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Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has condemned the killing today of a peacekeeper from the United Nations mission in the Central African Republic (CAR) following a confrontation with armed elements in the town of Batangafo, amid ongoing violence in the strife-torn country where elections are set to take place before the end of the year.

Senior United Nations officials today warned the UN Security Council that Burundi is at a critical juncture, experiencing a deep political crisis and rapidly escalating violence with serious implications for the country's stability and ethnic harmony, as bodies are regularly dumped in the streets of the capital, Bujumbura, and thousands of people flee the bloodshed.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today announced the appointment of Jamal Benomar of the United Kingdom as his Special Adviser, at the level of Under-Secretary-General.

South Sudan remains engulfed in a spiral of violence – with clashes in southern and central Unity state having “intensified with grave consequences for civilians” – leaving at-risk populations food insecure and vulnerable to diseases, the United Nations humanitarian wing has warned, announcing that relief organizations on the ground are boosting efforts there despite access challenges and lagging funding.

The United Nations Security Council today called for the elimination of local and foreign armed groups which have for decades devastated the eastern regions of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and urged the immediate resumption of joint operations between the UN peacekeeping force’s Intervention Brigade and the national army.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has congratulated the people of Myanmar for “their patience, dignity and enthusiasm” in historic elections and has encouraged all stakeholders “to maintain the dignified spirit, calm and respect throughout the completion of the electoral process.”

The Security Council today approved a successor operation to the six-year-old United Nations Support Office for the African Union Mission to Somalia, known as UNSOA, underlining the role of the new entity to close gaps in UNSOA’s ability to deliver and to “consolidate and prioritize its efforts in line with the [Council’s] strategic objectives in the country.”

The head of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) today said the traditional response to crises of relief first and development later “is not tenable” in a protracted crisis like Syria, where the conflict is now well into its fifth year, and urged all actors to be engaged at the earliest stage in restoring basic services and supporting livelihoods.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) announced today that the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere reached yet another new record high in 2014, continuing a relentless rise which is fuelling climate change and will make the planet more dangerous and inhospitable for future generations.

The United Nations refugee agency has managed to deliver aid for the first time in over two months to areas of eastern Ukraine beyond Government control where two million people are in urgent need of assistance, reaching 12,000 people – a “small drop in the ocean of needs” – with plans to expand greatly as the harsh winter sets in.