In a fresh initiative against the menace of AIDS, the UN has launched a new US $140 million programme - the United Nations Programme on AIDS. It will brin4 together 6 preinier UN agencies to7 provide globally relevant policies on HIV/AIDS, help fill key research gaps and provide technical support to countries, especially in the developing world.

Cigarettes will be off-limits in most parts of the UN building in New York from now on. A city law which bans smoking in all office buildings did not apply to the UN head- quarters"hich is treated as international territory. But as the organisation turns 50, its officials have decided that it is time they began practicing what they preached. A recently released 25-page report says that the'hew provisions against smoking would takAffect from October 24.