NAIROBI, Jul 18 (IPS) - As human rights increasingly deteriorate, rights defenders are being violently suppressed. Abducted, detained, tortured, and humiliated, many now live one day at a time. They have been told, in no uncertain times, that anything could happen. They are now asking the global community to stand as a witness.

ROME, Jul 18 (IPS) - The video shows an empty house with even the door frames and windows torn out. Graffiti on the wall recalls that the building was once requisitioned by the Sham Legion, an Islamist faction from northern Syria.

ABUJA & UNITED NATIONS, Jul 18 (IPS) - As Russia paused the renewal of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres reacted with regret saying the global south would be badly affected.

BANGKOK, Thailand, Jul 18 (IPS) - The world faces a disaster emergency, yet nowhere is the threat more immediate than in Asia and the Pacific. Ours is a region where climate change-induced disasters are becoming more frequent and intense. Since 1970, two million people have lost their lives to disasters.

Targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure in Ukraine and threats of use of nuclear weapons, severely undermines trust “within and in our institution”, the President of the UN General Assembly said on Tuesday.

Nearly 200,000 people were displaced by fighting inside Sudan over the past week, the UN reported on Tuesday, citing new figures released by the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

A group of UN independent experts on Tuesday expressed concern over Tunisia's alleged discriminatory treatment of migrants, urging the authorities to take action to halt collective expulsions and protect human rights.

The UN Secretary-General addressed the Security Council on Tuesday, emphasizing the potential of artificial intelligence to accelerate human development while also cautioning against the malicious use of what is revolutionary new technology.

Adamu* got two years for stealing in Nigeria, Denny is serving five years in Indonesia, and Lauro José dos Santos served a 12-year sentence in Brazil, but ongoing reform efforts rooted in the “Mandela Rules” and a range of UN-supported programmes are helping them and prisoners around the world get a second chance upon their release.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres called for action to build a better world in his message to mark Nelson Mandela International Day on Tuesday.