A photographic exhibition entitled "Women, Water and Wells" opens in the North East Gallery of the Visitors Lobby on Wednesday, 29 July at 6 p.m. The exhibition features a selection of photographs by Gil Garcetti that reveal the challenges, hopes and successes experienced by people throughout West Africa -- particularly women -- who are faced with the daily task of providing safe water for their families and communities.

The head of the United Department of Public Information today opened the seventeenth International Media Seminar on Peace in the Middle East, urging Israelis, Palestinians and the wider international community, particularly journalists, to support the world body’s ongoing efforts to help the parties arrive at a just and lasting solution.

Once fully deployed, the United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic and Chad (MINURCAT) would be sure to make a difference, the top United Nations official on the ground told the Security Council today.

Following are UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s acceptance remarks upon receiving an honorary doctorate degree from the National University of Mongolia, in Ulaanbaatar, 28 July:

Concluding the General Assembly’s debate on States’ responsibility to protect their people from mass-atrocity crimes, delegates today weighed whether that multifaceted and controversial concept provided sufficient legal grounds for collective intervention in national affairs.

With efforts under way in Burundi to ensure transparent elections in 2010, entrench democratic principles into national institutions and advance a pivotal ceasefire accord with Forces Nationales de Libération (FNL) rebels, the country was successfully emerging from years of conflict, the Peacebuilding Commission heard today, as it adopted the conclusions of its third biannual review of the implementation of the Strategic Framework for Peacebuilding in Burundi.

The seventeenth International Media Seminar on Peace in the Middle East concluded today, as the head of the United Nations Department of Public Information encouraged journalists to do more to expand the public dialogue about the situation in that region and to help bridge the divides that separated Israelis and Palestinians.

Following is the transcript of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's press conference held in New York today:

Experts of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women today recognized the efforts of a young, small-island nation –- Tuvalu –- to review its legal system from the top down for discriminatory practices, but expressed deep concern that traditional bias held sway in many areas.

The Security Council voted unanimously this morning to extend the mandate of the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) for one year, demanding that parties to the conflict in the western Sudanese province immediately put an end to the violence, including attacks on civilians, peacekeepers and humanitarian personnel.