Outstanding issues related to Syria’s initial declaration of its chemical weapons stockpile and programme cannot be considered “accurate and complete”, the head of the world body monitoring States’ implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention told the Security Council on Friday.

In what leading campaigners are describing as “a new chapter for nuclear disarmament”, the ratification of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons will now come into force on 22 January, after Honduras became the 50th Member State to ratify on Saturday.

Increasing hurdles which prevent former combatants from returning to a peaceful civilian life have prompted the UN to update its standard practices, in an effort to ensure they remain “fit-for-purpose for years to come”.