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The United Nations is to help Afghanistan combat the effects of climate change, teaming up with the country’s Government to implement a $6 million initiative that aims to operate in vulnerable communities and shore up the ability of Afghan institutions to independently address risks posed by changes to the climate, the world body’s environmental agency announced today.

Initiatives from China, India, Kenya, Switzerland and the United States will receive an award recognizing how mobile communication can help advance education, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) announced today.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon strongly condemned the string of coordinated terrorist bombings in the Syrian capital of Damascus on Monday night that resulted in numerous deaths and injuries, urging all sides to move towards a political transition and dialogue.

Terming depression, which afflicts 350 million people worldwide, an “under-appreciated global health crisis,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today called for an international effort to increase access to a wide variety of effective and affordable treatments and remove the social stigma attached to the illness.

South Africa’s carbon footprint for 2010, the year it hosted the football World Cup, was lower than previously expected, says a new United Nations report, which highlights the successes and lessons that other countries must learn to ensure the sustainability of major international sporting events.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today spotlighted the role that police peacekeepers play in upholding the rule of law and helping countries achieve lasting progress, while calling on countries to boost support for their work.

With its many years of experience and its entrenched neutrality, the United Nations is ideally placed to help countries establish the rule of law, a vital factor in post-conflict reconstruction, overall development and enforcing fundamental rights, a top UN official said today.

The United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) said today there was “no evidence” of human-to-human transmission of a new virus that can cause acute respiratory infection and renal failure, and whose discovery in a second patient last month spurred the agency to issue a global alert.

Voicing his “outrage and strongest condemnation” over the shooting of a 14-year-old girl who has bravely championed the right to education for women and girls in Pakistan, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today called for the perpetrators of this “heinous and cowardly” act to be swiftly brought to justice.

The United Nations peacekeeping chief arrived today in Laayoune to visit the world body’s mission in Western Sahara, following which he will hold talks with both parties involved in the dispute over the territory.