U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon urged Israel on Wednesday to ease restrictions on travel for Palestinians between the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank for Ramadan prayers.

Israel has eased restrictions on Palestinians seeking to enter Jerusalem for Friday prayers at Al-Aqsa mosque, Islam's third-holiest site, for Ramadan.

The U.N. Security Council condemned the attack by Taliban insurgents on the Afghan parliament in Kabul, denouncing the "blatant disrespect to democracy."

In a declaration adopted on Monday night, the 15 member countries "condemned in the strongest terms the terrorist attack" that killed two people.

A quarter of a million children face starvation in war-torn South Sudan, with an end to the 18-month conflict as distant as ever, the expelled UN aid chief warned Tuesday.

"Six months ago, we thought that violence and suffering had peaked and that peace was on the horizon. We were wrong," said Toby Lanzer, who was barred from the country earlier this month after warning of economic meltdown.

An international military intervention is needed to end unrest in Libya, where the Islamic State group is gaining a foothold, Spanish Defense Minister Pedro Morenes said in an interview published Saturday.

"We went to Afghanistan to stop all of that from coming here, we are in Iraq, Mali or Somalia with the same objective. And now we have it nearby. Something may need to be done," he told the top-selling Spanish daily El Pais when asked if there would be a military intervention in Libya.

The spokesperson of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon has said there was no direct contact with the court on efforts to refer to it the file of former Minister Michel Samaha, adding the issue required an agreement between the Lebanese government and the United Nations.

“I cannot comment on the statements made by politicians or officials,” Wajed Ramadan told As Safir daily published on Wednesday.

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday urged North Korea to avoid any actions that might escalate military tensions as South Korea's president spoke again of a "reign of terror" in the North's capital, Pyongyang.

Speaking at an Asian Leadership Conference in South Korea's capital, Seoul, Ban said the divided Korean peninsula remained one of the world's most dangerous flashpoints.

The United Nations Security Council pressed Libya's warring factions to urgently form a unity government and threatened sanctions against those behind spiraling violence.

In a declaration adopted by consensus, the 15 council members urged the parties taking part in peace talks to "agree on arrangements on the formation of a national unity government to end Libya's political, security and institutional crisis."

A Chilean soldier who was part of the U.N. peacekeeping force in Haiti was shot dead Monday during a violent protest in the Caribbean nation, the mission said.

Sergeant Rodrigo Sanhueza was providing security for a military vehicle traveling near the border with the Dominican Republic when the unit encountered a protest and came under fire, the defense ministry said.

Gulf countries are locked in tough negotiations with Russia on a U.N. draft resolution to impose an arms embargo and sanctions on Yemen, diplomats said Wednesday.

The resolution would seek to re-launch a political dialogue that broke down after Yemen's Shiite Huthi rebels pressed ahead with an offensive, forcing President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi to flee to Saudi Arabia.

U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Sigrid Kaag has said that Hizbullah violated Security Council Resolution 1701 when it attacked Israeli troops in the occupied Shebaa Farms area in January.

“The attack on the Israeli convoy is a clear violation of the cessation of hostilities between Lebanon and Israel,” Kaag told An Nahar newspaper in an interview published on Friday.