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A senior United Nations humanitarian official in Ukraine today called on the Government to keep checkpoints open in conflict-affected areas in the country's east to prevent hardship for thousands of mostly elderly people seeking access to medicines, and food and other items.

European countries were called on today by the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) to act early and in a coordinated way to protect the region from Zika virus, just one day after another case was confirmed in the United States.

Warning of “a strong sense that that we are off track and in a deep mess,” United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today called on the world to move from a pattern of reaction to crises to a culture of prevention, with a heightened focus on the universality of human rights in tackling the “mega-crises” of the 21st century.

Working with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC), the United Nations refugee agency has delivered crucial humanitarian aid to a rural town near Damascus that has been cut off by fighting for three years, stranding thousands of residents in dire conditions without clean water or fuel for warmth.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today said the intention of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to launch a satellite in the coming weeks is a “deeply worrying development.”

Maintaining the United Nations momentum towards the first-ever World Humanitarian Summit – set for 23 and 24 May in Istanbul, Turkey – Deputy Secretary General Jan Eliasson today urged bold action to alleviate the suffering of 125 million people who depend on the international community to survive.

Marking the end of the two-day United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Youth Forum, the President of the 54-member body told hundreds of youth leaders that the event exceeded high expectations and that the time is now for young people to get behind global efforts to ensure sustainable development for all.

Appealing for international collaboration to cope with the crisis of Syrian refugees and the challenges to peace in the Middle East, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at a recent keynote lecture delivered at the headquarters of the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), that his country would like to broaden its political and trade relationships with the region.

Condemning in the strongest terms Saturday’s “horrific terrorist attacks” attributed to Boko Haram in northeastern Nigeria, which resulted in a large number of dead and wounded, the United Nations Security Council today called on all States to cooperate in bringing the perpetrators to justice.

A senior United Nations humanitarian official today voiced deep concern at the administrative detention of more than 525 Palestinians in Israeli jails and detention centres, including one who has been on hunger strike for over two months.