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Amid a dangerous political and humanitarian crisis and a seething secessionist movement, Yemen sits on the brink of collapse, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned the Security Council today, reminding the international community of its “solemn obligation” under the UN Charter to help the country prevent an escalation of the conflict and re-launch its political process.

Urging global cooperation “to impair, isolate and incapacitate” terrorist threats, the United Nations Security Council today approved measures targeting sources of funding for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and Al-Nusrah Front (ANF), condemning those buying oil from the groups, banning all trade in looted antiquities from Iraq and Syria, and calling on States to end ransom payments.

From Afghanistan to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), as the world's conflicts become more brutal, intense and widespread, children are finding themselves increasingly vulnerable to recruitment and deployment by armed groups, the United Nations warned today.

The United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territory today launched an appeal to boost funding for more than a million Palestinians who continue to face grim conditions on the ground and an uncertain future.

United Nations Headquarters in New York hosted the inaugural World Women’s Health and Development Forum today, bringing together world leaders, representatives of UN system entities, scientists, healthcare professionals, and members of civil society, the media and the private sector to discuss how best to advance the health, wealth and empowerment of women worldwide.

The recent outbreaks of measles – one of the leading causes of deaths among young children – in the United States and Brazil suggest that immunization rates in some areas have dropped below levels needed to prevent the spread of imported into the Americas, according to the United Nations health agency.

The top United Nations development official, tasked by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to lead the Organization’ system-wide Ebola-related recovery effort, today began a visit to West Africa, where a new study recommended better programs for women who have been disproportionately impacted by the disease.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is applauding the release of another 300 children from an armed group in South Sudan – the second such UN-backed demobilization of child soldiers in less than a month.

African girls and boys continue to be subjected to distressing levels of physical, sexual and emotional violence despite the significant legal and policy measures adopted throughout the region, according to a new United Nations-backed report.

Grass-roots involvement and inclusion, especially of youth, is vital to rebuild war-torn Central African Republic (CAR), where unemployment is running at over 20 per cent, and more than 60 per cent of young people are living in extreme poverty, the top United Nations official responsible for Africa at the Organization’s development agency has stressed.