Aftershocks continue to sow fear across Myanmar, where millions remain in desperate need of humanitarian aid a full month since a 7.7 magnitude earthquake killed more than 3,800 people and injured 5,100.

Afghanistan’s escalating humanitarian crisis is being compounded by the mass return of its nationals from neighbouring countries, UN aid agencies warned on Tuesday.

The Security Council has been meeting on the Middle East, with Secretary-General António Guterres telling ambassadors that irreversible action must be taken to finally put a two-State solution in place for Israel and Palestine. Meanwhile, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza deepens, with reports from the UN Palestine refugee relief agency (UNRWA) that children are "going to bed starving" amid the two-month Israeli aid blockade and continuing bombardment. App users can follow coverage here.

The biggest UN aid agency in Gaza on Tuesday condemned the two-month Israeli blockade that has left families eating barely enough to survive amid daily bombings – and the sick and injured without lifesaving medical help.

UNITED NATIONS, Apr 29 (IPS) - Water emergencies are deeply personal to us. Coming from Southeast Asia and southern Africa—two regions that struggle with water challenges—we have witnessed firsthand how water defines the fate of communities and nations.

MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay, Apr 28 (IPS) - They found shoes, hundreds of them, scattered across the dirt floor of an extermination camp in Jalisco state. These abandoned shoes, once belonging to someone’s child, parent or spouse, stand as silent witnesses to Mexico’s deepest national trauma. Alongside charred human remains and makeshift crematoria meant to erase all evidence of humanity, they tell the story of a crisis that has reached industrial-scale proportions.

BUSAN, Korea, Apr 28 (IPS) - “As the son of a haenyeo, a traditional Korean female diver, I grew up by the sea, often watching the ocean with my mother. Captivated by the beauty and majesty of the sea, I chose to study marine science and have devoted my entire career to the ocean,” said Do-hyung Kang, Minister of the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries of the Republic of Korea.

BERLIN, Germany, Apr 28 (IPS) - For the first time ever in its history, the United Nations Peacekeeping Ministerial (PKM) will take place in Berlin from 13 to 14 May. The aim of the meeting is to discuss the future of UN peace missions. These biennial meetings serve as a gauge of the continuing political support for such missions, which are, of course, just one of the tools in the UN’s comprehensive ‘toolkit’ for handling conflict — alongside general conflict prevention, mediation missions and peacebuilding measures.

UNITED NATIONS, Apr 28 (IPS) - The Trump administration’s hostile attitude towards Western Europe—and the threat to pullout of the 32-member military alliance, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) – signifies the danger of losing the longstanding protection of the US nuclear umbrella over Europe.

Jana Puglierin, director of the German office of the European Council on Foreign Relations, was quoted as saying: “Trump may, or may not, want to leave NATO officially, but he has every means to undermine NATO”.

Sudan’s humanitarian crisis is deepening as escalating violence blocks aid deliveries and forces thousands more civilians to flee, the UN warned on Monday.