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The escalation of armed conflict in Yemen threatens the country’s cultural heritage, warned the head of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the world body’s agency responsible for protecting cultural property.

Two weeks after Cyclone Pam hit Vanuatu, the United Nations says it has reached all 22 storm-affected islands of the country, with food for more than 160,000 people.

Millions of lives in the Middle East – and the very social fabric of entire countries – are at stake, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned this morning, calling for urgent action from the Security Council to end the religiously and ethnically-motivated violence sweeping the region and end impunity for those committing crimes against humanity.

Libyan stakeholders have reached a consensus on a range of issues – including on the need for a unity government and security arrangements – and are now convinced that there is a political solution to the country's crisis, Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG), Bernardino Léon, said at the conclusion of the latest round of peace talks which he praised for making “very important progress.”

At the first-ever United Nations Chiefs of Defence Conference today, the Secretary-General appealed to senior military officials for more troop contributions from States around the world and for political will and purpose.

The situation on the ground in Syria has “dramatically” worsened as the country enters its fifth year of war amid escalating fighting and targeted attacks against civilians, the top United Nations humanitarian official warned today as she urged the international community to bring the violence to an end.

The Security Council passed a resolution today renewing for 12 months the mandate of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and endorsing recommendations made in the Secretary-General's report on the strategic review of the mission.

The Security Council has agreed to boost the United Nations peacekeeping presence in the Central African Republic (CAR) amid the country's continuing instability and simmering sectarian tensions.

As Israeli and Palestinian parties do not appear ready to recommence talks, the international community must consider presenting a viable framework for negotiations, the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process said today during his final briefing to the Security Council, noting that “this may be the only way to preserve the goal of the two-State solution.”

Noting Saudi Arabia's announcement that, at the request of the Government of Yemen, it has begun military operations in the Gulf nation, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on all parties to ensure the protection of civilians and emphasized that despite escalation, negotiations remain the only option for ultimately resolving the crisis.