Page 47 - United Nations

Amid Gaza crisis, India donates $2.5 mn to UN for Palestinian refugees

India has donated USD 2.5 million to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, prompting the UNRWA on Tuesday to welcome the generous contribution at a "difficult time", particularly in Gaza. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), functional since 1950, carries out direct relief and work programmes for registered Palestine refugees. It is funded almost entirely by voluntary contributions from UN Member States. India on Monday gave UNRWA USD 2.5 million as part of its annual contribution of USD 5 million for the year 2023-24 to support the agency's core programmes and services, including education, healthcare, relief, and social services provided to Palestinian refugees, the Representative Office of India at Ramallah said. The contribution was handed over by the Representative of India (ROI) to Palestine, Renu Yadav, to the Director of Partnerships, Department of External Relations of UNRWA, Karim Amer. The ROI underlined India's continued support

Concerned on reports of seizure of India-bound vessel by Houthis: Guterres

The UN Secretary-General is following with "deep concern" reports of the seizure of a vessel by the Houthis in the Red Sea that was reportedly en route between Turkiye and India, a spokesperson said. On Sunday, a British-owned and Japanese-operated ship named "Galaxy Leader" was seized near Hodeida, Yemen, while sailing for India, according to the vessel's operator, NYK Line. The vehicle carrier had 25 crew members who were taken hostage by Yemen's Houthi rebels. The NYK said in a press release that it "organised a crisis management centre at its head office to gather information and manage this incident". "As the vessel's charterer, we are prioritising the safety of the 25 crew members," the NYK said. "I was asked about the incident that took place in the Red Sea concerning the ship, and I can tell you that while the circumstances around the incident remain unclear, we are following with deep concern reports of the seizure by the Houthis of a vessel flying the flag of the Bahamas

As more of world thirsts, luxury water becomes fashionable among the elite

Monsoon rains have finally passed and floods blocking the lone dirt road have retreated enough for a small truck to climb these Himalayan foothills to a gurgling spring. It spews water so fresh that people here call it nectar. Workers inside a small plant ferry sleek glass bottles along a conveyer. The bottles, filled with a whoosh of this natural mineral water, are labelled, packed into cases and placed inside a truck for a long ride. Ganesh Iyer, who heads the operation, watches like a nervous dad, later pulling out his phone, as any proud parent might, to show the underground cavern the waters have formed in this pristine kingdom, the world's last Shangri-La. This is no ordinary water. It will travel hundreds of miles to some of India's luxury hotels, restaurants and richest families, who pay about USD 6 per bottle, roughly a day's wage for an Indian labourer. Millions of people worldwide don't have clean water to drink, even though the United Nations deemed water a basic human

World racing to well past warming limit as carbon emissions rise: UN report

The globe is speeding to 2.5 to 2.9 degrees Celsius (4.5 to 5.2 degrees Fahrenheit) of global warming since pre-industrial times, set to blow well past the agreed-upon international climate threshold, a United Nations report calculated. To have an even money shot at keeping warming to the 1.5-degree Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) limit adopted by the 2015 Paris climate agreement, countries have to slash their emissions by 42% by the end of the decade, said the UN Environment Programme's Emissions Gap report issued Monday. Carbon emissions from the burning of coal, oil and gas rose 1.2% last year, the report said. This year Earth got a taste of what's to come, said the report, which sets the table for international climate talks later this month. Through the end of September, the daily global average temperature exceeded 1.5 degrees Celsius above mid-19th century levels on 86 days this year, the report said. But that increased to 127 days because nearly all of the first two weeks o

Deeply shocked: Antonio Guterres on UN-run schools attacked in Gaza

He added by saying that several women and children who were seeking shelter in the UNRWA schools there have been reportedly killed or suffered serious injuries

