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GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The UN patent agency has hailed the push to create a coronavirus vaccine and make it globally available, but warned against allowing copyright rows to overshadow and delay the process. “What we need in the first place here is innovation,” Francis Gurry, the head of the UN’s World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), told reporters in a virtual briefing. World Health Organization member states last week adopted a resolution recognizing that extensive […]
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — An exchange of gunfire between North and South Korean forces in the Demilitarized Zone dividing the peninsula was a violation of the armistice agreement, the United Nations Command (UNC) said Tuesday. The two sides remain technically at war, since fighting in the Korean War ended with an armistice in 1953 that was never replaced with a peace treaty. North Korean gunfire hit a Southern guard post on May 3, prompting […]
UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) — UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned that millions of people could be pushed into extreme poverty in Africa due to the coronavirus pandemic and called for “global solidarity” with the continent. “The pandemic threatens African progress. It will aggravate long-standing inequalities and heighten hunger, malnutrition and vulnerability to disease,” Guterres said in a statement accompanying a UN study with recommendations for the African continent. While he congratulated Africa for responding […]
by Philippe RATER Agence France Presse The United States on Friday stunned other members of the UN Security Council by preventing a vote on a resolution for a ceasefire in various conflicts around the world to help troubled nations better fight the coronavirus pandemic, diplomats said. Washington’s reversal came a day after it agreed to the text, negotiators said under cover of anonymity. “The United States cannot support the current draft,” the country’s delegation […]
United Nations (AFP) — UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called Friday for an “all-out effort” to end the “tsunami of hate and xenophobia” sparked by the novel coronavirus pandemic, without naming specific countries. “The pandemic continues to unleash a tsunami of hate and xenophobia, scapegoating and scaremongering,” Guterres said in a statement. “Anti-foreigner sentiment has surged online and in the streets. Anti-Semitic conspiracy theories have spread and COVID-19-related anti-Muslim attacks have occurred.” According to Guterres, […]
GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — China will not invite international experts to investigate the source of COVID-19 until the “final victory” over the virus, Beijing’s UN ambassador in Geneva said Wednesday. China’s priority is first beating the pandemic — and secondly countering the “absurd and ridiculous” US politicization of the new coronavirus, Chen Xu told reporters in an online briefing. The World Health Organization says it is waiting on an invitation from China to take part […]
UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) — UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday called on governments around the world to specifically take into account the billions of people with disabilities in their response to the COVID-19 pandemic. “Even under normal circumstances, persons with disabilities are less likely to access education, healthcare and income opportunities or participate in the community,” Guterres said in a statement released in support of a UN study on people with disabilities. “The […]
UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) — Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg has donated a $100,000 prize she won from a Danish foundation to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) for use against the COVID-19 pandemic, the world body said Thursday. “Like the climate crisis, the coronavirus pandemic is a child rights crisis,” Thunberg, 17, was quoted as saying in the UNICEF statement. “It will affect all children, now and in the long term, but vulnerable […]
UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) — UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres praised South Korea Thursday for combatting the novel coronavirus while simultaneously fighting climate change. The country was providing a “remarkable example” of how “the two things can be put together,” Guterres told journalists during a press conference. Under a so-called Green Deal, South Korea has put together what Guterres called “very ambitious” plans for a post-coronavirus economic recovery which include a reduction of emissions […]
by Paul Handley with AFP bureaus Agence France Presse The global coronavirus death toll approached 200,000 on Saturday as the United Nations launched an international push for a vaccine to defeat the pandemic. Governments around the world are struggling to limit the economic devastation unleashed by the virus, which has infected nearly 2.8 million people and left half of humanity under some form of lockdown. The scale of the pandemic has forced medical research […]
by Nina LARSON Agence France Presse GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The UN on Friday joined forces with world leaders and the private sector on an initiative to speed up development of COVID-19 vaccines and treatments, and ensure equal access for all. “This is a landmark collaboration to accelerate the development, production and equitable distribution of vaccines, diagnostics, and therapeutics for COVID-19,” World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a virtual briefing. “United we […]
by Chris Lefkow with AFP bureaux Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US President Donald Trump announced partial curbs on immigration Tuesday to “protect American workers” amid the economic carnage of the coronavirus pandemic. As Trump announced a 60-day pause in the issuing of “green cards” to people seeking permanent residency in the US, the United Nations warned that the virus could trigger famine in already vulnerable countries. The bleak warning came as […]
