``I am available to serve a second term as secretary-general of the United Nations, if that will be the will of member states,'' Guterres said in a letter.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for a much stronger and more effective global response to the coronavirus pandemic and to the social and economic devastation that COVID-19 is causing.

UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said so far 129 countries had paid their dues for 2019, which amounted to almost $2 billion.

Reports suggest that more than 100,000 people in Syria have been detained, abducted or gone missing during the eight-year conflict, with the government mainly responsible, the U.N. political chief said Wednesday.

The U.N.'s Ebola chief said an extraordinary global response over the past month has made him hopeful the outbreak could end in 2015, though he cautioned that the fight to contain the disease is not even a quarter done.