Tag: UN

US will veto UN draft on protecting Palestinians: Haley

  UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) — The United States will “unquestionably veto” a UN draft resolution calling for the protection of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, US Ambassador Nikki Haley said ahead of a Security Council vote on Thursday. Haley described the text put forward by Kuwait on behalf of Arab countries as a “grossly one-sided approach that is morally bankrupt and would only serve to undermine ongoing efforts toward peace between the […]

UN lifts travel ban for North Koreans to Kim-Trump summit

  UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) — A UN Security Council committee has agreed to lift a travel ban on North Korean officials heading to Singapore for the planned summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un next month, diplomats said. Singapore last week asked the sanctions committee to grant an exemption to the North Korean delegation attending the June 12 summit and taking part in preparatory meetings, according to the request seen by AFP. […]

25 people dead due to Ebola in DR Congo as disease spreads

  The number of suspected, probable and confirmed Ebola cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo has risen to 45, with 25 people dead, the World Health Organization said Friday. WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic, who gave the figures to reporters in Geneva, said that 14 of the cases had been confirmed as the deadly Ebola virus following laboratory tests. This came about after WHO warned Friday that the Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of the […]

South Korean president asks UN to verify closure of North’s test site

UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) — South Korean President Moon Jae-in has asked the United Nations to verify the planned closure of North Korea’s nuclear test site, a UN spokesman said Tuesday. Moon made the request in a phone call to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday, a few days after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un told the South Korean leader he planned to shut down the test site in May. “The president sought […]

Nine out of 10 people breathing polluted air: WHO

by Nina LARSON Agence France Presse GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — More than 90 percent of the global population is breathing in high levels of pollutants, the World Health Organization said Wednesday, blaming poor air quality for some seven million deaths annually. Fresh data from the UN health body showed that every corner of the globe is dealing with air pollution, although the problem is far worse in poorer countries. “Air pollution threatens us all, but […]

UN Security Council team visits Rohingya in Bangladesh camps

KUTUPALONG, Bangladesh (AFP) — A UN Security Council team visited Rohingya refugees trapped in the no man’s land along the border between Bangladesh and Myanmar Sunday, as it weighs its response to one of the world’s worst refugee crises. Myanmar has faced intense international pressure since the start of a military campaign in August that has driven some 700,000 Rohingya Muslims over the border into Bangladesh, where refugees have provided harrowing testimony of murder and rape […]

UN in security talks with Syria after chemical probe put on hold

  by Maya Gebeily Agence France Presse BEIRUT, Lebanon (AFP) — UN security experts have said they were negotiating with Syrian and Russian authorities for international chemical inspectors to deploy to the site of an alleged toxic gas attack near Damascus, after a reconnaissance mission came under fire. The team from the world’s chemical arms watchdog has not yet been able to begin its field work in Douma, where dozens were killed in a suspected […]

Syria has reached ‘point of no return’ over chemical attacks: France

  UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) — France warned Friday that Syria’s government had reached a “point of no return” by using chemical weapons and vowed to confront the “intolerable threat” of such attacks to global security. French Ambassador Francois Delattre told a Security Council meeting that world powers must respond to the threat of repeated use of toxic gas as a weapon in Syria’s war. By “deciding once again to use chemical weapons” in the […]

UN calls urgent Syria meeting after Trump threat

by Dave Clark Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The United Nations warned world powers against letting the crisis over an alleged chemical attack against civilians in Syria from “spiraling out of control” after US President Donald Trump said, “missiles will be coming.” As tensions mounted over a face-off with Damascus-ally Russia, opponents of unilateral US action called an emergency closed-door meeting of the UN Security Council for Thursday. Britain also scheduled an […]

UN Council must prevent Syria ‘spiraling out of control’: Guterres

UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) — The UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday voiced concern to the Security Council’s five permanent members over the “impasse” on Syria, stressing “the need to avoid the situation spiraling out of control.” His comments follow the Council’s failure to agree on a response to an alleged chemical attack in Syria’s rebel-held Douma over the weekend that has triggered global fury. “I have also been closely following developments in the […]

US readies response to Syria attacks after UN clash with Russia

by Dave Clark with Rim Haddad in Damascus Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — President Donald Trump faced a decision on whether to strike Syria and risk a clash with Damascus ally Russia, after UN members failed Tuesday to agree on action to probe chemical attacks in the war-wracked country. The US leader has made it clear he plans to make Bashar al-Assad, and perhaps his Russian and Iranian backers, pay a price […]

Russia rails against Britain at UN, denies Skripal role

  UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) — Russia unleashed a blistering war of words against Britain and the United States at the UN Security Council on Thursday, again denying it was responsible for poisoning a former double agent in England. “It’s some sort of theater of the absurd. Couldn’t you come up with a better fake story?” Russian Ambassador to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, told the council. “We have told our British colleagues that ‘you’re playing […]