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Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the Security Council and the top United Nations envoy in Lebanon have strongly condemned the car bombing in Beirut today that killed former minister Mohammad Chattah and at least five others, underlining the need to protect the country’s stability in the face of such terrorism and the crisis in neighbouring Syria.

The United Nations today called on the Iraqi Government to ensure maximum security for some 3,200 Iranian exiles in a camp near Baghdad airport after a rocket attack on the airport last night reportedly killed a number of residents and seriously wounded others.

An independent United Nations human rights expert today urged Cambodian authorities to continue to exercise restraint amid daily demonstrations in the capital of Phnom Penh, while also praising the increasing democratic space allowing people to comfortably express themselves in the streets without fear of retaliation and warning them against resorting to violence.

The United Nations human rights office today called on the President of Uganda to refrain from signing the Anti-Homosexuality Bill into law, and urged the country to ensure the protection of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people from violence and discrimination.

Some 63,000 civilians have now sought refuge in United Nations bases in South Sudan as the UN peacekeeping mission there moves to reinforce its strength with troops and helicopters in the face of a conflict that has killed thousands and driven at least 122,000 others from their homes in the past 12 days.

The General Assembly today wrapped up its work for the main part of the 68th session by approving a budget of $5.5 billion for the United Nations to carry out its vital work over the next two years.

An independent United Nations expert today urged the Somali Government to finalize and carry out a human rights roadmap endorsed by the cabinet in August.

The United Nations human rights office today urged the Government of Thailand to drop criminal defamation charges against two journalists who wrote about the alleged involvement of the Thai Navy with human trafficking.

The United Nations hopes to have peacekeeping reinforcements on the ground in strife-torn South Sudan within the next 48 hours, including both troops and critical assets such as helicopters, as it seeks to protect civilians in a conflict that is already estimated to have claimed well over 1,000 lives, the top UN official in the country said today.

The United Nations agency assisting Palestinian refugees today condemned Israel’s latest demolitions in the West Bank which have displaced 68 people, including 32 children, in the depths of winter, saying it is violating international law and calling on it to abide by its obligations.