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The political transitions over the past year in various Middle Eastern and North African countries are examples of the power of non-violent methods to achieve peaceful change, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today as the United Nations marked the International Day of Non-Violence.

The number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) still in camps in Haiti after their homes were destroyed by last year’s catastrophic earthquake has declined from 1.5 million to 600,000, but hardship in the settlements has not eased, the United Nations humanitarian chief said today at end of her three-day visit to the country.

The United Nations warned today that humanitarian agencies are running out of resources to assist those affected by floods in southern Pakistan, even as the need for clean water, food, shelter and medical services increase among the more than five million people in affected communities.

The United Nations marked World Maritime Day today with a warning of the high costs that piracy is imposing on the shipping industry, and a call for collective action from UN agencies, governments and military forces to combat the problem.

It is vital for countries in Asia and the Pacific to have national policies that will ensure universal access to clean and efficient energy services to advance poverty reduction and improve health and well-being, United Nations officials told a meeting in Bangkok.

Food shortages and other humanitarian concerns in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), especially after the recent floods, as well as the ongoing nuclear issue, have topped discussions between Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the Asian country’s Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs.

The United Nations war crimes tribunal for Rwanda today upheld 25-year jail terms imposed on a former top military officer and a landowner for genocide in the massacres that killed some 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus, often by machete or club, during a 100-day period in 1994.

The United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Heart Federation are today staging awareness events in more than 100 countries to highlight risk factors associated with heart disease, which claims the lives of more than 17 million people every year.

More than 125,000 vulnerable households in Rwanda, particularly those headed by women and young people, are set to benefit from a $39.8-million United Nations loan and grant accord signed today to increase the volume and improve the quality of coffee, tea, silk and horticulture production.

The United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) has provided essential drugs to help treat an outbreak of dengue fever that has affected an estimated 1,000 people in the north-eastern Kenyan district of Mandera, which borders Ethiopia and Somalia.