The UN postal service announced on Wednesday that it would issue a set of six commemorative stamps designed by a South American artist to mark the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

There are 73 prisons in Kazakhstan, including 17 colony-settlements. Most of the places of detention are overcrowded. The total number of the convinced in the Republic of Kazakhstan exceeds 56.000. In 2007 only the number of sentenced increased for 4.300 (Regnum, March 19, 2008).

Experts estimate that $9 in productivity, health and other benefits are returned for every dollar invested installing toilets for people in countries that today are off-track in meeting the UN Millennium Development Goal (MDG) for sanitation.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Nagorno Karabakh Republic comments on the resolution that Azerbaijan presented to UN and got adapted by the UN General Assembly.

The United Nations' top human rights official is quitting in few months. High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour has told U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that she will step down at the end of her current four-year term on June 30.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and foreign minister colleagues from France and Britain issued a statement Thursday urging global pressure on Burma's military government to end human rights abuses and return the country to civilian rule. The appeal was issued at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland after Rice's departure for Washington. VOA's David Gollust reports from the State Department.

A senior U.S. official says a new U.N. sanctions resolution aimed at pressuring Iran to curb its sensitive nuclear activities will be "punitive," despite Russian remarks to the contrary.

In Kenya, the opposition Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) which said it won the December 27 elections, has filed a complaint with the International Criminal Court in The Hague against President Mwai Kibaki and the government for crimes against humanity and state-sponsored terrorism. ODM secretary-general Peter Anyang Nyong’o said Kenyan police have killed more than 1,000 post-election protesters and wounded tens of thousands.

Vrindavan, in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, is called the "City of Widows." Upper-caste Hindu widows who are disowned by their families go there to live. Young and old spend their remaining years singing hymns in temples in exchange for food, and a small daily stipend of coins. As Madhur Singh reports from Vrindavan, despite efforts by the government and aid organizations, most of the women subsist in abysmal conditions.

Palestinians are continuing to cross into Egypt for a second day to stock up on food, fuel and household supplies that have been scarce in the Gaza Strip since Israel imposed a blockade on the territory last week.

Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith is on his way to the United States where it is understood he will discuss Australia's withdrawal of troops from Iraq.

“The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said Tuesday that developing countries must play an active role alongside global partnerships to further cut child mortality and raise overall care.