United Nations peacekeeping forces, together with Haitian National Police, have cleared the streets of Bel Air, a poor area of the Caribbean country's capital, Port-au-Prince, which has been in upheaval over the past three weeks, a UN spokesman told reporters today.

By the end of the next decade, Latin America and the Caribbean will have less natural forest cover, but more woodland areas will be protected and more trees planted, according to projections released today by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Public information is a critically important element of the success of the United Nations, and the world body has managed to develop innovative ways to engage more people, the UN's top communications official said today.

The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Haiti, which has been operating at less than half its authorized strength, will receive several hundred new members by the end of October, a UN spokesman said today.