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Global foreign direct investment is up and expected to rise over the next three years, driven mainly by stronger economies in developed countries, according to a new United Nations report which highlights the key role that transnational corporations and foreign investment could play in accelerating progress on sustainable development.

Global environmental crime, possibly worth more than $200 billion annually, is helping finance criminal, militia and terrorist groups and threatening the security and sustainable development of many nations, notably in sub-Saharan Africa, according to a new joint United Nations-INTERPOL report.

Hailing the valuable history between the United Nations and the Namibian people, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon arrived today in Windhoek to “write another chapter in our cooperation,” as he inaugurate the UN House there, which will help enhance the coordination of the world body’s activities and agencies working in the country.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the top United Nations envoy in Somalia have welcomed the agreement reached to establish a new interim regional administration in the south-western part of the country.

Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson today appealed to Member States for continued support towards meeting the annual $100 million target of a United Nations fund that helps post-conflict countries build lasting peace.

While there have been several steps recently to help de-escalate tensions in Ukraine, including a ceasefire that seems to be holding and the start of peace talks, the situation on the ground remains deeply worrying, senior United Nations officials reported to the Security Council today.

More than 1,000 people were killed in Iraq, and another 1,000 injured in the two weeks since the group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/ISIS) and its allies began to sweep across the country, the United Nations today confirmed, stressing that those figures should be viewed “very much as a minimum.”

Pakistan’s military offensive against Taliban militants in the north of the country has displaced more than 400,000 people and the number continues to rise, the United Nations refugee agency reported today.

While the United Nations and its partners continued over the past year to meet the needs of an ever-increasing number of desperate people – from Syria to the Central African Republic, the Philippines and beyond – the world body’s Emergency Coordinator today called for “a new [humanitarian] business model” – one that manages risks rather than deals with crises.

No woman should lose her status, livelihood or property when her husband dies, yet millions of widows in our world face persistent abuse, discrimination, disinheritance and destitution stressed United Nation Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today in his message for this year’s International Widows’ Day.