Page 2 - United Nations General Assembly

Zelenskyy demands punishment for Russia's war on Ukraine in UN address

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy demanded punishment for Russia for the war in Ukraine, which has left thousands of people killed, displaced millions and reduced towns to rubble

Leaders of South Korea, Japan agree to work towards improving partnerships

The leaders of South Korea and Japan agreed to accelerate efforts to mend ties frayed over Japan's past colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula as they held their countries' first summit talks in nearly three years on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, both governments announced Thursday. The meeting occurred after Tokyo denied Seoul's earlier announcement they had agreed on the summit, in a sign of the delicate nature of their current relations. During their 30-minute meeting in New York on Wednesday, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida shared the need to improve bilateral ties and agreed to instruct their respective diplomats to step up talks for that, Yoon's office said in a statement. Kishida's office confirmed the hotel meeting. A separate Japanese Foreign Ministry statement said the two leaders agreed to promote cooperation between the two countries as well as with the United States. It said the leaders shared the need to restore

UK's PM Liz Truss slams Putin for turmoil, hails queen in debut UNGA speech

British Prime Minister Liz Truss has accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of making "saber-rattling threats" to cover his failed invasion of Ukraine, as she prepared to tell the United Nations that its founding principles were fracturing because of aggression by authoritarian states. In her debut speech to the UN General Assembly on Wednesday night, Truss will call the war in Ukraine a battle for "our values and the security of the whole world," and extol the late Queen Elizabeth II as a symbol of everything the U.N. stands for. The text of the speech was released in advance by Truss' office. Responding to a statement from Putin that he was mobilizing reservists and would use everything at his disposal to protect Russia an apparent reference to his nuclear arsenal -- Truss accused the Russian leader of "desperately trying to justify his catastrophic failures". "He is doubling down by sending even more reservists to a terrible fate," the speech said. "He is desperately trying t

Hope peeked through the gloom at 77th UNGA meet despite global morass

The head of the United Nations had just warned of a world gone badly wrong a place where inequity was on the rise, war was back in Europe, fragmentation was everywhere, the pandemic was pushing onward and technology was tearing things apart as much as it was uniting them. "Our world is in big trouble. Divides are growing deeper. Inequalities are growing wider. Challenges are spreading farther," Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Tuesday morning as he opened the general debate at the 77th UN General Assembly. And he was, on all counts, incontrovertibly correct. Yet barely an hour later, here were two UN delegates one Asian, one African grinning and standing in the sun-dappled lobby of the UN Secretariat Building, thrilled to be there in person on this particular morning as they snapped photos of each other, laughing along the way as they captured the moment. Hope: It can be hard to find anywhere these days, much less for the people who walk the floors of the United Nations, .

'Our world is in peril,' says UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres

The world's problems seized the spotlight Tuesday as the UN General Assembly's yearly meeting of world leaders opened with dire assessments of a planet beset by escalating crises and conflicts that an aging international order seems increasingly ill-equipped to tackle. After two years when many leaders weighed in by video because of the coronavirus pandemic, now presidents, premiers, monarchs and foreign ministers have gathered almost entirely in person for diplomacy's premier global event. But the tone is far from celebratory. Instead, it's the blare of a tense and worried world. We are gridlocked in colossal global dysfunction," Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, adding that our world is in peril - and paralysed. He and others pointed to conflicts ranging from Russia's six-month-old war in Ukraine to the decades-long dispute between Israel and the Palestinians. Speakers worried about a changing climate, spiking fuel prices, food shortages, economic inequality, migration, ..

Israeli PM, Jordanian King discuss tensions in Middle East at UNGA meet

Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid and King Abdullah II of Jordan met on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York and discussed the tensions in the Middle East region

Turkish leader asks United Nations to be 'much more influential' at UNGA

Turkey's leader, overseeing a nation encircled by regional disputes, used his speech at the UN General Assembly on Tuesday to shine a spotlight on Turkish maneuvering in conflicts that span from Syria to Ukraine. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's speech comes as Turkey is beset by staggeringly high inflation officially at 80%, but more than double that, analysts say. Erdogan blamed inflation on globally high food and energy prices rather than his government's economic policies. His speech, however, focused more on laying out his view of Turkey's role in the world. He said Turkey is trying to be part of the solution in conflicts around the world. Touching on multiple hot-button issues, he spoke about the need for stability in Iraq, fair elections in Libya, food security in the Horn of Africa, the need for Palestinian statehood, the rights of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar and Uyghur Muslims in China, and standing up to anti-Muslim sentiment globally. His remarks also highlighted Turkey

