The United Nations General Assembly has overwhelmingly voted to raise the Palestinian flag at the body's headquarters in New York.

A resolution was passed with 119 votes in favour, 45 abstentions and 8 votes against.

The text of the resolution allows the flags of Palestine and the Holy See - both of which have non-member observer status - to be raised alongside those of the member states.

"It is a symbolic thing, but another step to solidify the pillars of the state of Palestine in the international arena," said Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian representative to the UN, ahead of the vote.

Mr Mansour further said the initiative had the potential to "give our people some hope that the international community is still supporting the independence of the state of Palestine.

Northern Irish First Minister Peter Robinson has stepped down from his position after a bid by his party, the DUP, to adjourn the assembly, failed.

The DUP failed to get enough support to adjourn the assembly, after Sinn Féin, the Ulster Unionists and the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) voted against the adjournment motion.

The crisis started with the murder of a former IRA man and a police assessment that IRA members may have been involved.

The United Nations children’s agency warned that almost 100,000 children are starving in Yemen and face death, as fighting in the country continued.

Al Jazeera reported the agency as saying 96,000 children were starving in the city of al-Hodeidah and nearly 8,000 children will face malnutrition in Aden in the coming year.

“Before the crisis it had a catchment population of about 300,000; but since the crisis that number has risen to almost three million, with the entire (population) reliant on it for specialist care.”

The Ukrainian government has given the International Criminal Court wider jurisdiction to investigate war crimes that may have been committed during the current civil conflict in the country.

The country previously accepted the court's jurisdiction for a limited period from November 2013 to February 2014, when pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovich attempted to crush opposition protests, with many people dying.

The ICC said Ukraine had now expanded its scope to include the period up to the present, with ongoing violence between the government and separatist rebels in the east of the country.

The United Nations Human Rights Office said on Tuesday at least 7,962 people have been killed and 17,811 wounded in eastern Ukraine since mid-April 2014, Reuters reported.

Turkey has sent groundtroops into Iraqi Kurdistan to fight PKK rebels, who have bases in the region.

"Turkish security forces crossed the Iraqi border as part of the hot pursuit of PKK terrorists who were involved in the most recent attacks," a government source told AFP news agency.

"This is a short-term measure intended to prevent the terrorists' escape."

Air strikes on PKK bases were also launched on Tuesday, in further escalation of the violence.