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With global media attention focused on events in Lebanon, United Nations humanitarian agencies working in the occupied Palestinian territory today issued a statement sounding alarm about the ongoing fighting there and reminding all parties of their obligation under international humanitarian law to protect civilians.

Saluting the citizens of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) for their participation in historic, largely peaceful elections on Sunday, the Security Council today appealed to them to maintain the “same spirit of civic responsibility” while they await the results.

The United Nations is sending a joint emergency assessment team to the devastated port city of Tyre in south Lebanon tomorrow, from where some 85,000 people have fled worsening violence and devastation caused by more than three weeks of conflict that has already displaced around a quarter of the country’s population.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) reported today that heavy fighting continues in its area of operation in the country’s south, with Hizbollah rockets striking a UN position during the past 24 hours and the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) shelling close to another UN post.

A senior United Nations envoy has pledged the world body’s continued efforts to fulfil its mandate in Ethiopia and Eritrea, where UN blue helmets are monitoring a ceasefire along the disputed border between the two Horn of Africa countries.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has “condemned in the strongest possible terms” news of more horrific sexual child abuse cases in Zimbabwe while urging new measures to protect the country’s youngsters and provide more general education about HIV and AIDS.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s Special Representative in Timor-Leste today called for calm and for the observance of the rule of law to allow justice to take its course in dealing with the outbreak of violence in April that forced tens of thousands of people in the small country to flee their homes.

Some 500 organisations, from local community groups and schools to government departments from 119 countries, are set to take part in this year’s United Nations-backed ‘Clean Up the World Weekend’ from 15-17 September, the flagship event of an annual campaign that mobilizes over 30 million volunteers globally to conserve the environment.

Latin America and the Caribbean will obtain more than 60 per cent of its sustainable wood supply from planted forests by the year 2020, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has said, but high deforestation rates in the region’s natural forests are still expected to continue.

People living along the coast in vulnerable Indian Ocean countries must learn to be “tsunami-savvy” to survive, while authorities must have solid planning in place to evacuate affected areas, a senior official from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) warned today, just over two weeks after a deadly wave killed almost 700 people in Indonesia and displaced tens of thousands.