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A United Nations-backed report launched today explores the different ways the international treaty governing the inscription of world heritage sites may one day apply to sunken coral islands, floating rainforests, or giant undersea volcanoes, none of which can be considered for listing because they are in the seas outside of any national jurisdiction.

The United Nations is "deeply troubled" by the recent missile launches of the Democratic Republic of Korea (DPRK), a UN spokesperson said today after one of the rockets, reportedly landed in or near Japanese waters for the first time.

In a meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kazakhstan, Erlan Idrissov, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon congratulated the country on its recent election as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, as well on its signing of the Paris Agreement under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

The United Nations food relief agency today started a fundraising campaign, using a smartphone application, to provide school meals in a southern district of Malawi, where El Niño-induced drought has reduced crop yields.

A new United Nations report has found that e-government is an effective tool for facilitating integrated policies and public service by promoting accountable and transparent institutions, such as through open data and participatory decision-making, and therefore it has the potential to help support the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Marking the second anniversary of the seizure of Sinjar by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today expressed his profound sympathy to the families of the victims and the survivors as well as deep concern for safety of the people – particularly thousands of Yazidi women and children – still being held captive.

Civilian causalities in eastern Ukraine spiked in June and July, prompting the United Nations human rights chief to call on the parties to the conflict to make protection of civilians a priority and take urgent steps to de-escalate the increasingly tense situation at the contact line.

The head of the new United Nations political mission in Colombia today pledged the world body’s steadfast support for the full implementation of the accord reached by the Colombian Government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia - People’s Army (FARC-EP), which seeks to bring an end the longest-running conflict in the Western Hemisphere.

Deeply disturbed by reports that five hospitals and a blood bank have been hit by airstrikes in Syria, the United Nations today reiterated its call on all parties to the conflict to end the destruction of medical facilities and other civilian infrastructure.

United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator Stephen O’Brien today called on all actors in South Sudan, including the international community supporting the country, to work together for a peace that will enable the nation and its people to realize their hopes for a better future.