Ravina Shamdasani

The U.N. voiced grave concern Tuesday over escalating violence in the West Bank, demanding that Israeli security forces "immediately" stop supporting settler attacks on Palestinians in the occupied territory.

The United Nations said on June 24 it found that Israeli forces fired the shot that killed Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, with Israel swiftly branding the UN's findings unfounded.

Yesterday was the bloodiest day in Myanmar since a military junta seized power there one month ago. According to the United Nations Human Rights Office, at least 18 people were killed and more than 30 wounded after security forces fired live ammunition into crowds of peaceful demonstrators in several cities across the country.

Myanmar's military crackdown on Rohingya Muslims has likely killed hundreds of people, with children slaughtered and women raped in a campaign that may amount to ethnic cleansing, the United Nations said on Feb. 3. 

Elite Iraqi troops battled the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in the streets of Mosul on Nov. 11, as the U.N. reported ISIL jihadists had executed dozens of people inside the city for alleged "treason." 

With ISIL also on the defensive in neighboring Syria, U.S.-backed forces pressed an advance on jihadist bastion Raqqa after a sandstorm eased.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) forces in Iraq have abducted tens of thousands of men, women and children from areas around Mosul and are using them as "human shields" in the city as Iraqi government troops advance, the U.N. human rights office said on Oct. 28.