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Freezing temperatures, storms and heavy snowfall will add to the misery afflicting hundreds of thousands of families affected by conflict across the Middle East unless assistance – including cold weather clothing and supplies – is urgently provided, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has warned.

As the number of Rohingya refugees sheltering in southern Bangladesh crosses 800,000, United Nations agencies responding to the crisis are working hard to ensure access in the difficult to reach area so that much needed assistance can be delivered in a timely manner.

Addressing lawmakers in the Central African Republic, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on Friday stressed the international community's commitment to helping tackle the myriad challenges plaguing the conflict-torn country, and strongly defended the role of the UN peacekeeping force there.

Although the debate on migration has largely focused on Europe, the global compact being negotiated must be adapted to the realities and peculiarities of each region, including Africa, where more than half of migrants moved to other countries on the continent, a senior United Nations official said Thursday.

Annual deaths from measles dropped below 100,000 last year for the first time, to 90,000, United Nations and other international agencies reported on Thursday, as they warned however that the world is still far from reaching goals on eliminating the disease.

Even as Iraq breathes a sigh of relief with the defeat of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or Da’esh), it has been hit by another crisis – one between Baghdad, the capital, and Erbil, in the Kurdistan region – the top United Nations official in the country has said.

On the third day of his visit to the Central African Republic (CAR), United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on Thursday called on the international community to support the conflict-ravaged country’s peacebuilding and recovery strategy.

If Africa is to keep pace with an unprecedented demographic transition – Africa’s under-18 population will reach 750 million by 2030 – scaled-up investment in health, education and women’s protection and empowerment will be needed or the continent will face a ‘bleak’ future, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported Thursday.

The United Nations human rights office and its counterpart in the Americas have launched a new and deeper cooperation plan to address one of the most pressing problems in that region – the protection of human rights defenders.

Announcing that he will convene the eighth round of intra-Syrian talks on 28 November in Geneva, the United Nations Special Envoy for Syria on Thursday urged all stakeholders to seize the opportunity to find a solution to the crisis plaguing the war-torn country.