on reform with the country's military rulers. Burmese officials say he will travel directly to the administrative capital Naypyidaw.

The U.S. envoy in charge of seeking a diplomatic end to North Korea's nuclear weapons programs says Pyongyang has much more to do before punitive United Nations sanctions are lifted. As a U.S. team begins the process of disabling the North's main nuclear complex, the governments involved in the nuclear negotiations are now preparing to receive a promised list of Pyongyang's nuclear programs and facilities.

Russia has expressed opposition to a proposed increase in the UN's budget for the next two years. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the U.N. General Assembly's budget committee on Thursday that he was seeking a budget of $4.2 billion for 2008-09. While the figure is a 5 percent increase over the $3.8 billion budget for 2006 and 2007, Ban said it only represented $23 million in real growth, or 0.5%.

The UN General Assembly will hear on Monday a draft resolution proposed by European Union and other countries on a worldwide moratorium on the death penalty.