Panicked patients, medics flee Gaza hospital as Israel looks for Hamas base

Hundreds of patients, medical staff and people displaced by Israel's war against Hamas left Gaza's largest hospital Saturday, with one evacuee describing a panicked and chaotic scene as Israeli forces searched and face-scanned men among those leaving and took some away. Israel's military has been searching Gaza City's Shifa Hospital for a Hamas command center that it alleges is located under the facility a claim Hamas and hospital staff deny. The evacuation, which Israel says was voluntary, left behind only Israeli troops and a small number of health workers to care for those too sick to move. We left at gunpoint, Mahmoud Abu Auf told The Associated Press by phone after he and his family left the crowded hospital. Tanks and snipers were everywhere inside and outside. He said he saw Israeli troops detain three men. Elsewhere in northern Gaza, dozens of people were killed in the urban Jabaliya refugee camp when what witnesses described as an Israeli airstrike hit a crowded U.N. shelt

UN stops delivery of food and supplies to Gaza amid communications blackout

The United Nations was forced to stop deliveries of food and other necessities to Gaza on Friday and warned of the growing possibility of widespread starvation after internet and telephone services collapsed in the besieged enclave because of a lack of fuel. The communications blackout, now in its second day, largely cuts off Gaza's 2.3 million people from one another and the outside world and paralyses the coordination of aid, which humanitarian groups were already struggling to deliver because of the fuel shortage. The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA, was unable to bring in its aid convoy on Friday, said spokesperson Juliette Touma. With no immediate prospect for Israel allowing in more fuel, it was unclear how long the situation would continue. An extended blackout means an extended suspension of our humanitarian operations in the Gaza Strip," Touma told The Associated Press. Israeli forces, meanwhile, have signalled they could expand their offensive toward .

We share Global South angst of not having voice at UNSC high table: India

India has said it shares the collective angst of countries of the Global South that they have no voice at the UN Security Council high-table on core issues concerning them, as it joined nations in stressing that a representative UNSC is required to deal with the proliferation of global crises. Several aspects of the United Nations system urgently require reform. Among these, the reform of the UN Security Council was identified as a critical and immediate priority, India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Ruchira Kamboj said. "In spite of that collective call, we have had no results to show so far. Why? Kamboj asked. Addressing the annual UN General Assembly Plenary Thursday on Question of equitable representation on and increase in the membership of the Security Council', Kamboj said "as a member of the Global South, we share its collective angst that on issues of core concern to the South, we have no voice at the high table. She noted that 164 member states have joine

5 EU nations, Canada to join genocide case against Myanmar at UN court

Five European countries and Canada are seeking to join a case brought by Gambia at the United Nation's highest court that accuses Myanmar of committing genocide against its Rohingya minority. The International Court of Justice said on Thursday that Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the UK had joined with Canada in filing a declaration of intervention in the case. The Maldives filed a separate declaration. Under the court's rules, the declarations mean those countries will be able to make legal arguments in the case brought in 2019 following international outrage at the treatment of the Rohingya, a Muslim minority. Hundreds of thousands fled to neighbouring Bangladesh amid a brutal crackdown by Myanmar forces. Gambia argued that it and Myanmar are both parties to the 1948 convention outlawing genocide and that all signatories have a duty to ensure it is enforced. It asked the court to declare Myanmar in breach of the convention. The court has already ruled it has ...

Worsening sand and dust storms driving global land loss, says UNCCD

The UNCCD called for better land management practices to restore damaged land and more efforts to improve early warning systems and boost resilience

UN crumbling under weight of 21st-century geopolitical shifts: India

The UN apparatus, especially the Security Council, is crumbling under the weight of 21st-century geopolitical realities, India has said, underlining that the General Assembly should take the lead in restoring the centrality of the United Nations to resolve transnational issues through multilateralism. India has consistently advocated the view that the General Assembly can be revitalised only when its position as the chief deliberative, policy-making and representative organ of the United Nations is respected both in letter and in spirit, Counsellor in India's Permanent Mission to the UN Pratik Mathur said here Tuesday. Addressing the UN General Assembly plenary meeting on Revitalisation of the Work of the General Assembly', Mathur said: We must admit that some of the blame lies with the General Assembly and its member states for having allowed its relevance to be diluted despite being the collective voice of all nations. He noted that there is a growing perception" that the General

Nearly 102 staff members killed in Gaza in Israel-Hamas war: UN aid agency

In the statement, UNRWA said, "This is the highest number of United Nations aid workers killed in a conflict in the history of the United Nations," CNN reported

