Ahead of the upcoming international fundraising conference for Yemen, the United Nations has received nearly $1 billion contributions from Saudi Araba and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and urged other donors to follow suit and help tackle the world’s worst humanitarian crisis there.

A United Nations spokesman confirmed on Monday that the world body was aware of the announcement by the United States Government of its decision to take action against certain Russian diplomats in the US.

As part of her visit to Liberia Amina Mohammed, United Nations Deputy Secretary-General, celebrated the successful closure of the UN mission there, which she said set the stage for sustained peace in the months and years ahead.

Highlighting political tensions and the disintegrating security situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Leila Zerrougui, briefing the Security Council for the first time as head of the UN stabilization mission in the contry, said significant progress is being made on preparations for upcoming polls.