Page 16 - United Nations

UN chief alters travel plan in a bid to save Ukraine grain deal: Report

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has decided to alter his travel plans to focus his efforts on saving the Black Sea Grain Initiative, said his spokesman

UN assists more than 4.6 million people in Afghanistan amid reeling crisis

As the economic crisis continues to grip Afghanistan, more than 4.6 million people in the war-torn country have been provided assistance, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees said

Russia suspends UN-brokered Ukraine grain deal over ship attack claim

Russia announced Saturday that it will immediately suspend its implementation of a U.N.-brokered grain deal that has seen more than 9 million tons of grain exported from Ukraine during the war and has brought down soaring global food prices. The Russian Defense Ministry cited an alleged Ukrainian drone attack Saturday against Russia's Black Sea Fleet ships moored off the coast of occupied Crimea as the reason for the move. Ukraine has denied the attack, saying that the Russians mishandled their own weapons. The Russian declaration came one day after U.N. chief Antonio Guterres urged Russia and Ukraine to renew the grain export deal, which was scheduled to expire on Nov. 19. Guterres also urged other countries, mainly in the West, to expedite the removal of obstacles blocking Russian grain and fertilizer exports. The U.N. chief said the grain deal brokered by the United Nations and Turkey in July helps "to cushion the suffering that this global cost-of-living crisis is inflicting o

Climate goals at risk, emissions by top emitters rebound: UN report

No credible pathway to restrict global warming to under 1.5 degrees Celsius, it says

Averting climate disasters requires bold emission reduction measure: UNEP

Community of nations must implement bold measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and avert runaway climate emergencies including floods, droughts, heatwaves and cyclones, the UNEP said

North Korea nuke test would be key concern, says UN nuclear chief

The U.N. nuclear chief said Thursday that a new nuclear test explosion by North Korea would be yet another confirmation of a programme which is moving full steam ahead in a way that is incredibly concerning. Rafael Grossi said the International Atomic Energy Agency sees preparations for a seventh test but has no indication of whether an atomic blast is imminent. Everybody is holding its breath, he told reporters in response to a question. Further tests, of course, means that they are refining the preparations and the construction of the arsenal. So we are following this very, very closely. Grossi added: We hope it doesn't happen, but indications unfortunately go in another direction. Officials from the United States and its Asian allies Japan and South Korea suspect North Korea is preparing for a nuclear test, and deputy foreign ministers from the three countries said Wednesday their joint response would be decisive. Worries about North Korea's nuclear programme deepened in recen

Lebanon and Israel sign US-mediated sea border deal, deliver them to UN

Lebanon and Israel signed copies of a US-mediated sea border deal on Thursday and delivered them to the UN in the coastal border town of Naqoura. The agreement to demarcate the maritime border comes after months of indirect talks mediated by Amos Hochstein, the US envoy for energy affairs, and would mark a major breakthrough in relations between the two nations, which have formally been at war since Israel's creation in 1948. Lebanon and Israel both claim around 860 square kilometers (330 square miles) of the Mediterranean Sea that are home to offshore gas fields. Lebanon hopes that demarcating maritime borders will pave the way for gas exploration to help lift it out of its crippling economic crisis, which has plunged three-quarters of its population into poverty. Israel hopes that the deal will reduce the risk of war with Lebanon's Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah. Lebanon and Israel sent delegations to the United Nations Interim Force In Lebanon, who received separately sign

Efforts on for Hindi's inclusion in official languages at UN: S Jaishankar

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday said efforts are on to get Hindi recognised as an official language at the United Nations and progress has been made in that direction but it will take some time. He made the remarks at an event in Delhi where it was announced that the next World Hindi Conference will be organised in Nadi, Fiji from February 15-17 next year. Asked about efforts to include Hindi among the official languages at the UN, Jaishankar said, "You would know Hindi is being used in UNESCO. As far as the use of Hindi in its headquarters is concerned, we have an MoU with them, they are using it in social media and newsletters. It will take some time in expanding this, it is not so easy that a language is introduced in the UN process." "Work is being done on it, progress has been made and it is our expectation that this will move forward," he said. The UN has six official languages English, Russian, Spanish, Chinese, Arabic and French. Speaking at the event,

India's per capita GHG emissions far below world average: UNEP report

At 2.4 tCO2e (tonne carbon dioxide equivalent), India's per capita greenhouse gas emissions were far below the world average of 6.3 tCO2e in 2020, according to a new report released by the United Nations Environment Programme on Thursday. The "Emissions Gap Report 2022: The Closing Window", released ahead of the UN Climate Change conference (COP27) in Egypt next month, also said the international community is still falling far short of the Paris goals, with no credible pathway to limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degree Celsius in place. To address climate change, countries adopted the Paris Agreement in 2015 to limit global temperature rise in this century to well below 2 degrees Celsius, preferably to 1.5 degrees Celsius, compared to pre-industrial levels. "World average per capita GHG emissions (including land use, land-use change, and forestry -- LULUCF) were 6.3 tCO2e in 2020. The US remains far above this level at 14 tCO2e, followed by 13 tCO2e in the Russian Federation,

