Page 27 - United Nations

Israel under lens for 'extermination' in destruction of Gaza health system

UN inquiry's statement also accused Israeli forces of deliberately killing and torturing medical personnel, targeting medical vehicles and restricting permits for patients to leave besieged Gaza Strip

Israeli forces fire on UN peacekeeper positions in south Lebanon: UNIFIL

Hezbollah said it had fired a missile salvo at Israeli forces on Thursday as they were trying to pull casualties out of the Ras al-Naqoura area, and they were directly hit

UN warns Gaza aid efforts could disintegrate if Israeli legislation passes

The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees warned on Wednesday that if pending Israeli legislation is adopted, all humanitarian operations in Gaza and the West Bank may disintegrate, leaving hundreds of thousands of people in dire need as war rages. Philippe Lazzarini told the UN Security Council that senior Israeli officials are bent on destroying the UN body known as UNRWA, which is the main provider of humanitarian aid in Gaza, the Palestinian territory rocked by a year of war between Israel and Hamas. An Israeli parliamentary committee approved a pair of bills this week that would ban UNRWA from operating in Israeli territory and end all contact between the government and the UN agency. The bill needs final approval from the Knesset, Israel's parliament. Lazzarini said in a video briefing that legally, the Knesset legislation violates Israel's obligation under the United Nations Charter and international law". Israel has alleged that some of UNRWA's thousands of staff .

Renewable energy to fall short of UN goal to triple by 2030, says IEA

It said the increase is equivalent to the current power capacity of China, European Union, India and the United States combined, but not enough to meet a target set at the COP28 UN climate conference

Pact of the Future lacks clarity on majority's UNSC expansion views: India

India has said that the 'Pact of the Future', adopted by consensus by world leaders here last month, falls short in capturing views expressed by a majority of UN member states calling for Security Council expansion and beginning text-based negotiations on reform within a fixed time frame. The UN hosted the landmark Summit of the Future during the high-level General Assembly session in September where world leaders had adopted by consensus the Pact of the Future'. India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador P. Harish, addressing the 79th Session of the UN General Assembly on Strengthening of the United Nations system', said that India would have liked to see a more ambitious Chapter Five, referring to the Pact's chapter on transforming global governance that includes language on reform of the UN Security Council. Harish said that Delhi continues to believe that the Inter-Governmental Negotiations input for the Summit of the Future did not go far enough in addressing the ...

Debt burden threatens poor countries' development goals: UN official

World Bank President Ajay Banga, speaking at the same event, said official and multilateral lenders would not be able to provide the $4 trillion needed to reach the goals without help

UN like 'old company', not entirely keeping up with market: EAM Jaishankar

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Sunday took a critical view of the United Nations, saying it was "like an old company", not entirely keeping up with the market but occupying the space. During an interaction at the Kautilya Economic Conclave here, he also said that two very serious conflicts are going on in the world. "And where is the UN on them, essentially a bystander," the minister said. In response to a query on the possible outcome of the US elections, he said the US actually has "made a shift", geopolitically and in its economic outlook, and irrespective of the outcomes in November, many of these trends will "intensify" in the days to come. Jaishankar took part in the interactive session on 'India and the Globe' and spoke of India's role and challenges amid changing global dynamics. "So, we are both a lifting tide and a bit of paradoxical one, a ballast as well," Jaishankar said as he enumerated some of the steps India has taken to help other countries, including it

Why did Israel ban the UN Secretary-General from entering the country? | António Guterres

On October 2, Israel’s Foreign Minister, Israel Katz, announced that the UN Secretary-General António Guterres was banned from entering Israel. Watch the video to know why.

China's CO2 emissions may fall by a third by 2035 with new UN targets

With China on course to meet its 2030 climate goals with relative ease, it could now capitalise on its renewable energy advantages

UN ponders how to calm conflict as Israel battles militants on 2 fronts

The United Nations Security Council held an emergency meeting Wednesday to address the spiraling conflict in the Middle East. Iran's ambassador to the UN said his country launched nearly 200 missiles at Israel on Tuesday as a deterrent to further Israeli violence, while his Israeli counterpart called the barrage an "unprecedented act of aggression". Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed late on Tuesday to retaliate, and an Iranian commander threatened wider strikes on infrastructure if Israel did so. US President Biden said Wednesday that he would not support an Israeli attack targeting Iran's nuclear programme. Israel further ruffled feathers on Wednesday when its foreign minister declared the UN secretary-general "persona non-grata" in the country, doubling down on decades of accusations of antisemitism against the organisation. Israel was meanwhile battling militants on two fronts, pursuing a ground incursion into Lebanon against Hezbollah and conducting strikes in Gaz

Israel's ban on Guterres a political statement in long-running rift: UN

The United Nations on Wednesday called Israel's ban on Secretary-General Antonio Guterres entering the country a political statement by its foreign minister and stressed that the world body's contacts with Israel will continue "because they have to". UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters that Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz deeming the UN chief "persona non grata" is also "one more attack on the United Nations staff that we've seen from the government of Israel". Israel's accusations of UN bias and antisemitism date back decades, but the rift has intensified since Hamas' October 7 attacks in the country's south killed about 1,200 people and launched the war in Gaza. Israel's offensive against the militant group has killed over 41,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not say how many were fighters but that a little more than half were women and children. An Israeli ground incursion in Lebanon and other attacks against Hezbollah, a Lebanese

