UNITED NATIONS — The UN Fact-Finding Mission in Sudan reports that nearly a year of fighting in the country has left thousands of civilians dead and millions more displaced, a UN spokesman said on Thursday.

“It said that fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has killed thousands of civilians since it began in April last year,” said Stephane Dujarric, chief spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.(UN-Sudan-Fighting-Lives)

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LOS ANGELES — SpaceX launched an advanced weather satellite mission for the U.S. Space Force on Thursday.

A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base at 7:25 a.m. Pacific Time. The Falcon 9’s first stage returned to Earth safely, touching down at Vandenberg’s Landing Zone about eight minutes after liftoff. (US-SpaceX-Satellite)

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BERLIN -The shortage of skilled workers in the German IT sector is set to more than quadruple to 663,000 by 2040 if policymakers do not take appropriate countermeasures, the industry association Bitkom warned Thursday.

According to Bitkom, the shortage of skilled workers in the IT sector has increased significantly in the last five years, with almost 149,000 job positions left unfilled in the previous year. (Germany-Skilled-worker-shortage)

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JERUSALEM — Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Thursday vowed an “appropriate response” if Iran attacks his country’s territory.

“A direct Iranian attack on Israeli territory will require an appropriate Israeli response against Iran,” Gallant told U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin during a phone conversation on preparations for a possible Iranian retaliatory attack. (Israel-US-Iranian Attack)