US diplomat Chris Lu to travel to India for UN counter-terrorism meeting

A senior US diplomat in United Nations will travel to India from October 27-29 to participate in a UN counter-terrorism meeting and address important issues between New Delhi and Washington

Greenhouse gases reach new record high levels in 2021: UN weather agency

The three main greenhouse gases hit record high levels in the atmosphere last year, the UN weather agency said on Wednesday, calling it an ominous sign as war in Ukraine, rising costs of food and fuel, and other worries have elbowed in on longtime concerns about global warming in recent months. More bad news for the planet, the World Meteorological Organisation said in a statement along with its latest annual Greenhouse Gas Bulletin. It's one of several reports released in recent days looking at several aspects of humanity's struggle with climate change in the run up to the UN's latest climate conference, in Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt. Of the three main types of heat-trapping greenhouse gases carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide the biggest jump from 2020 to 2021 was in methane, whose concentrations in the air came in with the biggest year-on-year increase since regular measurements began four decades ago, WMO said. The continuing rise in concentrations of the main heat-trappin

Climate plans to limit global temperature remain insufficient: UN report

A new report from UN Climate Change on Wednesday showed countries are bending the curve of global greenhouse gas emissions downward but underlines that these efforts remain insufficient

UN envoy: Myanmar crisis deepens, taking 'catastrophic toll on people'

The UN special envoy for Myanmar warned Tuesday that the political, human rights and humanitarian crisis in the military-ruled Southeast Asian nation is deepening and taking a catastrophic toll on the people. Noeleen Heyzer told the U.N. General Assembly's human rights committee that more than 13.2 million people don't have enough to eat, 1.3 million are displaced and the military continues operations using disproportionate force including bombings, burnings of homes and buildings, and the killing of civilians. Heyzer's briefing was her first at the U.N. in New York since she visited Myanmar in August and met the head of the military government, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing. She said the meeting was part of broader efforts by the U.N. to urgently support a return to civilian rule. She stressed that there is a new political reality in Myanmar: a people demanding change, no longer willing to accept military rule. Heyzer said she made six requests during the meeting with the military's

Syria facing 'acute violence', worst economic crisis since war: UN

Syria is facing acute violence, the worst economic crisis since the war began in 2011, and a rapidly spreading cholera outbreak with more than 24,000 suspected cases reported throughout the country and at least 80 deaths, U.N. officials have said. U.N. special envoy Geir Pedersen told the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday that the conflict remains very active across the country despite the strategic stalemate that has blocked efforts to launch a political process between the government and opposition. He pointed to infighting between armed opposition groups in Afrin in northern Aleppo province in recent weeks, pro-government airstrikes in the northwest, violence in the northeast, security incidents in the southwest, airstrikes attributed to Israel on airports in Damascus and Aleppo, and discovery in the northeast of one of the largest Islamic State arms caches since its so-called caliphate fell in 2017. In recent weeks, Pedersen said, the Syrian currency, the pound, lost a tremendous

UN nuclear watchdog to inspect Ukrainian sites after Kyiv's request

A team of inspectors from the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will visit two sites in Ukraine at the request of the government in Kyiv

India will always stand with the Global South, says Jaishankar on UN Day

India will always stand with the Global South and seek to strengthen the UN's effectiveness, said External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar

Sorry, Mr Guterres, no one is listening

With the nation in perpetual election mode, perhaps the Opposition, too, is convinced that reacting to criticism like that of Guterres will not get them a single extra vote

Record flooding hits two-thirds of South Sudan: UN Refugee Agency

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said that record flooding has hit two-thirds of South Sudan, affecting over 900,000 people.

UN deputy secretary-general decries global trampling of women's rights

The trampling of women's rights and deeply ingrained misogyny are connected in many ways to today's global challenges, from the proliferation of conflicts to increasing assaults on human rights, the UN deputy secretary-general said on Thursday. Amina Mohammed told a UN Security Council meeting on women, peace and security that despite decades of evidence that gender equality offers a path to sustainable peace and conflict prevention, we are moving in the opposite direction. We cannot separate the perilous state of peace in our world from the destructive effects of patriarchy and the silencing of women's voices, she said. Mohammed urged the world's nations to call out misogyny as it manifests itself in the abuse and discrimination that women confront on the street, at home, at work, as well as online. They must challenge the social, political, and economic structures and norms that sustain it, she said. The Security Council was assessing the state of a resolution it adopted on Octob

PM Modi to have bilateral meeting with UN chief Guterres in Gujarat

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will have a bilateral meeting with United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres at Kevadia in Gujarat on Thursday. Thereafter, the PM will launch Mission LiFE (Lifestyle for Environment) in the presence of Guterres at the Statue of Unity at Ekta Nagar in Kevadia. Mission LiFE aims at following a three-pronged strategy for changing people's collective approach towards sustainability. This includes nudging individuals to practice simple yet effective environment-friendly actions in their daily lives (demand), enabling industries and markets to respond swiftly to the changing demand (supply), and to influence government and industrial policy to support both sustainable consumption and production (policy), according to an official release. The prime minister will also participate in the 10th Heads of Missions Conference, which is being organised from October 20 to 22 in Kevadia by the Ministry of External Affairs. The conference will bring together 11