The U.N. said Monday that a rocket attack that killed 30 people in a city in eastern Ukraine deliberately targeted civilians, as Russian President Vladimir Putin spurned Western calls to rein in a pro-Moscow insurgency.

A senior U.N. official told an emergency Security Council meeting that the deadly rocket barrage on the port city of Mariupol came from pro-Russian rebel-controlled territory and sought to strike a civilian population, in violation of international humanitarian law.

United Nations Security Council members arrived in Haiti on Friday for a three-day visit to urge the government to hold long-delayed elections in order to stem a mounting political crisis.

Envoys from the 15 member states of the international peace and security body met with President Michel Martelly and were due to see other government officials, as well as local U.N. representatives, political leaders and civil society.

The U.N. Security Council, including Russia, strongly condemned the "reprehensible" shelling Thursday of a trolleybus in east Ukraine and said those responsible should be brought to justice.

At least 13 mostly elderly people were killed when a shell hit the trolleybus in the pro-Russian rebel stronghold of Donetsk in an attack Moscow branded a crime against humanity. 

Head of al-Mustaqbal Movement MP Fouad al-Saniora warned on Thursday that Israel will not skip a chance to attack Lebanon, stressing that it is no longer acceptable to risk the lives of the Lebanese.

“It is no longer acceptable to risk the lives of the people to implement foreign agendas that don't meet the demands of the Lebanese and achieve their interests,” Saniora said in a statement.

U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon David Hale highlighted his country's concerns regarding the developments along the Lebanese border with Syria and Israel, warning of attempts to destabilize the situation in it.

Local newspapers published on Friday reported that Hale's meeting with Prime Minister Tammam Salam a day before was to convey his country's deep concerns over the developments along Lebanon's border with Syria and with Israel.

Diplomats must take a fresh look at the moribund Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in the hopes of reviving the negotiations after March elections in Israel, the EU's foreign policy chief said Tuesday.

"What I'm afraid of is that on one side the lack of process is in itself something that is deteriorating the situation," the EU's Federica Mogherini said.

Libya's army announced a ceasefire Sunday, joining an Islamist-backed militia alliance in declaring a truce that the U.N. hailed as a "significant" step towards ending months of violence.

"We declare a ceasefire from midnight (2200 GMT) Sunday," the army said, stressing however that it would continue to pursue "terrorists", as U.N.-brokered peace talks resume in Geneva next week.

The United Nations on Thursday called on Israel to unlock millions of dollars in taxes owed to the Palestinian Authority that were withheld after it decided to join the International Criminal Court.

A senior U.N. official told the U.N. Security Council that the freeze of about $127 million imposed on January 3 was in violation of the Oslo peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.

The U.N. Security Council strongly condemned on Tuesday a rocket attack on a bus in east Ukraine that left 11 civilians dead.

In a unanimous statement of the 15 members including Russia, the council called for an investigation to bring those responsible for the attack to justice.

The United States on Saturday slammed an offer by North Korea to suspend future nuclear tests temporarily if Washington cancels military drills with the South as an "implicit threat."

Pyongyang was "inappropriately" linking routine military exercises between Washington and Seoul to the possibility of a nuclear test, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.