The guests at noon today will discuss what we have been doing to assist the Afghan authorities in holding the elections and responding to complaints of fraud.

An extensive investigation, launched Monday, into charges of fraudulent voting in Afghanistan’s recent elections was moving forward with the aim of delivering results as soon as possible, Edmond Mullet, United Nations Assistant-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping said today at a Headquarters press conference.

Some 650 million of the world’s 1 billion poorest people depended totally on animals for their livelihoods, Mike Baker, Director-General of The World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA), said at Headquarters today.

The two-hour season premiere episode of the award-winning television show Ugly Betty highlights the grassroots campaign Nothing But Nets, which saves lives through the distribution of malaria nets in Africa, according to cast members and producers who held a press conference at Headquarters today. The episode, titled “The Butterfly Effect”, airs at 8 p.m. on 16 October.

The Secretary-General strongly condemns the senseless attack that took place in Kabul today, which reportedly killed 17 individuals and injured 80 more, and offers his deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of those killed, and his best wishes for a swift recovery to those injured.

At a Headquarters press conference today, the United Nations Agency dealing with human settlements launched a global report that backed a unified approach to urban planning -- one that recognized key factors shaping twenty-first century cities, especially the demographic, environmental, economic and socio-spatial challenges -- by all stakeholders involved in the process of accommodating the lives of millions of people in rapidly growing cities around the world.

The Secretary-General wholeheartedly welcomes and congratulates US President Barack Obama on winning the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009.

While “much-needed” progress had been made during the just-concluded ten-day negotiating session in Bangkok towards an agreement at the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference, the Director of the Secretary-General’s Climate Change Support Team today said there was still a disconnect between what national leaders said in summit meetings and what their negotiators offered.

United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, John Holmes, arrived in the Philippines today on a 2-day mission to see first-hand the strong emergency response to tropical storm Ketsana and typhoon Parma.

The Foreign Minister of Honduras, speaking at a Headquarters press conference this afternoon, called on the international community to hold firm in its non-acceptance of the authorities installed by the 28 June coup in her country if there was no resolution of the situation by a 15 October deadline.