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In the last three weeks alone, intensified fighting between rival armed groups in Libya has forcibly displaced nearly 290,000 people across the country, including 100,000, who urgently need food, health care and adequate shelter, especially now that winter in approaching, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said today.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon arrived in Tunisia early this morning where he met with President Moncef Marzouki to pledge full United Nations support for the north African nation in its forthcoming elections and transition to democracy.

The United Nations will adopt a minimalistic, concrete and realistic approach to addressing the crisis generated by Syria’s ongoing conflict, a senior UN official said today as he warned about the growing dangers facing civilians amid the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant’s (ISIL) latest offensive in the country.

Declaring that the world has never seen anything like the current Ebola outbreak ravaging West Africa, senior United Nations officials today warned that the virus is “far ahead” of the global response as it is morphing from a local to an international crisis requiring all countries to scale up efforts and financial commitments to bring an end to the scourge.

Accurate information is crucial for governments to manage their natural resources sustainably, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said today as it announced the launch of new software it hopes will help developing nations monitor the state of their forests.

The United Nations lauded today’s awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to two human rights activists, saying the winners had received well-deserved recognition for championing children’s rights around the world.

The continuing application of the death penalty is a “cruel practice” that undermines human dignity, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said as he urged Member States to “reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights” and impose moratoriums on executions.

Suffering from schizophrenia should not have to mean enduring “a life sentence of isolation and poor physical health,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today as he urged the creation of better support networks and services for people living with the mental health disorder.

The top United Nations official in the Central African Republic (CAR) today condemned a deadly ambush against peacekeepers serving there that left one “blue helmet” dead, one severely wounded and seven others slightly injured.

Urgent support is needed to avert an “economic meltdown” in Guinea, where the Ebola crisis is destroying lives, jobs and essential services, leaving exports of fruits and vegetables down 90 percent, the airport two-thirds empty and container traffic to its key port down by a third, according to the United Nations.