United Nations

Russia has finalized a contract for the delivery of advanced air-defense missile systems to Iran, the head of a Russian state-controlled industrial conglomerate said on Nov. 9.

Aid to Syria's millions of refugees must "go beyond relief" and help them make a living close to home, a top U.N. official said Nov. 8, as key international decision-makers gathered to find a new approach to the Syria refugee crisis.

Kosovo has failed to obtain membership of UNESCO at Monday's vote by member countries at the organization's general conference in Paris.

Ninety-two countries voted to allow Kosovo to join the UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, three votes short of the two-thirds majority required to achieve membership. Fifty countries voted against, while 29 abstained.

The United States has succeeded in its bid to remain on UNESCO's executive board, the only way to wield American power at the world's cultural and scientific agency now that the U.S. government is no longer funding it.

REJECTED Kosovo failed to become a member of UNESCO

UNESCO has not accepted Kosovo as a member; the proposal failed to gain a two-thirds majority at the organization's General Conference in Paris on Monday.

142 countries voted - 92 in favor, 50 against, while 29 abstained. Pristina's bid required 95 votes in favor to be successful.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has condemned the use of violence by the opposition parties in Kosovo's parliament.

In his latest report on developments in Kosovo, he also "welcomed the Brussels agreement establishing the Community of Serb Municipalities," Pristina-based RTK reported.

Kosovo Deputy PM and Foreign Minister Hashim Thaci has said that he regrets the fact Pristina's bid to join UNESCO fell three votes short.

The French news agency AFP on Monday afternoon published a tweet announcing that "UN cultural body voted to allow Kosovo membership."

Kosovo’s application to join the UN cultural body did not attract enough votes from UNESCO member states, amid strong opposition from Serbia and its allies.

Concentrations of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere hit a new high in 2014, the UN said on Nov 9, warning the resulting climate change was moving the world into "unchartered territory."