New York - The United Nations has taken steps to lead the fight against the sudden outbreak of swine flu, mobilizing its agencies to help countries where cases have been verified, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Monday. "The UN system is responding, quickly and effectively, with the director general of the World Health Organization, Margaret Chan, taking the lead," Ban said.

Brussels - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon is "most concerned" by the recent upsurge of fighting in Sri Lanka, he told journalists in Brussels on Thursday.

"I am most concerned at the rapidly deteriorating security situation in Sri Lanka," Ban said on the sidelines of a conference dedicated to the piracy crisis in Somalia.

Port of Spain  - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Saturday praised improving ties between the United States and communist Cuba, which have been troubled for close to half a century.

"We have noted with interest the change of direction by the new US administration," Ban said at the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago.

"It is a sign of changing times, of fresh winds blowing, in ways large and small," he said.

New York  - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Friday that US-Russian leadership is vital to implement treaties banning the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

US President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitri Medvedev agreed during their meeting in London Wednesday to commit to draw up a new deal on nuclear disarmament to replace the US- Russian strategic weapons reduction programme (START) which expires at the end of 2009.

New York - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon welcomed on Wednesday the new government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, offering his cooperation to work for peace in the Middle East but also reminding him of the two-state solution backed by the international community.

Ban said he looks forward to working with Netanyahu "on the full range of peace and security issues in the region."

New York  - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemned Wednesday the suicide bombing attacks on a government provincial office in Kandahar which killed at least two people and injured a large number of others, including a UN employee.

"Such attacks indiscriminately targeting people and institutions committed to building a better future for the country are morally repugnant and can only set back the efforts to foster peace, reconciliation and stability in Afghanistan," Ban said in a statement.