Page 32 - United Nations

Israel's Knesset advances bill labelling UNRWA as 'terror organisation'

The bill's preliminary reading passed by a vote of 42-6

Global unemployment rate is expected to fall slightly to 4.9% in 2024: ILO

The International Monetary Fund in April raised its 2024 forecasts for global growth to 3.2% from the 3.1% estimated in January, largely due to an improvement in the U.S. outlook

Algeria proposes UNSC resolution demanding Israel halt offensive in Rafah

Algeria is circulating a proposed UN Security Council resolution that would demand an immediate cease-fire in Gaza and order Israel to halt its military offensive in the southern city of Rafah immediately. The draft resolution, obtained on Wednesday evening by The Associated Press, also demands that the cease-fire be respected by all parties. It also calls for the immediate release of all hostages taken during Hamas' attack in southern Israel on October 7. Some diplomats said they hoped for a quick vote, even as early as Wednesday. It is our hope that it can be done as quickly as possible because life is in the balance, Chinese Ambassador Fu Cong told reporters. US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said: We're waiting to see it and then we'll react to it. The United States has vetoed multiple resolutions demanding a cease-fire in Gaza. The draft demands compliance with previous Security Council resolutions that call for the opening of all border crossings and humanitarian access

Fears of second landslide, disease outbreak loom in Papua New Guinea

Authorities fear a second landslide and a disease outbreak are looming at the scene of Papua New Guinea's mass-casualty disaster because of water streams and bodies trapped beneath the tons of debris that swept over a village, a United Nations official said Tuesday. A mass of boulders, earth and splintered trees devastated Yambali in the South Pacific nation's remote highlands when a limestone mountainside sheared away Friday. The blanket of debris has become more unstable with recent rain and streams trapped between the ground and rubble, said Serhan Aktoprak, chief of the International Organization for Migration's mission in Papua New Guinea. The UN agency has officials at the scene in Enga province helping shelter 1,600 displaced people. The agency estimates 670 villagers died, while Papua New Guinea's government has told the United Nations it thinks more than 2,000 people were buried. Five bodies had been retrieved from the rubble by Monday. We are hearing suggestions that anoth

2,000 feared dead in Papua New Guinea landslide, challenges for rescuers

The Papua New Guinea government said more than 2,000 people are believed to have been buried alive in a landslide in the South Pacific island nation, after the side of a mountain came down in the early hours of Friday morning when the village of Yambali was asleep. The settlement is located in a restive and remote area in the interior of the poor, rural nation off the northern coast of Australia, making search and rescue efforts complicated and hazardous. The government death toll is roughly triple the UN estimate of 670 killed. The remains of only six people had been recovered so far. In a letter seen by The Associated Press to the United Nations resident coordinator dated Sunday, the acting director of Papua New Guinea's National Disaster Center Luseta Laso Mana said the landslide buried more than 2,000 people alive and caused major destruction at Yambali village in the Enga province. Estimates of the casualties have varied widely since the disaster occurred, and it was not ...

Over 2,000 could be buried in Papua New Guinea landslide, says official

The landslide crashed through Yambali village in the country's north at around 3 a.m. on Friday while most of the community slept

Unstable terrain hampering relief efforts in Papua New Guinea, says UN

PNG government authorities remained focused on clearing debris and improving access to the village, the UN said in its latest update

UN migration agency estimates over 670 dead in Papua New Guinea landslide

The International Organisation for Migration on Sunday increased its estimate of the death toll from a massive landslide in Papua New Guinea to more than 670. Serhan Aktoprak, the chief of the UN migration agency's mission in the South Pacific island nation, said the revised death toll was based on calculations by Yambali village and Enga provincial officials that more than 150 homes had been buried by Friday's landslide. The previous estimate had been 60 homes. They are estimating that more than 670 people (are) under the soil at the moment, Aktoprak told The Associated Press. Local officials had initially put the death toll on Friday at 100 or more. Only five bodies and a leg of a sixth victim had been recovered by Sunday.

Restrictions on Afghan girls will increase child marriages by 25%: UN

According to the two-page brief, the continuation of restrictions by Taliban on women and girls will impact child marriages by an increase of 25 per cent, increase early childbearing by 45 per cent

Highlights of the day: Highest temperature in Raj was recorded in Phalodi at 50 degrees C on May 25

From phase six of general elections to United Nations's top court's decision on Gaza conflict, catch all the latest news from around the world here

Efforts to draft pandemic treaty falter as countries disagree on steps

A global treaty to fight pandemics like COVID is going to have to wait: After more than two years of negotiations, rich and poor countries have failed for now to come up with a plan for how the world might respond to the next pandemic. After COVID-19 triggered once-unthinkable lockdowns, upended economies and killed millions, leaders at the World Health Organization and worldwide vowed to do better in the future. In 2021, member countries asked the U.N. health agency to oversee negotiations to figure out how the world might better share scarce resources and stop future viruses from spreading globally. On Friday, Roland Driece, co-chair of WHO's negotiating board for the agreement, acknowledged that countries were unable to come up with a draft. WHO had hoped a final draft treaty could be agreed on at its yearly meeting of health ministers starting Monday in Geneva. We are not where we hoped we would be when we started this process," he said, adding that finalizing an international

UN court orders halt on military ops in Rafah; Israel unlikely to comply

The United Nations' top court ordered Israel on Friday to immediately halt its military offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, but stopped short of ordering a cease-fire for the enclave. Although Israel is unlikely to comply with the order, it will ratchet up the pressure on the increasingly isolated country. Criticism of Israel's conduct in the war in Gaza has been growing, particularly since it turned its focus to Rafah. This week alone, three European countries announced they would recognize a Palestinian state, and the chief prosecutor for another international court requested arrest warrants for Israeli leaders, along with Hamas officials. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is also under some pressure at home to end the war, which was triggered when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel, killing 1,200 people, most civilians, and taking roughly 250 hostage. Thousands of Israelis have joined weekly demonstrations calling on the government to reach a deal to bring .

