The Security Council today unanimously approved a resolution deciding that Sudan and South Sudan shall unconditionally resume negotiations under the auspices of the African Union High-level Implementation Panel. It also called on them to immediately cease all hostilities, including aerial bombardments, within 48 hours.

Three quarters of the 1.1 million pre-term babies who died each year around the world could be saved with a few simple and inexpensive interventions, said experts today as they launched a new report on premature births during a Headquarters press conference.

Laying out the programme of work of the Security Council in May, under the first presidency of Azerbaijan, the country’s Permanent Representative this afternoon vowed to work to maintain unity among members for addressing the conflict in Syria and the many other complex situations the body was seized with.

On World Press Freedom Day, the Secretary-General said that defenders of a free press are safeguarding our rights and we must, in turn, ensure theirs. Noting that more than 60 journalists were killed worldwide last year, he said the attacks are outrageous, and he called on all concerned to prevent and prosecute such violence.

The Secretary-General told the Security Council today that collective efforts have disrupted terrorist attacks and disabled terrorist networks. In combating terrorism, the international community must work as one. This is why he hopes Member States will create a United Nations Counter-Terrorism Coordinator.

Ahead of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development planned for June, representatives of international non-governmental organizations exchanged a variety of views on the idea of a “green economy” this morning at a Headquarters press conference.

With roughly seven weeks left before the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), civil society activists expressed both frustration and expectations today at a Headquarters press conference, urging Member States to accelerate and energize negotiations.

The enduring impact of historical wrongs must be a priority for States as they reviewed their relationships with indigenous groups, emphasized leaders and activists at a Headquarters press conference marking the opening today of the eleventh annual United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

The Secretary-General is in Washington, D.C., today, where he is speaking at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies about the growth of UN peacebuilding. He is talking about how peacebuilding saves lives, protects human rights and promotes the rule of law.

Kofi Annan, the UN-League of Arab States Joint Special Envoy for Syria, briefed the Security Council today by videoconference from Geneva on the latest developments. Hervé Ladsous, the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, briefed on deployment of the UN Stabilization Mission in Syria.