Israel bans UN Chief from entering country, declares him persona non grata

Earlier in response to Iran's rocket barrage on Israel on Tuesday night the UN Chief had said, "I condemn the broadening of the Middle East conflict with escalation after escalation

UNGA is world stage for disputes that are generally out of spotlight

The world's greatest stage is the sprawling Midtown Manhattan complex where leaders meet each year to discuss humanity's future. The United Nations' most powerful body the Security Council is paralysed by disputes, so this year's most varied speeches were delivered before the 193-member General Assembly. Like the 15-nation Security Council with its five vetoes, the UNGA devoted much time to the Middle East, Russia, Ukraine and Sudan. But the more democratic institution also turned global attention to topics little-known outside individual countries and regions. A look at some of the issues that countries brought to the world stage or ignored during their time on the global stage: Guatemala-Belize Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo spoke on Tuesday and asserted that his country is moving beyond its dark past of US-backed dictatorship, civil war and human-rights violations, saying that corruption drowns its roots in a past of authoritarianism, repression and political violenc

Taiwan condemns China's 'distortion' of UN resolution, calls for support

Taiwan continues to rally int'l support against China's aggressive posturing, calling for timely rebuttals to Beijing's legal and political manoeuvres aimed at isolating Taiwan from global stage

Gravely concerned by dramatic escalation of events in Beirut, says UN Chief

The remarks by Guterres follow Israeli airstrikes in Beirut that led to the death of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah

Russia condemns West during UNGA speech; invokes nuclear capacity

Russia's top diplomat warned Saturday against trying to fight to victory with a nuclear power, delivering a UN General Assembly speech packed with condemnations of what Russia sees as Western machinations in Ukraine and elsewhere including inside the United Nations itself. Three days after Russian President Vladimir Putin aired a shift in his country's nuclear doctrine, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused the West of using Ukraine which Russia invaded in February 2022 as a tool to try to defeat" Moscow strategically, and preparing Europe for it to also throw itself into this suicidal escapade. I'm not going to talk here about the senselessness and the danger of the very idea of trying to fight to victory with a nuclear power, which is what Russia is, he said. The specter of nuclear threats and confrontation has hung over the war in Ukraine since its start. Shortly before the invasion, Putin reminded the world that his country was one of the most powerful nuclear states, and h

This is only 'karma': EAM S Jaishankar slams Pakistan in UNGA address

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday said Pakistan's cross-border terrorism will never succeed and its actions will "certainly have consequences", stressing that it is "karma" that the country's ills are now consuming its own society. In his address to the General Debate of the 79th session of the UN General Assembly, Jaishankar also said that the issue to be resolved between India and Pakistan is now only the vacation of illegally occupied Indian territory by Pakistan, and the abandonment of its long standing attachment to terrorism. Many countries get left behind due to circumstances beyond their control, but some make conscious choices with disastrous consequences. A premier example is our neighbour, Pakistan, he said. Today we see the ills it (Pakistan) sought to visit on others consume its own society. It can't blame the world. This is only karma, he said. Jaishankar said Pakistan's cross border terrorism policy will never succeed, and it can have no expectation

China, at UN, warns world against 'expansion of battlefield' in Ukraine war

Three days before his communist government turns 75, China's foreign minister warned fellow leaders Saturday against an expansion of the battlefield in Russia's war with Ukraine and said the Beijing government remains committed to shuttle diplomacy and efforts to push the conflict toward its end. The top priority is to commit to no expansion of the battlefield. ... China is committed to playing a constructive role," Wang Yi said. He warned against other nations throwing oil on the fire or exploiting the situation for selfish gains, a likely reference to the United States. Wang's speech appeared to break no new ground, as is generally China's recent practice at the UN General Assembly's annual meeting of leaders. In fact, his boss, Chinese President Xi Jinping, has not participated in the leaders' meeting since 2021 and then only virtually, during the pandemic. Xi has not attended in person for several years. On Friday, on the assembly sidelines, China and Brazil sought to build ...

Israel to keep 'degrading Hezbollah' until objectives met, says Netanyahu

Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu signalled to the world from the United Nations on Friday that the multiple conflicts in the Middle East were far from resolved, and he vowed to continue battling the Lebanese Hezbollah and defeat Hamas in the Gaza Strip until total victory". Shortly after the prime minister spoke, blasts rocked the Lebanese capital Beirut and the Israeli military said it had struck Hezbollah's headquarters. The exact target wasn't immediately clear, but it appeared to be significant enough to prompt Netanyahu to cut short his trip to New York by a day and make unusual travel on the Jewish Sabbath to get home. Israel has every right to remove this threat and return our citizens to their home safely. And that's exactly what we're doing, Netanyahu said, eliciting applause from supporters in the gallery of the General Assembly. We'll continue degrading Hezbollah until all our objectives are met, he said. Netanyahu spoke as international mediation efforts were underway t

Protests erupt outside UN headquarters as Muhammad Yunus addresses UNGA

Slogans of terrorist, minority killer, Hindu killer Yunus, go back, step down were raised outside UN headquarters in New York