The Spokesman confirmed that the Secretary-General held a town hall meeting with staff in Afghanistan to outline what the UN system is doing to keep people safe and to keep our operations running.

In Port-au-Prince, Ramesh Rajasingham, the Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, joined Haitian government officials and partners to launch a flash appeal to address the urgent needs of Haitians impacted by the August 14th earthquake, as well as tropical storm Grace.

The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Iraq, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, briefed Security Council members. She said the clock is ticking with only 46 days left until Iraq goes to the polls on October 10th and noted the Independent High Electoral Commission has reached several milestones.

In response to questions about the situation between Algeria and Morocco, the Spokesman said we have seen yesterday’s announcement by the Algerian Foreign Minister regarding the severing of diplomatic relations with Morocco.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, UNICEF is concerned about the impact on children of new cases of the Bubonic plague in the eastern province of Ituri.

The Food and Agriculture Organization today released a guide that says forests and trees play a vital role in meeting the world's increasing demand for water and need to be managed for water-related ecosystem service.

UN News is launching a podcast tomorrow about the climate crisis. The podcast, called No Denying It, will have new episodes every week and will last until the beginning of COP26, scheduled to take place in Glasgow, in the United Kingdom.