Ireland's two-year campaign to win a seat on the UN Security Council is underway after the official launch in New York overnight.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has strongly rejected claims that Ireland’s UN Security Council bid is a “vanity” project.

A hosepipe ban is now in operation in the Greater Dublin area as Irish Water calls urgently on the public to conserve water.

U2 singer Bono has paid a warm tribute to the Taoiseach and Tánaiste on stage at a sold-out show in New York.

Ireland's bid to gain a seat on the United Nations Security Council will get off to a rocking start tonight as over 190 ambassadors were guests of Ireland at U2's sold-out show at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Ministers will be in campaign mode during their St Patrick’s Day trips around the world with Ireland pushing hard to win a seat on the UN Security Council.

A hard-line cleric has called on Iran to create its own indigenous social media apps, as he blamed social networking for unrest that followed days of protests over the Islamic Republic’s economy.

Japan froze the assets of 19 companies today to step up pressure on North Korea to return Japanese citizens that it abducted in the 1970s and 1980s.

LATEST: North Korea's deputy UN ambassador has warned that US efforts to get rid of his country's nuclear weapons through military threats and sanctions are "a wild dream".

The UN Security Council has scheduled a vote on a resolution that would condemn the reported use of chemical weapons in northern Syria and demand that all parties provide speedy access for investigators.

The number of women diplomats at the United Nations has always been low and for the last 70 years only a few have gotten seats on the Security Council.

The United States has asked the UN Security Council to hold a vote on a resolution that would impose tough new sanctions on North Korea in response to Pyongyang's latest nuclear test and rocket launch.

The UN Security Council has unanimously approved a resolution strongly condemning increasing killings, torture and human rights violations in Burundi and threatening possible sanctions against those contributing to the violence.

Iran’s recent ballistic missile test was “a clear violation” of UN sanctions, according to US ambassador Samantha Power.

Ukraine has won a seat on the UN Security Council, giving the country a new platform to spar diplomatically with permanent member Russia.

The UN political chief has said the risk of escalation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict "is palpable".

Western nations and Russia are duelling over whether the UN Security Council should call the Srebrenica massacre during the Bosnian war a genocide in a resolution commemorating the 20th anniversary of Europe’s worst mass killing since the Second World War.