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Briefing members of the international press this afternoon at United Nations Headquarters, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon described the “epic humanitarian catastrophe” facing the 18,000 Palestinian refugees and Syrians being held hostage by extremist militants in Yarmouk camp.

The head of the United Nations agency mandated to defend press freedom denounced today the murder of Washiqur Rahman Babu, a Bangladesh-based blogger, and reiterated the call for local authorities to defend freedom of expression and public debate in the South Asian country.

Anonymized data – information from which the identity of the sender has been stripped – from mobile telephone usage could provide vital support in efforts to achieve sustainable development and to respond to humanitarian crises, according to insights derived from a study by the United Nations.

Libyan women have a crucial role to play in resolving the crisis in their country, a senior United Nations official said in an address to 250 Libyan women gathered in Tripoli, at a dialogue aimed at including women from all walks of life in the political process.

An emergency vaccination campaign along the Syria-Lebanon border is underway in order to protect the region’s livestock from preventable infections, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) announced today amid growing concerns over the spread of high impact transboundary animal diseases.

Just one third of countries have achieved all the measurable education goals set in 2000 and only half of all countries have achieved universal primary enrolment, the United Nations agency mandated with promoting learning spotlighted today, urging countries to bridge the $22 billion annual finance gap needed to achieve quality basic education for all by 2030.

Ahead of a major summit in New York in September on the future global development agenda, the 13th United Nations Crime Congress will convene in Doha next week to discuss the links between crime prevention, security, justice and sustainable development.

Countless civilians are being “willfully abandoned to misery” in Yemen, amid a rapidly deteriorating security and humanitarian crises inflamed by a escalating violence, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told reporters at United Nations Headquarters today.

As the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) began today its Development Cooperation Forum in Incheon, Republic of Korea, senior United Nations officials emphasized the need to build on the success of the Millennium Development Goals and to deliver sustainable development for all by finding strategies to mobilize significant financial resources.

The United Nations today called for some $111 million to fund its humanitarian operations in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DRPK) in 2015, covering activities in food and agriculture, health and nutrition, and water and sanitation.