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UN staff
killed in Congo plane
crash
 Seven
United Nations staff
were among the 17
people who were
killed on Monday
after their plane
carrying
humanitarian
supplies crashed
into a mountain in
the far east of the
Democratic Republic
of the Congo.
There were 15
passengers and two
crew on board the
plane, which was
operated by Aid Serv,
a United
States-based company
which provides air
transport for the
international
humanitarian
community.
The UN Development
Programme ( UNDP)
said the passengers
included five UNDP staff
members and two from the
UN Office for the
Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
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UN mission in Haiti
helps victims of
recent tropical storms
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 Peacekeepers
from the UN mission in
Haiti, known as MINUSTAH,
are assisting local
authorities in rescue and
relief efforts in the
northern city of Gonaives
after it was hit by floods
and mudslides triggered by
Tropical Storm Hanna, the
second storm in a week to
strike the country.
In the past week,
Hurricane Gustav claimed
dozens of lives, mostly in
Haiti, as it swept across
the region, while Tropical
Storm Fay also claimed
lives in Haiti and caused
widespread flooding and
damage to infrastructure.
MINUSTAH peacekeepers have
distributed drinking water
to about 10,000 people in
Port-au-Prince. A
helicopter was also
dispatched to carry three
tons of relief materials.
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UN
warns of worsening
humanitarian conditions
in Georgian city
|
 The
United Nations High
Commissioner for
Refugees ( UNHCR)
has expressed concern over
the humanitarian
conditions facing people
in and around the Georgian
town of Gori, which lies
just south of the border
of the separatist region
of South Ossetia.
Shelters in the city are
stretched beyond capacity,
with some 4,200 people
from the buffer zone
between Gori and the South
Ossetian boundary
registered as being
internally displaced.
More than 1,000 people are
taking refuge in a UNHCR-tented
camp that was just set up
five days ago, another
1,000 are staying with
host families and roughly
2,000 others are spread
out among nearly two dozen
collective centers.
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Recent
natural disasters
amplify need for urgent
action on climate change
|
 Recent
natural disasters such
as the destruction
wreaked by Hurricane
Gustav, the May
earthquake in China
and the uprooting of
some two million
Indians by the worst
flood in five decades
has reinforced the
need for countries to
reach agreement on a
successor pact to the
Kyoto Protocol, the
head of the United
Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP)
has said.
These events
"underline the
increasing vulnerability
of humanity to natural
disasters - vulnerability
that is set to rise under
the scientific scenarios
if climate change is left
unchecked," said
UNEP's Achim Steiner.
Less than 500 days
remain before nations
converge in Copenhagen,
Denmark, to wrap up
negotiations on
greenhouse gas emissions
as part of the UN
Framework Convention on
Climate Change.
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| One
billion people need safe
drinking water |
 More
than one billion people
still lack access to safe
drinking water,
Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon
said, calling for greater
efforts to achieve the
water and sanitation
targets set by world
leaders in 2000.
As part of the set of
anti-poverty targets known
as the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs),
countries pledged to cut by
half the number of people
without access to safe
drinking water by 2015.
Mr. Ban noted that since
1990, roughly 1.2 billion
people have gained access to
an improved source of
drinking water. However,
with rapid population growth
and persistent poverty in
parts of the developing
world, the number of people
without access has declined
by only around 10 percent.
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About
the United Nations in
Washington
As
the UN
Secretary-General's
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D.C, the United
Nations Information
Center serves as the
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For more information
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agencies, please call
202-331-8670, email unicdc@unicwash.org or
visit us online at www.unicwash.org.
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