The threat of illicit trafficking in nuclear materials and radioactive sources will bring more than 300 officials from over 70 countries to Stockholm this week.

"Genetically modified organisms (GMOs), like all the new technologies, are instruments that can be used for good and for bad in the same way that they can be either managed to the benefit of the most needy or skewed to the advantage of specific groups," the UN Food and Agriculture Organization(FAO) Director-General Jacques Diouf said today.

Thabo Mbeki's presidency is dogged by a bizarre array of conspiracy theories yet he has done little to set the record straight, writes Chris McGreal.

A budget shortfall and donor fatigue has forced the United Nations' refugee program to launch a review of its worldwide activities in order to cut non-essential programs.

The government of Benin, UNICEF and the NGO 'Terre des hommes' have confirmed that a boat that left the port of Cotonou, Benin, in mid-March with presumed child labourers was, in fact, carrying victims of child trafficking.