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The senior United Nations envoy to Haiti has hailed parliamentary elections in the country as a major step towards consolidating democracy while decrying clashes that resulted in the closure of three voting centres.

Any continuation or escalation of the current conflict in Chad could leave up to 700,000 thousands of people short of food in both eastern Chad and across the border in the strife-torn Sudanese region of Darfur, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) warned today.

A United Nations treaty protecting the world’s oral traditions, performing arts, social practices, craftsmanship and knowledge of nature – the planet’s so-called intangible cultural heritage – came into force yesterday, three months after the 30th instrument of ratification was deposited.

Nearly 280 projects worldwide such as bringing postal services to outlying areas, primarily in least advanced countries, have been financed over the past five years by the Universal Postal Union (UPU), a United Nations specialized agency that is the world’s second-oldest international organization, it was announced today.

A top United Nations refugee official today ended a six-day visit to Pakistan, during which a breakthrough agreement was signed with the government that will help close the chapter on the millions of Afghans who fled there from their homeland during two and a half decades of war and factional fighting.

Seven environmental leaders, ranging from Mikhail Gorbachev, the former President of the Soviet Union to an Ethiopian activist for community rights and Iran’s first woman vice-president, were today awarded the United Nations top environmental prize at a gala ceremony in Singapore.

Rural projects in nine countries around the world, from Bosnia and Herzegovina to Brazil and from Madagascar to the Maldives, will benefit from $145.6 million in loans approved today by the United Nations specialized agency dedicated to eradicating rural poverty in developing states.

Broadcasters from around the world have been invited to submit entries for the United Nations-backed 2006 International Children’s Day of Broadcasting (ICDB) Award honouring the best programming that highlights the role of sport in development and peace.

The international shipping company DHL, together with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) today launched a standing programme based in Singapore to ensure that the right relief supplies reach people quickly in the case of a major natural disaster.

Acting as an ambassador for the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), Poland’s quadruple Olympic gold medallist race-walker Robert Korzeniowski has called on his fellow sportsmen to use their international profiles to put the plight of Africa’s hungry children on the international agenda.