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Visiting the southeastern city of Hangzhou in China, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has commended the leaders of that country and the United States for formally joining the Paris Agreement on climate change today.

On the second day of its visit to South Sudan, a delegation from the United Nations Security Council today met with displaced people living in camps, known as “protection of civilians” sites, seeing first-hand “the human consequences of the failure of political leaders to bring peace back to their country.”

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today met with Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, emphasizing the key role of Turkey in the fight against Da'esh (ISIL), Mr. Ban's office said.

On a visit to northern Jordan today, the top United Nations humanitarian official saw first-hand the conditions that more than 70,000 Syrian refugees, mostly women and children, are having to stay in along the border with Syria – in the middle of the desert, under a blazing sun and with no food or water – amid talks with Jordanian authorities aimed at resolving their plight.

Together with its partners, the United Nations health agency has vaccinated more than 7.7 million people in Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), in less than two weeks.

Following a meeting of its Emergency Committee on Zika yesterday, the United Nations health agency said today that the infectious disease, and its associated congenital and other neurological disorders, continues to be an international public health emergency due to continuing geographic expansion and considerable gaps in understanding of the virus and its consequences.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is saddened to learn of the death of President of Uzbekistan, Islam Karimov, according to the UN chief’s spokesperson.

In his first visit to Sri Lanka since the end of its civil war seven years ago, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon praised the country’s steps towards peace and reconciliation, while also highlighting the importance of and need for more progress with human rights and sustainable development for that progress.

A delegation from the United Nations Security Council today arrived in South Sudan, where it will reinforce recent messages made to the authorities as well as discuss how the UN peacekeeping mission there can help them improve the security and humanitarian situation in the wake of recent violence.

The United Nations refugee agency today flagged that while the number of deaths of refugees seeking safety via the Turkey-Greece route into Europe has fallen dramatically, the use of the North Africa-Italy route has remained constant – with the latter experiencing an increase in the number of deaths, making 2016 the deadliest year so far for refugees in the Central Mediterranean.