Sudanese authorities have announced that they are immediately restricting the movement of humanitarian workers operating in the south of the war-torn Darfur region because of ongoing military operations and security threats, the United Nations reported today.

Security in Côte d’Ivoire’s biggest city, Abidjan, is improving and commercial activities such as retail trade and banking are resuming, but tensions remain high in other parts of the country, notably the west, where outbreaks of violence have been recorded, the United Nations reported today.

The head of the joint United Nations-African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur today voiced deep concern after Sudanese military forces carried out air strikes against a town and a village in the south of the war-wracked region.

Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court (ICC) today asked the court’s judges to issue arrest warrants for Libyan leader Muammar al-Qadhafi, one of his sons and the head of the country’s intelligence forces, accusing them of committing crimes against humanity during the ongoing conflict in the North African nation.