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To cover the “breadth and depth” of the recently adopted Sustainable Development Goals, the potential of the data revolution must be explored through the use of new and non-traditional sources of data, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stressed at the 10th annual Internet Governance Forum (IGF), which opened today in João Pessoa, Brazil.

Mali is entering a new era of opportunity, but while significant progress has been made, the international community ‘must not take its foot off the accelerator,’ a senior UN relief official said today, returning from a three-day visit to the country.

More than 240,000 children will receive daily hot meals in school this academic year in Guinea, according to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), which is expanding its school meals programme from 735 to 1,605 primary schools across the country.

Scientists have found that 90 per cent of individuals vaccinated with a meningitis A vaccine costing less than 50 cents a dose had protective antibodies in their system 5 years later, bringing Africa close to elimination of the “highly feared’ disease on the continent, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced today.

As a result of a strengthening El Niño, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is warning that an estimated 11 million children are at risk from hunger, disease and lack of water in eastern and southern Africa alone, as the weather phenomenon has left droughts and floods in its wake throughout parts of Asia, the Pacific and Latin America.

The United Nations Security Council today renewed for another year its authorization for international naval forces to join in fighting piracy off the coast of Somalia, stressing that while the threat from Somali pirates has declined, it still remains a matter of “grave concern.”

The United Nations has called for the immediate release of detained Egyptian human rights defender Hossam Bahgat with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon describing as “profoundly worrying” the latest in a series of such detentions.

Under the slogan ‘nutritious seeds for a sustainable future,’ the United Nations, led by its Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), today launched the 2016 International Year of Pulses to raise awareness about the protein power and health benefits of all kinds of dried beans and peas, boost their production and trade, and encourage new and smarter uses throughout the food chain.

Citing science, technology and innovation as key components of the upcoming United Nations climate change negotiations in Paris, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) today urged governments to “do everything to support societies across the world, on every continent, to create and share knowledge.”

Seeking to maintain momentum for renewed diplomacy towards a political settlement of the conflict in Syria, the United Nations Special Envoy on the crisis said today that the UN is ready to support any decision taken at the next round of international talks in Vienna this weekend and that he hopes the discussions yield some deliverables for the long-suffering Syrian people – namely, a lessoning of the violence.