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Broader community-based engagement is vital to tackling non-communicable diseases – such as cancer, cardiovascular disease and diabetes – which are one of the major challenges for development in the 21st century, the President of the United Nations General Assembly stressed today.

The head of the United Nations agency tasked with defending press freedom today denounced the killing earlier this week of two journalists covering the fighting in eastern Ukraine.

Human security – broadly defined by the United Nations as “the right of people to live in freedom and dignity, free from poverty and despair” – provides a new way of thinking about the range of 21st century challenges and how to respond to them, UN officials said today, backing this people-centred approach as vital to the ensuring sustainable development for all.

With an estimated 628 million people in Asia- and the Pacific lacking access to electricity and more than 1.8 billion using natural fuels, the United Nation office in the region launched today the UN Decade of Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL), underscoring the importance of clean forms of electricity in the post-2015 developing agenda.

Following the announcement today by an Afghan presidential candidate that he will suspend cooperation with the electoral process, the United Nations has called for respect of the country’s Constitution and laws, as well as its independent electoral institutions.

In his address to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today highlighted ongoing collaboration between the two organizations on a range of immediate challenges and long-term pursuits, including the crises in Iraq, Syria and the ongoing peace efforts in the Middle East.

The time for peace talks in Mali is now, the United Nations peacekeeping chief told the Security Council today, underscoring the importance of a successful political process to the country's stability and reversing the sharp deterioration in the security situation in the northern town of Kidal.

With United Nations monitors reporting today that armed separatists have used killings, abductions and torture to instil a “climate of intimidation and fear” in eastern Ukraine, the world body’s human rights chief urged all armed groups to put down their weapons, end the violence and begin the process of long-term reconciliation.

At a time when the international community is struggling to generate more jobs, especially for young people, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today urged Governments to invest more in youth employment initiatives and promote decent work for all.

The United Nations Security Council today voiced its deepest condolences to the families of all journalists who have been killed while covering the crisis in Ukraine, and encouraged a thorough investigation of all such incidents.