With pockets of relative safety emerging in Sudan, over 1.3 million Sudanese people — including one million who were internally displaced and over 300,000 refugees — have returned home, according to UN agencies.

The UN Security Council is meeting on Friday morning to discuss the situation in Ukraine amid mounting concerns over the intensifying hostilities and growing humanitarian needs. Senior UN political affairs and humanitarian officials are expected to brief the Council. Follow our live coverage from UN News, in coordination with UN Meetings Coverage, for updates from the chamber. UN News App users can follow here.

This Friday marks the first observation of the International Day of Women and Girls of African Descent, following a declaration last year by the UN General Assembly.

UNITED NATIONS, July 25 (IPS) - The growing opposition to the UN80 restructuring plan -– which has come under heavy fire from staff unions – has now reached the upper echelons of the world body. A motion, adopted at an Extraordinary General Assembly meeting, held July 24, by the Staff Union Council in Geneva (UNOG), reads “The staff have no confidence in UN80, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Under Secretary General Guy Ryder” (who is heading the UN restructuring process).

HARARE, July 24 (IPS) - In recent years, major international donors such as the European Union (EU), the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), USAID, and other bilaterals (such as BMZ, Sida, the Netherlands among others) have significantly reduced development funding to global majority countries.

UNITED NATIONS, July 24 (IPS) - As a result of the worsening climate crisis, extreme weather patterns have disrupted nearly all aspects of human life around the world. With the impacts of fossil fuel reliance being more pronounced than ever before, the United Nations (UN) has implored governments and industries to begin adopting more sustainable, renewable energy sources.

ATLANTA, USA, July 24 (IPS) - The dramatic story of Israel’s birth in 1948 following the Nazi Holocaust captured the wonder and admiration of the world. Its founders claimed that Israel would be a light to the nations, but now the Jewish State’s identity has gone from being the victim of genocide to perpetrator in less than two generations.

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania, July 24 (IPS) - When the rains pounded through the night, 44-year-old Teresia Katimba clutched her rosary and prayed silently, her fingers trembling with each whispered Hail Mary. A devout Catholic and mother of four, she stayed awake, huddling her children, hoping the floodwaters wouldn’t engulf them.

Two former leaders of the predominantly Christian Anti-Balaka militia in the Central African Republic have been convicted of multiple war crimes and crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

In a dramatic escalation of a long-standing border dispute, a deadly exchange of fire between Thailand and Cambodia killed at least 11 civilians and a soldier on Thursday, according to news reports. Both states are claiming the other side fired first.