UNITED NATIONS, May 07 (IPS) - When the 15-member UN Security Council failed last month to adopt its first-ever resolution on outer space—co-sponsored by the US and Japan—the Russian veto led to speculation whether this was a precursor for a future nuclear arms race in the skies above.

Displacement after displacement. That describes the reality facing thousands of Palestinian families in Gaza who took Rashid Street from Rafah to the centre of the Gaza Strip after receiving evacuation orders from Israeli authorities on Monday to move to Al Mawasi, a coastal area of the besieged enclave.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has taken “crucial steps” in the event of a large-scale Israeli military operation in Rafah, Dr. Ahmed Dahir, team lead of its office in Gaza, told UN News on Tuesday.

The ongoing conflict between rival militaries in Sudan has stalled progress towards the determination of the final status of the disputed oil-rich Abyei region which straddles the Sudan-South Sudan border, the head of UN peacekeeping operations said on Tuesday.

The UN’s second Trailblazer award for Women Justice and Corrections Officers has gone to Major Ahlem Bouzi, an officer with the UN’s peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO).

Money sent home by migrants abroad has surpassed foreign direct investment in boosting the gross domestic product (GDP) of developing countries, UN migration agency IOM said in the latest edition of its flagship report, released on Tuesday.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights urged Russia to end its crackdown on journalists in a statement issued on Tuesday shortly after President Vladmir Putin began a fifth term in office.

The UN Secretary-General on Tuesday reiterated his appeal to Israel to stop any escalation in Gaza, amid reports that its forces have taken over key border crossings in Rafah.

Amid ongoing uncertainty about a ceasefire in Gaza and an escalation of the military operation in Rafah, UN aid agencies expressed deep concerns on Tuesday that the two main access points into the enclave remained closed, while families are scared and “hanging on psychologically and physically by a thread”.

NAHUIZALCO, El Salvador, May 06 (IPS) - A group of children participating in an immersion program in Náhuat, the language of the Pipil people and the only remaining pre-Hispanic language in El Salvador, are the last hope that the language will not die out.