Jaishankar consults Ethiopian FM to reinforce ties in education, trade

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar held talks with the Foreign Minister of Ethiopia Demeke Mekonnen Hassen and discussed reinforcing cooperation in the education and trade sectors

Nations' leaders meet at UN amid rising global turbulence, war, food crisis

Facing a complex set of challenges that try humanity as never before, world leaders convene at the United Nations this week under the shadow of Europe's first major war since World War II a conflict that has unleashed a global food crisis and divided major powers in a way not seen since the Cold War. The many facets of the Ukraine war are expected to dominate the annual meeting, which convenes as many countries and peoples confront growing inequality, an escalating climate crisis, the threat of multiple famines and an internet-fuelled tide of misinformation and hate speech all atop a coronavirus pandemic that is halfway through its third year. For the first time since the United Nations was founded atop the ashes of World War II, European nations are witnessing war in their midst waged by nuclear-armed neighbouring Russia. Its Feb 24 invasion not only threatens Ukraine's survival as an independent democratic nation but has leaders in many countries worrying about trying to preserve

World leaders meet this week at UN General Assembly: All you need to know

After two years of virtual and hybrid summits, the world's leaders will reconvene on the river's edge in New York this coming week at the UN General Assembly, an exercise in multilateralism born from the hope for lasting peace that followed World War II. The opening of the 77th session comes as the planet is beset with crises on nearly every front. Russia's war in Ukraine, inflation and economic instability, terrorism and ideological extremism, environmental degradation and devastating floods, droughts and fires and the ongoing pandemic are just a few of the rampant perils. The high-level meeting opens Monday with a summit on education, whose thorough disruption during the coronavirus pandemic will reverberate for decades to come. Speeches from the scores of attending leaders begin Tuesday and run through Monday, Sept. 26. While this year is billed as something of a return to the way things were, certain concessions to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic have been made. In addition to

New UNGA president vows to give impetus to UNSC reform through negotiations

Speaking to reporters after formally assuming the presidency on Monday, he gave an assurance, "I'll do my best to forward this process"

India provided nearly $4 billion in food, financial assistance to Sri Lanka

India has always played a constructive and significant role in the context of peacebuilding through its extensive development partnership with countries of the Global South

India backs UN resolution to recognise human right to healthy environment

India has voted in favour of a UNGA resolution that recognises the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment as a human right

17 countries elected into UN Economic and Social Council for 3-year term

Seventeen states were elected Friday into the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the coordinating body for the economic and social work of UN agencies and funds, for a three-year term.The states were elected by secret ballot with a two-thirds majority of the member states present and voting in the UN General Assembly.Elected were Botswana, Cape Verde, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea from African states; China, Laos, Qatar, South Korea from Asia-Pacific states; Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica from Latin America and Caribbean states; Denmark, Greece, New Zealand, Sweden from Western European and other states; Slovakia and Slovenia from Eastern European states.They were elected for a three-year term beginning Jan. 1, 2023.Of the 17 states, Botswana, China, Colombia, Denmark, Greece, New Zealand and South Korea were re-elected.In a by-election for rotation within the Western European and other states group, Liechtenstein was elected for a one-year term beginning Jan. 1, 2023. It will ...

UNGA adopts resolution on multilingualism, mentions Hindi for first time

In a significant initiative, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) has adopted an India-sponsored resolution on multilingualism that mentions the Hindi language for the first time

Pak FM discusses remarks on Prophet by ex-BJP leaders with UNGA President

Pakistan FM Bilawal Bhutto Zardari apprised President of UN General Assembly Abdulla Shahid of the controversial remarks made by two former senior BJP officials against Prophet Mohammad

UNGA meets to help reverse slump in global tourism sector post pandemic

"In 2019, prior to the pandemic, tourism contributed $3.5 trillion to global GDP. The precipitous drop during the pandemic is estimated to have cost up to 120 million jobs," the UNGA President noted

Afghan envoy at UN lodges complaint at Security Council over Pak airstrikes

These airstrikes are flagrant breach of international laws, principles of UN Charter, UN General Assembly and Security Council resolutions, including on Kabul Declaration on Good-Neighbourly Relations

UN General Assembly suspends Russia from top human rights body

The vote was 93-24 with 58 abstentions, significantly lower than the vote on two resolutions the assembly adopted last month demanding an immediate cease-fire in Ukraine, withdrawal of Russian troops.

India abstains 6th, 7th time in UN vote on Ukraine crisis resolution

Keeping up its streak of abstentions on Ukraine-related resolutions at the UN, India on Thursday abstained in rapid succession for the sixth and seventh time at the General Assembly