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Newly arrived refugees from South Sudan travel to the Numanzi Transit Centre in the Adjumani district of northern Uganda.

An estimated 6.3 million children under 15 years of age died in 2017, or 1 every 5 seconds, mostly of preventable causes, according to new mortality estimates released by UNICEF, the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Population Division and the World Bank Group.

The UN Secretary-General, António Guterres (l), meets Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, King of Saudi Arabia on the occasion of the signing of a peace accord between Eritrea and Ethiopia in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on 16 September 2018.

Save the Children is deeply worried for the welfare of 4.2 million children in Yemen on the brink of starvation following reports that the Yemeni Army, backed by the Saudi- and Emirati-led Coalition, has launched airstrikes outside the port city of Hodeidah, effectively shutting down the main artery linking the port city to the rest of the country. The charity is calling on parties to the conflict to ensure the road linking Hodeidah to the rest of the country remains open and safe to use.

“Hundreds of thousands of lives hang in the balance in Hodeidah,” said Ms. Lise Grande, the Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen. “The situation has deteriorated dramatically in the past few days. Families are absolutely terrified by the bombardment, shelling and airstrikes.”

The United States has imposed sanctions on two North Korean-controlled information technology companies based in China and Russia, accusing them of moving illicit funds to North Korea.

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions instructed Department of Justice lawyers in a memo Thursday to resist the nationwide injunctions issued by federal judges that have hindered or halted some of the Trump administration's signature policies, including the border separation of families and various travel bans.

Colombia’s last remaining rebel group, the ELN, has released six people it kidnapped last month.

The hostages, including three police officers, an army soldier and two civilian contractors, were released Thursday in the western district of Choco to a humanitarian mission that included members of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The World Bank approved the $80 million Niger Refugees and Host Communities Support Project (PARCA), which will improve access to basic services and economic opportunities for refugees and host communities in 15 communes in the Diffa, Tahoua and Tillabéri regions, and provide institutional support to local, regional and central government entities in those 3 regions, as well as the Agadez region.

EU states must unite against China’s bids to buy up control of their strategic infrastructure and insist that it respect human rights, said MEPs on Wednesday.