Page 6 - United Nations

UN appeals for $397 million to help 5 mn Syrian earthquake survivors

The United Nations chief launched a USD 397 million appeal Tuesday to help nearly 5 million survivors of last week's devastating earthquake in rebel-held northwest Syria who have received very little assistance because of deep divisions exacerbated by the country's 12-year war. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced the appeal a day after he welcomed an agreement between the UN and Syrian President Bashar Assad to open two new crossing points from Turkey for an initial period of three months. The UN has only been allowed to deliver aid to the northwest Idlib area through a single crossing at Bab Al-Hawa -- at Syrian ally Russia's insistence. Since the quake, the UN says 84 trucks have gone through Bab Al-Hawa. Guterres said the devastation from the magnitude 7.8 earthquake that ravaged southern Turkey and northwestern Syria on February 6 "is one of the worst in recent memory," and "we all know that lifesaving aid has not been getting in at the speed and scale needed." He said

United Nations says Syria agrees to open 2 new crossings for quake aid

Syria's president has agreed to open two new crossing points from Turkey to the country's rebel-held northwest to deliver desperately needed aid and equipment for millions of earthquake victims, the United Nations announced Monday. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres welcomed the decision by Syrian leader Bashar Assad to open crossing points at Bab Al-Salam and Al Rae for an initial period of three months. Currently, the UN has only been allowed to deliver aid to the northwest Idlib area through a single crossing at Bab Al-Hawa. Guterres said in a statement the toll from the quake continues to mount, delivering food, health, nutrition, protection, shelter, winter supplies and other life-saving supplies to all the millions of people affected is of the utmost urgency. Opening these crossing points along with facilitating humanitarian access, accelerating visa approvals and easing travel between hubs will allow more aid to go in, faster, the UN chief said. The announcement follow

US shoots down another unidentified flying object over North America

The United States has shot down another unidentified airborne object in its airspace, a day after it brought down a similar "cylindrical" object over Canada. An F-16 fighter jet, at the direction of President Joe Biden, fired an AIM9x to successfully shoot down the airborne object flying at approximately 20,000 feet altitude in US airspace over Lake Huron in the State of Michigan, Pentagon Press Secretary Brig Gen Pat Ryder said on Sunday. The object was shaped like an octagon with strings hanging off it and no discernible payload, CNN reported, quoting an official and another source briefed on the matter. Although the United States has no indication that the object has surveillance capabilities, that has not been ruled out as yet. After the shooting down of a Chinese surveillance balloon in the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of South Carolina last Saturday, this is the third such shooting down of an unidentified airborne object in a week. The previous two were shot down by US fighte

After devasting earthquake, UN humanitarian chief to visit Turkey, Syria

UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths is set to travel to Turkey and Syria where more than 21,000 people have been killed, and tens of thousands injured after a magnitude 7.8 earthquake.

UN's first convoy of aid dispatched from Turkey to quake-hit Syria

Six truckloads of aid entered the Bab al-Hawa border crossing through the Cilvegozu border gate in Turkey's southern Hatay province, the news agency reported

UN eyes revival of millets as global grain uncertainty grows due to drought

While others in her Zimbabwean village agonize over a maize crop seemingly headed for failure, Jestina Nyamukunguvengu picks up a hoe and slices through the soil of her fields that are lush green with a pearl millet crop in the African country's arid Rushinga district. These crops don't get affected by drought, they are quick to flower, and that's the only way we can beat the drought, the 59-year old said, smiling broadly. Millets, including sorghum, now take up over two hectares of her land a patch where maize was once the crop of choice. Farmers like Nyamukunguvengu in the developing world are on the front lines of a project proposed by India that has led the U.N.'s Food and Agricultural Organisation to christen 2023 as The Year of Millets, an effort to revive a hardy and healthy crop that has been cultivated for millennia but was largely elbowed aside by European colonists who favored corn, wheat and other grains. The designation is timely: Last year, drought swept across much

Urgent need to resolve Tibet-China conflict, says UN Advocacy group

UN experts' warning about China's efforts to forcibly assimilate the "vast majority" of Tibetan children by separating them from their families and boarding them at state-run schools.

