China is the largest contributor to UN peacekeeping operations of all the permanent members of the UN Security Council. China’s rise in peacekeeping operations is indicative of China’s rise in global prominence by both expanding its role in foreign affairs and protecting its own economic interests.

The annual ranking by the Paris-based Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development says Canada's aid contributions dropped to 0.24 per cent of GDP in 2014, down from 0.27 per cent the previous year.

Russia urged the U.N. Security Council on Saturday to call for a "humanitarian pause" in airstrikes by a Saudi-led military coalition to help evacuate foreigners from Yemen and unhindered access to deliver aid to civilians caught in the fighting between Shiite rebels and supporters of the country's beleaguered president.

And so it came, after years of protracted negotiations, extended deadlines and a diplomatic dance of unprecedented proportions – a deal that could signal a new era for Iran’s relations with the world. (...) Beyond the technical details of the agreement lies a triumph of diplomacy and the potential, if not for a realignment of US interests in the Middle East, then certainly a significant adjustment which has concerned its traditional allies in the region.

The United Nations said Tuesday that the last of its international staffers had left Yemen, while the U.N. human rights chief warned that the country was on the verge of a "total collapse."U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq said the 13 remaining international staffers had been withdrawn and would return when "circumstances permit."

The United States pledged $507 million in humanitarian aid at an international donors' conference for Syria on Tuesday as the United Nations issued an appeal for $8.4 billion in commitments this year — the organization's largest appeal yet for the war-ravaged country.

The international community has pledged $3.8bn to tackle the humanitarian crisis caused by the war in Syria – less than half the amount the UN says is needed this year to help the millions of people affected by the ongoing conflict.

As the Cold War took global grip, the United States purposefully pushed Britain aside. The U.S. took over its military bases, its spheres of influence, and its markets. Conscious of its decline, London clung, slightly pathetically, to what it termed its "special relationship" with Washington.