Kosovo’s recent parliamentary election – conducted peacefully and inclusively – marked a significant step in its democratic development, the UN’s top envoy said on Tuesday, noting gains in women’s representation.

The UN Secretary-General on Tuesday warned that when it comes to trade wars, “nobody wins” and “everybody tends to lose.”

Some 41,000 refugees have crossed from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) into Uganda since January, many of them having witnessed killings, “sexual violence and other traumatic experience during their flight,” said the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) on Tuesday.

Nearly 13 million people in Ukraine urgently need humanitarian aid as displacement, psychological trauma and the destruction of essential services continues to take a devastating toll, the UN relief chief warned on Tuesday.

With no aid allowed into Gaza for more than a month, the UN Secretary-General appealed on Tuesday for guaranteed humanitarian access to the enclave.

In earthquake-shattered central Myanmar, people are sleeping in the streets in fear of buildings collapsing, facing early monsoon rains and the risk of waterborne diseases, the UN warned on Tuesday.

MEXICO, Apr 07 (IPS) - Retired blacksmith and mechanic José Hernández nostalgically recalls the passenger trains that once passed through his hometown of Huamantla in the state of Tlaxcala, southeastern Mexico.

KABUL, Apr 07 (IPS) - The author is an Afghanistan-based female journalist, trained with Finnish support before the Taliban take-over. Her identity is withheld for security reasonsWomen in Afghanistan have borne the brunt of the Taliban’s extremist Islamist rule. Four years on, there appears to be no end in sight.

NAIROBI, Apr 07 (IPS) - The world’s leading scientists and decision-makers in agriculture, climate, and health are meeting in Nairobi this week to promote innovation and partnerships towards a food, nutrition, and climate-secure future. As current agrifood systems buckle under multiple challenges, nearly one in 11 people globally and one in five people in Africa go hungry every day.

CANDELARIA DE LA FRONTERA, El Salvador, Apr 07 (IPS) - In Central America’s Dry Corridor, climatic conditions hinder water and food production because rainfall in this ecoregion—from May to December—is less predictable than in the rest of the isthmus.