It took 40 days for the UN Security Council to come up with a form of words to address the spiral of violence in the Middle East.

In that time, some 12,000 people were killed.

On Wednesday, a call for "extended humanitarian pauses for a sufficient number of days" squeaked through the Council, this time without any vetoes from the permanent members, although three abstained.

Why it took the UN 40 days to agree on the Middle East comes via ChinaTechNews.com.