Facing unparalleled global pressures, with a rising Ebola virus death toll, rampant extremism that was escalating “terror to a new era and a new level” and unwilling refugees fleeing elevated sea-levels, the international community must tackle those formidable challenges with a sense of resolve and resilience, General Assembly President Sam Kutesa (Uganda) said at the opening of the sixty-ninth session of the 193-nation organ.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced today the appointment of Sandra Mitchell of the United States as Deputy Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) at the level of Assistant Secretary-General.

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon:

The Security Council today failed to adopt a draft resolution calling for Israel, within three years, to withdraw from Palestinian territory occupied since 1967 and, within one year, for the parties to reach a negotiated solution to the conflict.

On 30 December 2014, the Security Council Committee pursuant to resolutions 1267 (1999) and 1989 (2011) enacted the amendments specified with underline and strikethrough in the entry below on its Al-Qaida Sanctions List of individuals and entities subject to the assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo set out in paragraph 1 of Security Council resolution 2161 (2014) adopted under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations:

Taking up the reports of its Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) this evening, the 193-member General Assembly adopted a wide range of texts, including 16 resolutions and two draft decisions that, among other things, revised upwards the 2014-2015 biennium budget, and addressed the United Nations common system, human resources management and financing for peacekeeping operations.

After days of protracted negotiations, the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today wrapped up the main part of its sixty-ninth session that aimed to address, among other things, a range of contentious human resource issues and concerns about the surging cost of the Organization’s special political missions.

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon:

The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Mahamat Zene Cherif (Chad):

Sixty-first General Assembly

Informal Thematic Debate

AM & PM Meetings

GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT CALLS ON ENTIRE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY, ESPECIALLY

RICH NATIONS, TO HELP DISADVANTAGED COUNTRIES COPE WITH CLIMATE CHANGE

‘Equitable, Fair, Ambitious Global Deal’ Needed to Match Scale