The rival leaders of ethnically divided Cyprus say they’re ready to take part in a U.N.-led gathering next month that could pave the way to a resumption of formal talks after an eight-year hiatus.

The U.N. political chief has accused allies of Sudan’s warring military and paramilitary forces of “enabling the slaughter” that has killed more than 24,000 people and created the world’s worst displacement crisis.

The U.N. political chief who will chair the first meeting between Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers and envoys from about 25 countries says women's rights will be raised at every session.

More than two-thirds of the U.N. Security Council’s members have demanded that the Taliban rescind all policies and decrees oppressing and discriminating against women and girls, including banning girls education above the sixth grade and women’s right to work and move freely.

A senior United Nations official says the world body remains committed to helping rival Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots reach an agreement to bridge the island nation's ethnic rift, which has been a source of instability in the east Mediterranean for decades.

The U.S. and its Western allies clashed with Russia at the U.N. Security Council over responsibility for a deadly missile strike in Poland near the Ukrainian border.

The U.S. and key Western allies are accusing Russia of using Iranian drones to attack civilians and power plants in Ukraine in violation of a 2015 U.N. Security Council resolution and international humanitarian law.

The United States says it has evidence that “hundreds of thousands” of Ukrainian citizens have been interrogated, detained and forcibly deported to Russia.

The U.N. nuclear agency is renewing its request to assess the safety and security at Europe’s largest nuclear plant in southeastern Ukraine which Russia and Ukraine accuse each other of shelling.

TANZANIA Top U.N. officials warned Wednesday that the COVID-19 pandemic has aggravated discrimination and other human rights violations that can fuel conflict, and its indirect consequences are dwarfing the impact of the virus itself in the worlds most fragile countries. But the full extent isnt known because testing in these fragile countries is very low and in some places many people are reluctant to seek help, perhaps fearing being quarantined or fearing they wont get useful medical treatment, he said. The better news is that it seems possible that the fatality rate from COVID-19 may be lower in these fragile countries than initially feared, he said, but the indirect impact is greater. However, many expired without extensions, resulting in little improvement on the ground, the undersecretary-general for political and peace-building affairs said. Still, U.N. envoys are pursuing Guterres call for peace negotiations and cease-fires in conflict-torn Yemen, Libya, Syria and elsewhere, DiCarlo said.