Top United Nations court orders Israel to halt military operation in Rafah

The top United Nations court has ordered Israel to halt its military operations in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. Israel insists it has the right to defend itself from Hamas militants and is unlikely to comply with the ruling. The order by the International Court of Justice further ratchets up international pressure on an increasingly isolated Israel to rein in its war on Hamas in Gaza. Friday's decision marked the third time this year the 15-judge panel has issued preliminary orders seeking to rein in the death toll and alleviate humanitarian suffering in Gaza. While orders are legally binding, the court has no police to enforce them.

Indian official takes over as spl rep of UN chief for disaster risk cut

A top Indian official, Kamal Kishore, has started his term as a special representative of UN chief Antonio Guterres for disaster risk reduction. On March 28, Kishore, 55, was appointed by Guterres as his special representative for disaster risk reduction. Kishore was earlier with the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA). He succeeds Mami Mizutori of Japan at the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR). The UNDRR welcomed on May 20 the arrival of Kishore, who started his term as the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General (SRSG) for Disaster Risk Reduction and the Head of UNDRR, the office said in a statement on Thursday. Kishore said that the UNDRR plays an important role in drawing together global efforts to reduce disaster risks in the face of increasing vulnerabilities, and said he was looking forward to building on the progress made to date. "UNDRR's ambition matches the scale of the problem," he said. He commended the leadership of the .

Israel to revive ceasefire talks with Hamas after outcry on abduction video

Cease-fire talks stalled last week after Israel invaded Rafah, a southern city in Gaza

Many journalists have fled homelands due to repression, conflict, says UN

Thousands of journalists have fled their home countries in recent years to escape political repression, save their lives and escape conflict but in exile they are often vulnerable to physical, digital and legal threats, a UN investigator said on Wednesday. Irene Khan said in a report to the UN General Assembly that the number of journalists in exile has increased as the space for independent and critical media has been shrinking in democratic countries where authoritarian trends are gaining ground. Today, she said, free, independent and diverse media supporting democracy and holding the powerful to account are either absent or severely constrained in over a third of the world's nations, where more than two-thirds of the global population lives. The UN independent investigator on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression said most journalists and some independent media outlets have left their countries so they can report and investigate freely ..

First aid from US pier in Gaza reaches starving Palestinians, says UN

The U.N. World Food Program said Wednesday that it has handed out in Gaza in recent days a limited number of high-energy biscuits that arrived from a U.S.-built pier, the first aid from the new humanitarian sea route to get into the hands of Palestinians in grave need. The small number of biscuits came in the first shipments unloaded from the pier Friday, WFP spokesman Steve Taravella said. The U.S. Agency for International Development told The Associated Press that a total of 41 trucks loaded with aid from the more than $320 million pier have reached humanitarian organizations in Gaza. Aid is flowing from the pier, U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters Wednesday in response to questions about the troubled launch of aid deliveries from the maritime project. It is not flowing at a rate that any of us are happy with. Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder told reporters Tuesday that he did not believe any of the aid from the pier had yet reached people in Gaz

Tackling congestion for growing population

The stress and fatigue of navigating congested streets exact a toll on individuals and communities alike. It is time we reimagined the way we move within cities

UN halts all food distribution in Rafah after running out of supplies

The United Nations suspended food distribution in the southern Gaza city of Rafah on Tuesday due to a lack of supplies and an untenable security situation caused by Israel's expanding military operation. It warned that humanitarian operations across the territory were nearing collapse. Along with closed and chaotic land crossings, problems also plagued the U.S. military's floating pier meant to provide an alternative route for aid into Gaza by sea. Over the weekend, hungry Palestinians took aid from a U.N. vehicle convoy coming from the pier, and the U.N. said since then it had been unable to receive trucks there. Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters in Washington that for the past few days, forward movement of aid from the pier was paused but it resumed Tuesday. There was no confirmation from the U.N. The U.N. has not specified how many people stayed in Rafah since the Israeli military began its intensified ground and air campaign there two weeks ago, but ...

UNSC rejects Russia-backed resolution on banning weapons in space

The United States said Monday that Russia last week launched a satellite that could be part of weaponizing space, a possible future global trend that members of the United Nations Security Council condemned even as they failed to pass a measure against it. The Security Council resolution drafted by Russia rivaled one backed by the U.S. and Japan that failed last month. The rival drafts focused on different types of weapons, with the U.S. and Japan specifying weapons of mass destruction. The Russian draft discussed all types of weapons. The U.S. and its allies said the language that the 15-member council debated on Monday was simply meant to distract the world from Russia's true intention: weaponizing space. The culmination of Russia's campaign of diplomatic gaslighting and dissembling is the text before us today," U.S. deputy ambassador Robert Wood told the council. Russia's U.N. ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, denied that his nation was trying to mislead the world. Backed by China a