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In a phone call today, United Nations Secretary-general Ban Ki-moon and Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, Chairperson of the African Union (AU) Commission, discussed the situation in Burundi, with Mr. Ban welcoming recent decision by the AU Peace and Security Council on addressing the country’s political impasse.

In a near unanimous vote, the 193-member United Nations General Assembly today adopted a resolution renewing its call for an end to the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States against Cuba, while also acknowledging the restoration, after nearly 50 years, of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Underscoring the “fragile mental and physical condition” of ‘Abyan’ (the pseudonym for a Somalian refugee), who was allegedly raped in Nauru in July and was returned by Australia, the United Nations human rights office today called upon both countries to urgently provide decent mental and physical care for her, including provisions to terminate her pregnancy, if she desires.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today condemned airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition that hit the Hayadeen Medical Hospital in the Sa’dah governorate, which is run by Médecins Sans Frontières with support from the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO).

The World Health Organization (WHO) announced today that it would start vaccine treatments for cholera beginning this weekend to prevent further outbreaks in Iraq, where the disease has now been confirmed in 15 out of 18 governorates, while the agency also reported a suspected case was also found in northern Syria.

Hundreds of people have been killed and thousands of homes in Afghanistan and Pakistan were destroyed by the massive 7.5 magnitude earthquake that struck the Badakshan Province in Afghanistan yesterday, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

The ongoing conflict and the widening humanitarian crisis in Yemen has not deterred nearly 70,000 refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants to reach the country by sea causing the Yemini population to ‘bear the brunt,’ said the United Nations refugee agency today.

While youth violence is not a simple problem with easy solutions, a new report launched by the World Health Organization (WHO) underscores that prevention programmes can improve a broad range of health, education and social outcomes – and lead to potentially substantial economic savings.

The most senior United Nations humanitarian official today stressed that the failure of parties to the conflict in Syria to uphold the basic tenets of international law has propelled the Syrian people to levels of tragedy and despair which could barely have been imagined five years ago.

Against the backdrop of a large share of the world’s audiovisual heritage already lost forever, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) today warned that only 10 to 15 years are left to transfer remaining audiovisual recordings to digital media before they too vanish.