UNFPA scales up emergency response to reach women, girls in Turkey, Syria

'Their ability to access quality care before, during and after delivery must not be an afterthought'

'Harbours deep sense of insecurity', India slams Pak over Kashmir at UN

India has slammed Pakistan for raking up the Kashmir issue in the UN, saying Islamabad harbours a deep sense of insecurity and orchestrated hatred for India and its secular credentials. Responding to Pakistan's raising of the Kashmir issue during a UN General Assembly (UNGA) meeting, Counsellor in India's Permanent Mission to the UN, Rajesh Parihar, said on Monday that Islamabad repeatedly utters falsehoods about India. "I'm constrained to take the floor to respond to the frivolous remarks made by the representative of Pakistan against my country. While such a statement deserves our sympathy for a mindset, which repeatedly utters falsehood, it is important for me to set the record straight, he said in the UNGA. Parihar said irrespective of what the representative of Pakistan believes or covets, the Union territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh were, are and will always be an "integral and inalienable" part of India. We expect nothing new from this delegation that harbours a dee

UN launches emergency responses following earthquakes in Turkey, Syria

In the wake of devastating earthquakes that struck southern Turkey and northern Syria, UN aid agencies have scrambled to help many thousands of reported victims, including those still buried

World heading toward a wider war, fears UN chief Antonio Guterres

The United Nations chief warned Monday that the world is facing a convergence of challenges unlike any in our lifetimes and expressed fear of a wider war as the first anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine approaches. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said experts who surveyed the state of the world in 2023 set the Doomsday Clock at 90 seconds to midnight the closest ever to total global catastrophe, He pointed to the war in Ukraine, runaway climate catastrophe, rising nuclear threats, the widening gulf between the world's haves and have-nots, and the epic geopolitical divisions undermining global solidarity and trust. In a wide-ranging address Guterres urged the General Assembly's 193 member nations to change their mindset on decision-making from near-term thinking, which he called irresponsible and immoral, to looking at what will happen to all of us tomorrow and act. He said this year's 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights should serve as a remin

UN condemns clashes in South Sudan after 27 killed, probe to be launched

This violence is unacceptable and was in sharp contrast to the message of the Ecumenical Peace Pilgrimage to South Sudan, which called for peace and reconciliation, Haysom said in a statement

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres codoles death of Musharraf

Musharraf, an Army general who seized power in a 1999 coup overthrowing the democratically elected government of Nawaz Sharif, died in exile in Dubai on Sunday

UNDP administrator Achim Steiner highlights India's G20 presidency

Speaking at the UN, Steiner said that he will be travelling to India in a couple of weeks to attend the G20 Finance Central Bank Governors meeting

India supports peace process and capacity building in South Sudan

India on Tuesday supported the peace process and capacity building in South Sudan in the journey for peace.Pratik Mathur, Counsellor at India's Permanent Mission to United Nations reiterated India's strong support via UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS)."At @UNPeacebuilding Commission's meeting on South Sudan, Counsellor @PratikMathur1 expressed India's strong support via @unmissmedia (#India provides 2400+ peacekeepers) & bilaterally to support peace process & capacity building in #SouthSudan in the journey for peace," tweeted Mathur.Recently, India deployed an all-woman platoon of peacekeepers as part of the Indian Battalion to the United Nations Interim Security Force in Abyei (on the border between South Sudan and Sudan).The Abyei Area is a border area between South Sudan and Sudan that has been granted "special administrative status" by the 2004 Protocol on the Resolution of the Abyei Conflict (Abyei Protocol) in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that ended the ..

UN chief backs democracy for Myanmar 2 years after military seizes power

Two years after Myanmar's military seized power, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres voiced support Monday for the democratic aspirations of Myanmar's people and warned that the military's planned elections amid a crackdown on civilians and political leaders risk exacerbating instability. UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the secretary-general strongly condemns all forms of violence in Myanmar as the crisis in the country deteriorates and fuel serious regional implications." The army seized power on February 1, 2021, from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, arresting her and top members of her governing National League for Democracy party, which had won a landslide victory for a second term in a November 2020 general election. Security forces suppressed widespread opposition to the military takeover with lethal force, killing almost 2,900 civilians and arresting thousands more people who engaged in nonviolent protests. The savage crackdown triggered armed resistance in muc

Sustainable development only way to durable peace: Deputy UN chief

'There is only one route to durable peace, to the peace that withstands the crises of our times. It is the route of sustainable development'

Aid will be affected: UN on ban on female employees at NGOs by Taliban

Griffiths reported that the UN had made the largest-ever worldwide plea for Afghanistan in 2023, asking for USD 4.6 billion

Taliban to set new rules on Afghan women's aid work: UN officials

A top UN official said that the Taliban-led government in Afghanistan are planning to set up new rules to allow women to work in some humanitarian operations

As world's fastest-growing economy at 5.8%, India bright spot: UN economist

For next year, the UN is projecting a growth rate of 6.7 per cent, a "very high growth relative to other G20 member countries"