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United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will address a range of stakeholders from Government, business and civil society gathering this weekend in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, to chart new routes for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and strengthening climate resilience ahead of a UN climate change summit in September.

Mayi-Mayi rebels attacked United Nations peacekeepers in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) where the Mission is on alert monitoring and the situation, it was announced today.

Senior United Nations officials today reported a drastic deterioration in the human rights situation in South Sudan, marked by increasing ethnic violence and revenge killings, and urged the Security Council not to simply stand by as the world’s youngest nation plunges deeper into crisis.

Landslides triggered by heavy rains crashed into an area of north-eastern Afghanistan today, killing at least 350 people and causing widespread damage to homes and agriculture, according to a senior United Nations relief official in the country, who said the world body is “fully engaged” in the effort to mobilize support for the initial search and rescue effort.

As the unprecedented crisis in the Central African Republic (CAR) continues to deepen, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has accelerated its operations – distributing 60 per cent more food in April than in March.

Amidst reports that Cambodia has agreed in principle to house asylum seekers that had tried to enter Australia, a United Nations senior human rights official wrapping up her visit to the country today urged its Government to respect its international commitments.

As the United Nations Security Council convened its second urgent session this week on the situation in Ukraine, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reiterated his grave concern over the rising tensions in the country’s east and south, particularly events in the crisis-gripped city of Slovyansk, where two Ukrainian military helicopters were shot down overnight and a group of European observes captured on 26 April remains in detention.

United Nations agencies are calling on the parties to the conflict in South Sudan to provide safe access to enable humanitarian assistance to reach vulnerable people, including 125,000 Sudanese refugees in Maban County, in Upper Nile state.

The suffering of United States inmate Clayton Lockett during his execution in Oklahoma on 29 April could amount to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment according to international human rights law, the United Nations said today, calling on the US authorities to impose an immediate moratorium on the use of the death penalty.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has strongly condemned the suicide car bombing which took place yesterday in the central eastern province of Panjshir, killing at least 15 people – including seven civilians.