China and Russia have rejected US plans to extend a UN arms embargo on Iran along with a probable push to trigger a return of all sanctions on Tehran at the UN Security Council. “It has no right to extend an arms embargo on Iran, let alone to trigger snapback,” …
Read More »Bangladesh says coronavirus detected in Rohingya refugee camp: official
The novel coronavirus has been detected in one of the camps in southern Bangladesh that are home to more than one million Rohingya refugees, officials said on Thursday. An ethnic Rohingya refugee and another person had tested positive for COVID-19, a senior Bangladeshi official and a U.N. spokeswoman said. It …
Read More »US blocks vote on UN bid for global ceasefire over reference to WHO
The United States has blocked a vote on a United Nation’s bid for a global ceasefire during the coronavirus pandemic over reference to the World Health Organization (WHO). The Security Council has spent more than six weeks seeking the resolution in support of UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres’ call for …
Read More »Iran urges US to end its ‘abject unilateralism’
Iran says the United States must stop seeking to secure its short-term interests at the cost of other nations’ long-term prosperity. “JCPOA is neither the first nor the last of the multilateral achievements Trump withdrew from,” said Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi in a tweet on Friday, referring by …
Read More »The United Nations reveals the impact of the Corona pandemic on drug prices
A UN report said that tighter border controls, public isolation measures and fewer flights due to the outbreak of the Coronavirus led to an increase in drug prices and made it difficult to obtain them worldwide. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime said in a report published today, …
Read More »Trump administration drafting ‘Artemis Accords’ pact for moon mining – sources
The Trump administration is drafting a legal blueprint for mining on the moon under a new U.S.-sponsored international agreement called the Artemis Accords, people familiar with the proposed pact told Reuters. The agreement would be the latest effort to cultivate allies around NASA’s plan to put humans and space stations …
Read More »Sudan Bans Female Genital Mutilation
Sudan has outlawed female genital mutilation (FGM), in a move that has been hailed by women’s rights campaigners. The country’s transitional government approved an amendment to its criminal legislation on 22 April and made it public on Friday. The new law states that anyone who performs FGM, whether inside a …
Read More »Over 180 human rights organizations urge ICC to investigate Israeli crimes
More than 180 Palestinian, regional and international human rights campaigners and organizations have called upon the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Fatou Bensouda, to investigate the crimes being perpetrated by Israeli forces in the occupied territories. The rights groups, in a joint open letter initiated by Palestinian …
Read More »Protester killed as unrest rocks Lebanon’s Tripoli
Violent protests against growing economic hardship erupted again in the Lebanese city of Tripoli on Tuesday, with banks set ablaze after a night of rioting that left one demonstrator dead, according to security and medical sources. A collapse in the currency, soaring inflation, and spiraling unemployment are convulsing Lebanon, which …
Read More »UN urges Bangladesh to accept stranded Rohingya boats
The United Nations’ top human rights official has called on the Bangladeshi authorities to allow the disembarking of two stranded boatloads of starving Rohingya Muslim refugees who have fled Myanmar by boats. In a letter to the Bangladesh government on Monday, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet warned …
Read More »Violence surges in Afghanistan instead of peace after US-Taliban deal – UN
More than 500 civilians killed and over 700 injured during the first three months of the year, according to UNAMA’s quarterly report. Violence surged in Afghanistan in the weeks after the United States and the Taliban signed a deal supposed to pave the way for a peace process, a UN …
Read More »Virus toll nears 200,000 as UN pushes for global vaccine effort
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 …
Read More »Palestinian children killed playing near Israeli “remnants of war,” says UN report
Children have been among those killed by landmines and other “explosive remnants of war (ERW)” that litter the Palestinian territories, the United Nations reported today. As many as 1.9 million people are at risk of exposure to ERW in the Gaza Strip, the whole of which is a danger zone, …
Read More »Opinion: This Earth Day, we must stop the fossil fuel money pipeline
Taking down the fossil fuel industry requires taking on the institutions that finance it. Even during a pandemic, this movement is gaining steam 1970 was a simpler time. (February was a simpler time too, but for a moment let’s think outside the pandemic bubble.) Simpler because our environmental troubles could …
Read More »World Bank to Launch COVID-19 Emergency Programs
The World Bank Group (WBG) is expected to launch health emergency programs in over 100 countries by the end of April to support the fight against COVID-19, with 64 already in operation, President David Malpass said Friday. “In response to COVID-19, the World Bank Group has focused on taking fast, …
Read More »Ban wildlife markets to prevent future pandemics, says UN biodiversity chief
An international ban on wildlife markets could help stop future pandemics like coronavirus from breaking out, according to the United Nations biodiversity chief. The COVID-19 outbreak is believed to have originated in a seafood market in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, where it is thought stallholders were infected during …
Read More »290M+ students missing school due to coronavirus: UN
More than 290 million students have been affected by school closures across 13 countries to curb the coronavirus outbreak, the UN said Thursday. “While temporary school closures as a result of health and other crises are not new, unfortunately, the global scale and speed of the current educational disruption is …
Read More »UN Envoy Deplores Use of ‘Hunting Guns’ against Protesters in Iraq
UN Representative Hennis-Plasschaert deplores the use of hunting guns, renews call for protection of demonstrators UNAMI said that it continues to receive credible allegations of peaceful protesters targeted by “hunting guns” on the road between Al Tahrir Square and Al Khilani Square in Baghdad on the evening of 14, 15 …
Read More »Reconstruction of Iraq’s Syriac Catholic Church will begin soon in Mosul, Unesco
The United Nations heritage agency said on Monday that it will start the reconstruction of Mosul’s Syriac Catholic Al Tahera Church destroyed by ISIS, which was known to be a symbol of the city’s rich diversity. The church was severely damaged by the insurgents during the battle for the northern …
Read More »At least 30 civilians killed in Saudi airstrikes in Yemen
At least 30 civilians have been killed and many others injured in fresh air raids conducted by Saudi warplanes on Yemen’s northern Jawf Province, Yemeni media report. The al-Masirah TV channel reported Saturday that the Riyadh regime carried out eight aerial assaults on Jawf’s al-Maslub district. The strikes, it added, …
Read More »