Obama used his last hours in office to send $221m to the Palestinian Authority

One of the Barack Obama administration's final acts was to release $221m of funding to the Palestinian Authority.

Republican members of Congress had tried to block the allocation after the group sought membership of international organisations.

The funds are to be used for humanitarian aid in the West Bank and Gaza, and other projects around governance and political reform.

The UN money will go to projects for tackling sexual exploitation, ozone protection and peacebuilding.