Since the end of the Cold War, deepening globalization has generated the possibility that science diplomacy may help states solve common challenges - in the areas of food, water, energy, climate, and health - that do not respect territorial boundaries. Science diplomacy refers to the way in which states make use of scientific knowledge to diplomatically represent themselves and their interests in the international arena.

Congress has long been concerned that countries receiving American foreign aid frequently oppose U.S. initiatives and priorities in the United Nations. Since 1983, Congress has required the U.S. Department of State to prepare an annual report on the frequency with which other countries vote with the U.S. in the U.N. General Assembly (UNGA).

Civil society converged on United Nations Headquarters in New York today to make their voices heard regarding the future global development agenda that will point the way forward on a range of issues such as eradicating poverty, eliminating hunger and combating disease.

A beacon of hope shines from the East River: Following a year and a half on a journey replete with bumps in the road and many twists and turns, member states of the United Nations completed a proposal for sustainable development goals, the set of global priorities to steer the international development agenda, once the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) expire at the end of 2015.

As an array of international organizations, wealthy countries and charitable groups gear up to provide desperately needed resources to fight the outbreak, the absent doctors and volunteers are a reminder of the daunting practical obstacles. Many African health workers battling Ebola are contracting it themselves. At least 170 workers have gotten the disease, according to the World Health Organization, and more than 80 have died.

The United Nations has warned that a mass atrocity or genocide of refugees in the Mount Sinjar region of northern Iraq could still happen “within days or hours”.  The UN's special rapporteur who has been investigating the plight of 40,000 mainly Kurdish-speaking Yazidis who fled to the mountain fearing attacks from the extremist militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isis), said the world urgently needed to recognise the severity of the humanitarian crisis.

The US says it has temporarily evacuated its staff from the Libyan capital Tripoli over security concerns. Staff, including marine guards providing security to the embassy, have been transferred to Tunisia "due to the ongoing violence resulting from clashes between Libyan militias," it adds. Secretary of State John Kerry said there was a "real risk" to staff. It comes amid fierce clashes between rival militias in the capital, with intense fighting at Tripoli airport.

In September next year, the United Nations plans to choose a list of development goals for the world to meet by the year 2030. What aspirations should it set for this global campaign to improve the lot of the poor, and how should it choose them? In answering that question, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and his advisers are confronted with a task that they often avoid: setting priorities.