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The international community stands on the cusp of eradicating extreme poverty and reaching the world's most vulnerable people with “a chance to live a life of dignity,” the Vice-President of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) declared today, as he appealed to delegates to strengthen the platforms for implementing the new development agenda that will be adopted in September.

The United Nations food standards body, the Codex Alimentarius Commission, today kicked off its latest session in Geneva, during which it will examine and adopt new food safety and quality standards, including limits on the use of drugs in food-producing animals.

Cooperatives will play an “invaluable role” in the international community's roll-out of a sustainable development goals, said United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who today marked the International Day of Cooperatives with an appeal for all to recommit to the business model, which could help make the vision of a sustainable future a reality for everyone.

In a speedy response to Liberia's first confirmed cases of Ebola in more than three months, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has begun distributing emergency supplies in the affected communities including tents for isolating those under quarantine, hygiene kits and chlorine and buckets for handwashing stations.

Increasingly concerned by the continued deadly incidents in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, against Israelis and Palestinians, United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay Mladenov today called for an immediate end to the violence.

Children, some as young as four years old, are bearing the brunt of the prolonged instability and election-related violence in Burundi, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) warned today, confirming reports of an additional three deaths of children over the last five days.

Ending the AIDS epidemic – in all places and all communities – is essential to realizing the vision of a life of dignity for all, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon declared today in Barbados at the Caribbean region launch of a major new United Nations report the calls for scaling up an inclusive, rights-based and stigma-free response to wipe out the deadly disease.

Condemning the destruction of archaeological treasures from the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra as a “perverse…new attempt to break the bonds between people and their history,” the head of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) today called on the international community, including the art market, to join forces and stop the traffic in cultural property.

The United Nations is working to deliver humanitarian aid in war-torn Yemen despite widespread insecurity, port delays and severe restrictions on access, several of the Organization's agencies and partners confirmed today, citing efforts to provide everything from emergency shelters to food and other basic necessities to tens of thousands of people displaced by fighting and airstrikes.

The United Nations refugee agency today welcomed proposals by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to set up a task force and trust fund to respond to the irregular movement of refugees and migrants in the region.