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The United Nations and its partners are celebrating Safer Internet Day today with a special focus on education strategies to promote greater online safety for children and young people.

Afghanistan’s new national policy to protect the rights of some 630,000 internally displaced people recognizes that all Afghans have the right to freedom of movement and residence, the United Nations refugee agency today detailed.

United Nations-sponsored talks between the Syrian Government and opposition that resumed yesterday are making scant progress in ending the “nightmare” of the civil war, the top mediator said today, calling for a quicker pace as officials voiced “deep concern” at the detention by the authorities of men and boys leaving a long besieged city.

Against the backdrop of a weak global economic recovery and harsh fiscal austerity measures, continued unemployment and an aging world population, the United Nations and its partners must lead efforts to put people’s needs at the forefront of development.

A senior United Nations official today appealed to all parties in the Syrian conflict to ensure unimpeded access for the delivery of humanitarian aid to civilians in need, especially the thousands of Palestinian refugees languishing in the besieged Damascus suburb of Yarmouk.

The top United Nations peacekeeping official today warned of difficult challenges in solving the conflict between the Government and opposition in South Sudan, as humanitarian officials reported that they have only been able to aid about a third of the nearly 900,000 people displaced by the fighting.

Over the next two and a half years, the United Nations food agency will provide technical assistance to Belarus in managing its stocks of obsolete pesticides, it was announced today.

Black pepper, vanilla and basil are among the spices and herbs under scrutiny as a newly created committee meets today in India to develop quality standards for the multi-billion industry, which could also aid small farmers in selecting what to grow and how, the United Nations food agency today announced.

A third shipment of chemical weapons material was removed from Syria today, the Joint Mission of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and the United Nations confirmed.

The United Nations committee mandated to ensure compliance with the global treaty to end all forms of discrimination against women opened a new session today with a call for gender equality to be fully integrated into the post-2015 agenda.