Floods caused by torrential rainfall kill at least 31 people in Somalia

Floods caused by torrential rainfall have killed at least 31 people in various parts of Somalia, authorities have said. Since October, floods have displaced nearly half a million people and disrupted the lives of over 1.2 million people, Minister of Information Daud Aweis told reporters in the capital Mogadishu on Sunday. They have also caused extensive damage to civilian infrastructure notably in the Gedo region of southern Somalia, he said. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA, which has given USD 25 million to help mitigate the impact of flooding, warned in a statement Thursday of a flood event of a magnitude statistically likely only once in 100 years, with significant anticipated humanitarian impacts. While all possible preparatory measures are being pursued, a flood of this magnitude can only be mitigated and not prevented, OCHA said, recommending early warning and early action" to save lives as "large-scale displacement, increased humanitarian

World Kindness Day 2023: History, importance, theme, wishes, quotes

World Kindness Day is committed to the act of kindness. The day helps us to remember the strong ripple effect that acts of kindness can have on an individual, a community, and the world in general

In UN talks for plastic treaty, delegates to face off over production limit

"We are at a pivotal moment in this process," said Andres Del Castillo, a senior attorney of the Center for International Environmental Law who is an observer to the negotiations

India supports UN resolution condemning Israeli settlements in Palestine

India voted in favour of a resolution in the UN General Assembly that condemns Israeli settlement activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. The draft resolution titled Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and the occupied Syrian Golan' was approved by the Special Political and Decolonization Committee (Fourth Committee) of the UN General Assembly by a recorded vote of 145 in favour, seven against and 18 abstentions on Thursday. Those voting against the resolution were Canada, Hungary, Israel, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru and the United States. India was among the 145 nations that voted in favour of the resolution along with Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, France, Japan, Malaysia, Maldives, Russia, South Africa, Sri Lanka and the UK. By the terms of the resolution, the Assembly would condemn settlement activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and in the occupied Syrian Go

UN report paints picture of devastation of collapsing Palestinian economy

A new U.N. report paints a stark picture of the devastation of the collapsing Palestinian economy following a month of war and Israel's near total siege of Gaza. The gross domestic product shrank 4% in the West Bank and Gaza in the war's first month, sending over 400,000 people into poverty -- an economic impact unseen in the conflicts Syria and Ukraine, or any previous Israel-Hamas war, the U.N. said. Gaza's Hamas rulers launched a surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7 killing over 1,400 people, mainly civilians, and kidnapping about 240 others. More than two-thirds of Gaza's population of 2.3 million have fled their homes since Israel launched weeks of intense airstrikes followed by an ongoing ground operation, vowing to obliterate Hamas. The Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza said Thursday that 10,818 Palestinians, including more than 4,400 children, have been killed so far. The rapid assessment of economic consequences of the Gaza war released Thursday by the U.N. Development Prog

More Palestinians fleeing combat zone in northern Gaza amid war: UN

The pace of Palestinian civilians fleeing the combat zone in northern Gaza has picked up as Israel's air and ground campaign there intensifies. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Wednesday that about 15,000 people fled on Tuesday, compared to 5,000 on Monday and 2,000 on Sunday. Here's what is happening in the latest Israel-Hamas war: UKRAINE EVACUATES 43 OF ITS NATIONALS AND 36 MOLDOVANS FROM GAZA Kyiv: Ukraine has evacuated 43 of its nationals from the Gaza Strip and helped 36 Moldovan citizens reach safety in Egypt, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Ukrainian diplomats helped the two groups get out of the war zone, Zelenskyy said Wednesday on X, formerly known as Twitter. He also said Ukraine was working with embassies in Israel and Egypt to get more of its citizens out of Gaza. ISRAEL CABINET TO MEET IN WEST BANK FOLLOWING WARNINGS OF MORE VIOLENCE Jerusalem: Israel's wartime security Cabinet will meet late Wednesday in the West Bank offic

China's FDI deficit may be a sign for increased global investment in India

India ranked among the top three in greenfield foreign direct investment (FDI) announcements by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)

Israeli troops divide Gaza Strip into two; internet cut for third time

The Israel Defence Forces (IDF) said that the Israeli troops have encircled Gaza City and divided the territory into two, cutting internet and phone lines for the third time since the war began