4 September 2010 – Fiscal prudence and measures to protect the vulnerable can be implemented at the same time, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today, urging richer countries not to abandon their commitments to helping poorer nations to alleviate poverty and boost social development.

“I commend those countries whose most recent budgets have retained a strong commitment to global development despite the fiscal pressures,” Mr. Ban told the European Forum on the International Financial Crisis and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in the western Austrian village of Alpbach.

Mr. Ban made several proposals at the gathering which, he said, would give fillip to developing countries' efforts to reduce poverty and the social ills associated with deprivation.

Vienna, 25 August (UN Information Service) - Stefán Einarsson, 44, a graphic designer from Reykjavík, Iceland, was announced the winner of the UN Ads Against Poverty Competition for his work "We are still waiting", which calls on world leaders to live up to their promises of ending poverty.

The winner will be given the Spanish Presidency award by HM Queen Sofia of Spain at a ceremony in Madrid on Friday 10 September. The ceremony will also be attended by Spanish Secretary of State for International Cooperation Soraya Rodriguez Ramos, chairman of the jury Jacques Séguéla and UNRIC Director Afsané Bassir-Pour.

Message on the International Day Against Nuclear Tests, 29 August 2010

Vienna, 29 August (UN Information Service) - This day marks the first observance of the International Day against Nuclear Tests, proposed in 2009 by the Government of Kazakhstan at the sixty-fourth session of the United Nations General Assembly. The fact that the proposal won unanimous support reflects the deep concern of the international community about the dangers posed by such tests.

It was on 29 August 1991 that the President of Kazakhstan closed the test site at Semipalatinsk, where 456 nuclear tests conducted during the Cold War era devastated the landscape and left enduring effects on the local population. I witnessed this toxic legacy first-hand when I visited Semipalatinsk earlier this year.

21 August 2010 – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today welcomed the decision by the Israeli and Palestinian leaders to begin direct negotiations and described the talks on the Middle East peace process “an opportunity that must not be wasted.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas have agreed to direct negotiations starting in Washington on 2 September, following an invitation from the United States Government and a statement yesterday from the Middle East Quartet.

16 August 2010 – Waterborne diseases continue to pose great risk to millions of people affected by the devastating floods in Pakistan, the United Nations warned today, a day after Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, on a visit to the country, described the “heart-wrenching” suffering he witnessed among flood survivors.

The UN World Health Organization (WHO) said that in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, one of the hardest-hit provinces, acute diarrhoea is the leading cause of illness and accounted for nearly one in five patient visits since the floods began. The problem has also been reported in Balochistan, Punjab and Sindh, the agency reported.