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DAQUQ, Iraq (Reuters) — The United Nations said on Thursday (October 13) it is bracing for the world’s biggest and most complex humanitarian effort in the upcoming battle for the Iraqi city of Mosul, which could make up to 1 million people homeless and see civilians used as human shields or even gassed. U.S.-backed Iraqi forces are preparing for a long-anticipated assault on the last major Islamic State bastion in Iraq, potentially the biggest […]
by Amelie BARON / with Marc Burleigh in Jeremie PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AFP) — Haiti faces a humanitarian crisis that requires a “massive response” from the international community, the United Nations chief said Monday, with at least 1.4 million people needing emergency aid following last week’s battering by Hurricane Matthew. The storm left at least 372 dead in the impoverished Caribbean nation, with the toll likely to rise sharply as rescue workers reach previously inaccessible areas. […]
GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The UN Syria envoy voiced deep disappointment Monday at the collapse of US-Russian talks to revive a Syria ceasefire, but vowed to keep working for a political solution. “The UN will continue to push energetically for a political solution of the Syrian conflict regardless of the very disappointing outcome of intense and long discussions among two crucial international stakeholders,” the office of Staffan de Mistura said in a statement. © 1994-2016 […]
NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — India, the world’s third biggest carbon emitter, ratified the Paris agreement on climate change on Sunday on the birthday of the country’s famously ascetic independence leader Mahatma Gandhi. India, with a population of 1.3 billion people, is the latest big polluter to formally sign onto the historic accord which now takes a major step towards becoming reality. Environment minister Anil Madhav Dave said “India deposited its Instrument of Ratification of […]
GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — Nine out of 10 people globally are breathing poor quality air, the World Health Organization said Tuesday, calling for dramatic action against pollution that is blamed for more than six million deaths a year. New data in a report from the UN’s global health body “is enough to make all of us extremely concerned,” Maria Neira, the head of the WHO’s department of public health and environment, told reporters. The problem […]
by Karam al-Masri ALEPPO, Syria (AFP) — A convoy delivering aid to Syrians in Aleppo province was hit by an air strike, leaving 12 dead hours after the Syrian military declared an end to a week-long ceasefire, monitors and the UN said. At least 18 trucks were destroyed as the convoy travelled to the hard-to-reach town of Orum al-Kubra in Aleppo province, with the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights saying 12 Red Crescent volunteers and […]
UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) — Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, who has railed against the United Nations for criticizing his government, has declined a request to meet UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, officials said Thursday. UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said that “contacts were had to try to set up a time” for a meeting on the sidelines of the ASEAN forum meeting in Laos next week, but that “no time could be agreed upon.” A foreign […]
by Mahmud Turkia SIRTE, Libya (AFP) — Forces loyal to Libya’s UN-backed unity government on Sunday pushed into the last areas of Sirte held by the Islamic State group in what was the jihadists’ coastal stronghold. The battle for the hometown of Libya’s slain dictator Moamer Kadhafi was launched more than three months ago by forces loyal to the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord. IS captured the Mediterranean city in June 2015, sparking fears they […]
GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The United Nations called Thursday for the creation of an independent international body to investigate an array of alleged serious violations in war-torn Yemen. Yemenis are suffering “unbearably (and) absent any form of accountability and justice, while those responsible for the violations and abuses against them enjoy impunity,” UN rights chief Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said in a statement. He insisted that “such a manifestly protracted unjust situation must no longer […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The United States warned Monday it would raise concerns at the United Nations over the latest North Korean missile tests carried out in violation of Security Council resolutions. US Strategic Command said it detected and tracked three North Korean missile launches at 2044 GMT, 2058 GMT and 2135 GMT, just over a week after Pyongyang issued threats to respond to the planned deployment of a US anti-missile system in South […]
UNITED NATION, United States (AFP) — Britain’s membership on the UN Security Council has become more important for asserting London’s global power after the Brexit vote, the British ambassador to the United Nations said Wednesday. “My job just got even bigger,” Ambassador Matthew Rycroft told reporters. “The Security Council, if anything, has become even more important for the UK as an even larger proportion of our total world outlook.” Britain is one of the five […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — Beijing will reject any ruling by an international tribunal in a contentious case brought by the Philippines over the South China Sea, the foreign ministry said, as tensions mount over the disputed waters. The United Nations-backed Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) said Wednesday it will rule on July 12 in a closely watched case challenging China’s claims to much of the strategic waterway. Beijing has consistently rejected the tribunal’s right to […]
