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A new online database of staple food prices on national markets in 55 developing countries from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe shows that local prices have not fallen the way they have at the global level, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said today.

Robust investment into five key sectors, from renewable energy to sustainable transport, could help revive the global economy and boost employment while accelerating the fight against climate change, environmental degradation and poverty, according to the United Nations.

In order to end the sexual violence plaguing the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), it is necessary to stop the activity of armed groups but also to ensure security forces have strong discipline, the top United Nations envoy there said today.

The United Nations refugee agency says it will not be able to provide thousands of Congolese refugees, many of them returning from Tanzania, with adequate housing unless its shelter programme receives additional funds.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will embark next week on a trip that will take him to Russia, Qatar, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, France and Turkey to tackle issues such as consolidating stability in Afghanistan, the Middle East peace process and the current economic turmoil.

With the illiteracy rate among Iraqi women twice as high as that of men and women making up only 18 per cent of the country’s labour force, a United Nations conference that opened in Baghdad today is seeking ways to improve the situation of women in the fledgling democracy.

Both the surging food prices from 2007 to 2008 and their subsequent drop in some areas are a result of large-scale speculation by financial investors, according to a new report by the United Nations trade body, which called for greater regulation to protect millions of poor people worldwide.

The United Nations said today it was saddened to learn of the death of an aid worker with the non-governmental organization CARE in the so-called “no-fire” zone in Sri Lanka’s strife-torn north.

While characterizing Liberia’s security situation as relatively stable, the top United Nations envoy to the West African nation today cautioned that significant challenges remain in the areas of security and the rule of law.

Haiti is making strides in security sector and judicial reform but continues to grapple with widespread poverty and vulnerability to disasters, the leader of a United Nations Security Council mission to the impoverished Caribbean nation said today.