With scores of heads of state and government attending a three-day summit at United Nations headquarters in New York this week on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged them to provide the necessary investment, aid and political will to end extreme poverty.

"There is no global project more worthwhile," Mr. Ban said at the opening of the summit on September 20. "Let us send a strong message of hope. Let us keep the promise."

The high-level meeting of the General Assembly is being held to take stock of the progress so far towards the MDGs - which include slashing poverty, combating disease, fighting hunger, protecting the environment and boosting education - and to determine what else needs to be done to reach the goals by their target date of 2015.

"Real results" have been made since the MDGs were devised in 2000, Mr. Ban noted, including a dramatic increase in school enrolment rates, expanded access to clean water and greater control of diseases.

"We have more development success stories than ever before. The transformative impact of the MDGs is undeniable. This is an achievement we can proud of. But we must protect these advances, many of which are still fragile. And the clock is ticking, with much more to do."

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High-level political and private sector officials met in New York on September 21 to fight childhood under-nutrition with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stressing the critical role of proper early feeding in combating extreme hunger and poverty.

"Under-nourished children are more likely to get sick. They cannot concentrate in school and often earn less as adults. They pay the price throughout their lives," he said, opening the forum, called 1,000 Days: Change a Life, Change the Future.

The forum was held in Manhattan on the margins of a three-day summit on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that seek to slash a host of social ills, from hunger and poverty to infant and maternal mortality to lack of access to education and health care, all by 2015.

Moving on the momentum to address maternal and child health, issues. the Secretary-General will launch the Global Strategy for Women's and Children's Health entitled "Every Woman, Every Child" on September 22 at UN headquarters in New York.

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The United Nations and its diplomatic partners in the search for a Middle East peace have urged Israel to continue its settlement moratorium in the occupied Palestinian territory in the interests of resumed negotiations between the sides and called on Arab States to support the talks.

Voicing support for the first-to-face talks in 19 months, a statement issued after a high-level meeting of the Quartet - UN, European Union (EU), Russia and the United States - reiterated the long-held goal of ending the Israel occupation that began in 1967 and creating "an independent, democratic, contiguous, and viable Palestinian state" living side by side in peace and security with Israel.

The meeting - attended by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Catherine Ashton, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Quartet representative Tony Blair and US Middle East envoy George Mitchell - also looked at the wider Middle East context.

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The United Nations and its partners launched their largest-ever natural disaster appeal, seeking more than $2 billion for millions of Pakistani flood victims devastated by nearly two months of massive inundations in what Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called the worst such disaster that the UN has faced.

Overall the floods in Pakistan have affected more than 20 million people, equivalent to over 10 percent of the total population, and the new $2.07-billion appeal, which more than quadruples the original $460 million sought last month, will provide aid for up to 14 million people over a 12-month period.

"We are seeing the equivalent of a new disaster every few days in Pakistan," UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos said in launching the appeal in New York.

The rolling floods have killed fewer than 2,000 people but have exposed over 20 million others to homelessness, malnutrition, risks of epidemics and loss of livelihood as the waters have swept the country from north to south, damaging or destroying nearly 1.9 million homes and devastating at least 160,000 square kilometers - an area larger than England.

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The United Nations envoy to Afghanistan has commended the country's electoral authorities on conducting the recent parliamentary polls amid immense security and logistical challenges, and stressed that they must be given the space to complete their responsibilities.

More than 4 million voters took part in Saturday's elections for the Wolesi Jirga, or lower house of Afghanistan's parliament, which were organized by the Independent Election Commission (IEC).

"Afghanistan's electoral institutions are now at a critical stage of fulfilling their duties under the law to finalise the Wolesi Jirga elections," Staffan de Mistura, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's Special Representative, said in a statement on September 21.

He commended the IEC for sticking to the electoral timetable, adding that the body demonstrated "significant" improvements in organizing the elections.

"We recognize that these achievements were accomplished against a backdrop of immense security and logistical challenges," said Mr. de Mistura, who heads the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA).

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