The global HIV/AIDS epidemic had “come full circle” since its early days, and it was “outrageous” that, despite unprecedented advances in care and treatment, homosexuals all over the world continued to struggle against discrimination and rising infection rates, the Head of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS) said today.

As you may be aware, today is marked by millions of people around the world as the International Day against Homophobia. This year, the United Nations Human Rights Office has put out a short, compelling video, called The Riddle, which you can view on YouTube.

The Secretary-General arrived in Mozambique today to take part in an event on sustainable development and the Millennium Development Goals, after which he met with the country’s parliament leaders. Tomorrow, he will meet with the President of Mozambique, and visit and speak at several educational institutions.

The Head Chief of the Polynesian Kingdom of Atooi, the ancestral name for the State of Hawaii in the United States, announced today at a Headquarters press conference, that the kala, Atooi’s sovereign currency, which had not been minted in nearly 130 years, had recently been introduced into the world exchange.

At a Headquarters press conference today, advocates for indigenous people called on Governments worldwide to work with them to improve the lot of indigenous communities battling land dispossession, exploitation of their natural resources, endemic poverty and socioeconomic marginalization.

The Secretary-General and Mozambican President Armando Guebuza visited today and discussed a wide range of topics, including the country’s great progress and developments in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Madagascar. He also met with students about the “UNiTE” campaign to end violence against women and girls.

The Secretary-General arrived in Kinshasa, where he met with the President of the World Bank, Dr. Jim Yong Kim, at the start of the first joint UN-World Bank visit of its kind. They had meetings with the President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Joseph Kabila, and Government ministers.

Biodiversity and ecosystem services have an important role to play in attaining the sustainable development goals relating to food security, water, energy and poverty eradication, the Executive Secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity said at Headquarters today.

In Rwanda, prior to meetings with the President and Government cabinet ministers, the Secretary-General and Dr. Jim Yong Kim, World Bank President, laid wreaths at the Gisozi genocide memorial site. The Secretary-General also spoke at the Rwandan police headquarters about combating violence against women and girls.

A positive trend was emerging towards consolidated legal frameworks for the rights of Africa’s 50 million indigenous people, said experts at a Headquarters press conference today, as they convened on the margins of the twelfth session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.