Page 20 - United Nations

India among world leaders to join US in seeking UN Security Council reforms

A number of world leaders have joined the United States in seeking reforms in the UN Security Council and including India as one of its permanent members, giving momentum to the demand for expansion of the powerful wing of the United Nations. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida stressed reforming the United Nations, including its security council "to return to the vision and principles of the UN Charter, with the strengthening of the UN's functions, including disarmament and non-proliferation". In his address at the annual session of the UN General Assembly, Portuguese Prime Minister Antnio Costa said, "We need a representative, agile and functional security council that can respond to the challenges of the 21st century without becoming paralysed, and whose actions are scrutinized by other members of the United Nations." Costa sought a security council that incorporates a comprehensive view of security, recognising the role of climate change as an accelerant of conflict. Observin

Russia defends war in Ukraine as US, others call for accountability at UN

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused Ukraine of creating threats against Russian security and 'brazenly trampling' the rights of Russians and Russian-speakers in Ukraine

India discusses cooperation among IBSA countries in multilateral fora

India has discussed ways to step up cooperation among IBSA countries in various multilateral fora, including the UN, WTO and G20, on major issues of in the international agenda. The IBSA (India, Brazil, South Africa) has emerged as a key tripartite grouping for the promotion of cooperation in a range of areas. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday hosted the 10th India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) Trilateral Ministerial Commission Meeting along with Brazil's Minister of Foreign Affairs Carlos Alberto Franco Frana and Dr. Joe Phaahla, Minister of Health of the Republic of South Africa. "The Ministers expressed satisfaction on the coordination and cooperation among IBSA countries in various multilateral fora, including the UN, WTO, WIPO and G20, on major issues of international agenda. They reiterated their intention to further deepen IBSA cooperation on international issues at various International Organisations and groupings," according to a joint statement issued after

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, .

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

The world is in 'great peril': UN secretary-gen warns global leaders

Stressing that cooperation and dialogue are the only path forward, he warned that "no power or group alone can call the shots"

Global solidarity more important than ever: Priyanka Chopra at SDG Moment

With just under eight years left to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), actor-producer Priyanka Chopra Jonas said "a just, safe and healthy world" is the right of every individual which can become a reality with global solidarity. During her appearance at the 2022 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Moment opening remarks at the United Nations General Assembly, the "Quantico" star weighed in on some of the world's most pressing issues such as the COVID-19 pandemic, climate crisis and poverty. "We meet today at a critical point in our world, at a time when global solidarity is more important than ever. "As countries continue to struggle from the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, as the climate crisis appends lives and livelihoods, as conflicts rage, and as poverty displacement, hunger and inequalities destroy the very foundation of the more just world that we have fought for for such a long time," Priyanka said in the speech shared by the UN via YouTube on .

Investors commit $7.1 trn of assets in pursuit of 1.5 deg C climate goal

A coalition of pension funds and insurance companies have committed to managing $7.1 trillion of assets in line with the Paris Agreement's goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius

UN chief Guterres calls for action in 5 areas to transform education

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for action in five areas to transform education

Iran accuses America of confiscating assets in international court

Iran told the United Nation's highest court on Monday that Washington's confiscation of some USD 2 billion in assets from Iranian state bank accounts to compensate bombing victims was an attempt to destabilise the Iranian government and a violation of international law. In 2016, Tehran filed a suit at the International Court of Justice after the US Supreme Court ruled money held in Iran's central bank could be used to compensate the 241 victims of a 1983 bombing of a U.S. military base in Lebanon believed linked to Iran. Hearings in the case opened Monday in the Hague-based court, starting with Iran's arguments. The proceedings will continue with opening statements by Washington on Wednesday. At stake are USD 1.75 billion in bonds, plus accumulated interest, belonging to the Iranian state but held in a Citibank account in New York. In 1983, a suicide bomber in a truck loaded with military-grade explosives attacked US Marine barracks in Beirut, killing 241 American troops and 58 Fre

India to push big for multilateral reforms of WTO, IMF as G20 Chair

Focus will also be on climate justice, green financing

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

Philippine president to focus on food, energy, climate change at UNGA

Philippine President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos left for New York to participate in the 77th session of the UN General Assembly, with his priority focus on food security, energy and climate change

China values relationship with UN despite human rights criticism

As world leaders gather in New York at the annual UN General Assembly, rising superpower China is also focusing on another United Nations body that is meeting across the Atlantic Ocean in Geneva. Chinese diplomats are speaking out and lobbying others at an ongoing session of the Human Rights Council to thwart a possible call for further scrutiny of what it calls its anti-extremism campaign in Xinjiang, following a UN report on abuses against Uyghurs and other largely Muslim ethnic groups in the western China border region. The concurrent meetings, on opposite sides of the Atlantic, illustrate China's divided approach to the United Nations and its growing global influence. Beijing looks to the UN, where it can count on support from countries it has befriended and in many cases assisted financially, as a counterweight to U.S.-led blocs such as the Group of Seven, which have grown increasingly hostile toward China. China sees the UN as an important forum that it can use to further its

Arab aid to UN Palestinian refugee agency continues to decline: Official

The annual Arab financial aid to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) had declined to 3 per cent of UNRWA's budget in 2022, a UN advisor said

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

LIVE news updates: India logs 5,747 fresh coronavirus cases, 29 fatalities

Live news updates: The active cases comprise 0.11% of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate increased to 98.71%

China puts on hold UN proposal to blacklist 26/11 LeT terrorist Sajid Mir

China has put a hold on a proposal moved at the United Nations by the US and co-supported by India to designate Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorist Sajid Mir, one of India's most wanted terrorists and the main handler of the deadly 2008 Mumbai attacks, as a global terrorist. It is learnt that Beijing put a hold Thursday on the proposal moved by the US and co-designated by India to blacklist Mir under the 1267 Al-Qaeda Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council as a global terrorist and subject him to assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo. Mir is one of India's most wanted terrorists and has a bounty of USD 5 million placed on his head by the US for his role in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. In June this year, he was jailed for over 15 years in a terror-financing case by an anti-terrorism court in Pakistan, which is struggling to exit the grey list of the FATF. Pakistani authorities had in the past claimed Mir had died, but Western countries remained unconvinced and demanded

UN warns of global emergency as nearly 345 mn people face acute starvation

The U.N. food chief warned Thursday that the world is facing a global emergency of unprecedented magnitude, with up to 345 million people marching toward starvation and 70 million pushed closer to starvation by the war in Ukraine. David Beasley, executive director of the U.N. World Food Program, told the U.N. Security Council that the 345 million people facing acute food insecurity in the 82 countries where the agency operates is 2 times the number of acutely food insecure people before the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020. He said it is incredibly troubling that 50 million of those people in 45 countries are suffering from very acute malnutrition and are knocking on famine's door. What was a wave of hunger is now a tsunami of hunger, he said, pointing to rising conflict, the pandemic's economic ripple effects, climate change, rising fuel prices and the war in Ukraine. Since Russia invaded its neighbour on Feb. 24, Beasley said, soaring food, fuel and fertilizer costs have driven 70