The UN Security Council will meet in an emergency session on Libya tomorrow as permanent council members expressed support for a resolution on a response to the country’s crisis.

Deadly rocket attacks on the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol that “knowingly targeted civilians” broke international humanitarian law and could amount to war crimes, the United Nations’ political chief has said.

Pressure is mounting on Russia after it was accused of sending tanks, artillery and troops into Ukraine and Western powers said Moscow “outright lied” about its role and dangerously escalated the conflict.

Hundreds of trucks from a bitterly disputed Russian aid convoy to rebel-held eastern Ukraine rolled back across the border into Russia today.

An urgent United Nations Security Council vote could take place as early as tonight on a resolution demanding international access to the Ukraine plane crash site.

The United States said it could not rule out Russian help to separatists in Ukraine in firing an SA-11 surface-to-air missile that likely downed a Malaysian airliner in eastern Ukraine with 298 people on board.

Hundreds of people are feared dead after a Malaysia Airlines passenger plane was apparently shot down over eastern Ukraine.

Syria has said any attempt to deliver humanitarian aid to rebel-controlled areas without government approval is tantamount to “an attack on the state” as well as its territorial integrity and political independence.

Islamic militants have vowed to march on Baghdad to settle old scores after seizing a number of cities and towns in Iraq.

People in eastern Ukraine are waiting to see if action will be taken against pro-Russian militants occupying government buildings in the region.

Ukraine’s prime minister has told the UN Security Council that Russia had carried out “military aggression” in Crimea, and dramatically switched from English to Russian to ask Russia whether it wants war.

President Vladimir Putin has pulled his forces back from the Ukrainian border yet said Moscow reserves the right to use all means to protect Russians in Ukraine.

Ukraine’s United Nations ambassador has asked an emergency session of the world body’s Security Council “to do everything possible now” to stop Russian “aggression” as troops took over the strategic Crimea region.

The UN Security Council is holding private consultations to discuss the crisis in Ukraine.

United Nations humanitarian chief Valerie Amos blamed the Syrian government and opposition for failing to protect civilians and said a Security Council resolution would help if it ensured the delivery of aid to millions trapped by the fighting.

The UN Security Council has agreed to proposals by secretary-general Ban Ki-moon to destroy Syria’s chemical weapons by a target of the middle of next year, diplomats said.

The US, Britain and France have said they believe that the Assad regime was responsible for a chemical weapons attack in Damascus last month.

Gay rights activists confronted Russia’s UN ambassador and tried to hand over a petition with more than 340,000 signatures.

The UN General Assembly is poised to approve an Arab-backed resolution calling for a political transition in Syria and strongly condemning president Bashar Assad’s regime for its escalating use of heavy weapons, UN diplomats said.

North Korea has vowed to launch a pre-emptive nuclear strike against the United States, hours ahead of a vote by UN diplomats on whether to impose new sanctions against Pyongyang for its recent nuclear test.

The US and China have reached agreement on a new draft sanctions resolution to punish North Korea for its latest nuclear test, UN diplomats have said.

The Security Council has agreed to end the UN military observer mission in Syria in the face of an escalating civil war.

Kofi Annan delivered blistering criticism of world powers’ failure to unite over Syria’s escalating violence as he submitted his resignation as special envoy to the country.

Kofi Annan has submitted his resignation as special envoy to Syria, saying he plans to step down on August 31.

The future of the 300-strong United Nations observer mission in Syria was in limbo today after Russia and China again vetoed a Western-backed resolution aimed at pressuring President Bashar Assad’s government to end the escalating civil war.

The British Foreign Secretary has said that Russia and China have turned their backs on the Syrian people.

Russia and China have again vetoed a Western-backed UN resolution threatening non-military sanctions against Syria.

The UN Security Council has delayed a vote on a new Syria resolution until tomorrow in a last-minute effort to get key Western nations and Russia to reach agreement on measures to end the escalating violence.

International envoy Kofi Annan has told the United Nations Security Council that the situation in Syria is “bleak” and expressed alarm at reports that government troops are still carrying out military operations in towns where UN observers are not present.

A resolution expanding the number of UN observers in Syria from 30 to 300 and demanding an immediate halt to violence has been approved by the UN Security Council today.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton today called for international backing of an arms embargo and other stronger measures enforced by the UN against Syria if the country fails to abide by a ceasefire designed to end the bloodshed on its soil.

The United Nations Security Council will vote today on a resolution authorising the deployment of the first wave of military observers to monitor a ceasefire between the Syrian government and opposition fighters.

Syrian forces used live fire, tear gas and clubs to beat back tens of thousands of protesters who took to the streets across the country yesterday in powerful and often jubilant displays of defiance.

Russia has urged the United Nations to send a special envoy to Syria to help co-ordinate security issues and the delivery of humanitarian assistance.

Syrian tanks and troops have massed outside the resistance stronghold of Homs for a possible ground assault that one activist warned could unleash a new round of fierce and bloody urban combat even as the Red Cross tried to broker a ceasefire to allow emergency aid in.

The United Nations Security Council failed again to take decisive action to stop the escalating violence in Syria as Russia and China blocked a resolution backing an Arab League plan for President Bashar Assad to step down.

Diplomats failed today to agree on a United Nations resolution aimed at ending the bloodshed in Syria, leaving discussions in limbo pending consultations with their home governments.

UN Security Council ambassadors are considering a revised resolution aimed at stopping the bloodshed in Syria that removes an explicit reference to President Bashar Assad stepping aside.

Diplomats claimed considerable progress today towards overcoming Russian objections to a United Nations Security Council resolution aimed at halting the violence in Syria.

Fresh bloodshed swept Syria yesterday after Western powers and the Arab League demanded immediate UN action to stop the regime’s “killing machine”.

Western diplomats say a revised United Nations Security Council resolution circulated by Russia on the violence in Syria falls short of their demand for strong condemnation of President Bashar Assad’s crackdown on civilians.

Fourteen members of the United Nations Security Council pointed a collective finger at the United States for blocking condemnation of Israel’s stepped-up settlement programme in Palestinian territory.

Russia has urged Nato to investigate civilian deaths in Libya from its bombing campaign, saying the alliance’s claim that there were no non-military casualties is untrue.

More than 5,000 people have died in the nine-month Syrian uprising, the UN’s human rights chief has said.