More than a year after Black Lives Matter protests launched a worldwide reckoning about the centuries of racism that Black people continue to face, the question of reparations emerged — unevenly — as a high-profile issue at this year’s largest gathering of world leaders.
It's been little more than a month since Kalashnikov-toting Taliban fighters in their signature heavy beards, hightop sneakers and shalwar kameezes descended on the Afghan capital and cemented their takeover.
The speeches may be scripted, but the U.N. General Assembly can sometimes be the only direct window into the regional challenges that command global concern.
On Saturday, world leaders were speaking on behalf of some of the most unstable and unsettling current conflicts.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Amid an outcry over the U.S. treatment of Haitian asylum-seekers, the beleaguered island country's embattled prime minister pointedly said Saturday that inequalities and conflict drive migration.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Britain's Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, met Saturday with a top U.N. official amid the world body's biggest gathering of the year.
NEW YORK (AP) — With cascading crises casting a pall over the proceedings at this year's United Nations General Assembly, Slovakian President Zuzana Čaputová had this reminder on the first day of debate: “We cannot save our planet if we leave out the vulnerable — the women, the girls, the minorities.”
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The right-wing populist government in Hungary is attracting conservative thinkers from the United States who admire its approaches to migration, LGBT issues and national sovereignty — all matters that have put the country at odds with its European partners, who see not a conservative haven but a worrying erosion of democratic institutions on multiple fronts.
At the United Nations this week, the pandemic-era rules of engagement for General Assembly week are strict. Entourage sizes are tightly regulated, and there are no exceptions for kings, presidents or other “excellencies.” Yet somehow, in the middle of it all, the U.N.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Iran’s new foreign minister said Friday the country will return to nuclear negotiations “very soon,” but accused the Biden administration of sending contradictory messages — saying it wants to rejoin the 2015 nuclear deal while slapping new sanctions on Tehran and not taking “an iota of positive action.”
JERUSALEM (AP) — In an unusually harsh speech, President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday gave Israel one year to end its occupation of territories the Palestinians want for a future state. He threatened to withdraw recognition of Israel — a cornerstone of three decades of failed peace efforts — if it failed to do so.
As wealthy countries begin to consider whether to offer their populations a third COVID-19 shot, African nations still waiting for their first gave this stark reminder to world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly on Thursday: “No one is safe unless we are all safe.”
WASHINGTON — The U.S. House emphatically approved a fresh $40 billion Ukraine aid package Tuesday as lawmakers beefed up President Joe Biden’s initial request, signaling a magnified, bipartisan commitment to thwart Russian President Vladimir Putin’s bloody three-month-old invasion.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council on Friday unanimously adopted its first statement on Ukraine since Russia’s military action began on Feb. 24, expressing “strong support” for Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ efforts to find a peaceful solution to the 10-week “dispute."
HAVANA (AP) — Ricardo Alarcón, who was for years the head of Cuba’s parliament and one of the country’s most prominent diplomats, has died in Havana, authorities in Cuba said Sunday. He was 84 years old.
HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida discussed the war in Ukraine with Vietnamese leaders on Sunday and said they agreed on the respect for international law and rejection of the use of force.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. General Assembly took a first step Tuesday to put the five permanent members of the Security Council under the spotlight whenever they use their veto power, a move highlighted by Russia's veto threat paralyzing any action by the U.N.’s most powerful body on the Ukraine war.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Two days into Russia's attack on Ukraine, a majority of U.N. Security Council members voted to demand that Moscow withdraw. One thing stood in their way: a veto by Russia itself.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed on Tuesday for a halt in fighting in Ukraine during Orthodox Christians' Holy Week, invoking Easter to plead for a four-day “pause” to allow humanitarian aid and evacuations.
WASHINGTON (AP) — When President Joe Biden declares Russia's Ukraine war “genocide,” it isn't just another strong word.
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — President Joe Biden is set to speak with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday as he presses world leaders to take a hard line against Russia's Ukraine invasion.
India's neutral stance in the war has CANBERRA, Australia — The first of 20 Bushmaster armored vehicles has left Australia for Ukraine, one week after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy specifically requested the Australian-manufactured four-wheel drives.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. General Assembly voted Thursday to suspend Russia from the world organization’s leading human rights body over allegations that Russian soldiers in Ukraine engaged in rights violations that the United States and Ukraine have called war crimes.
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate will take up legislation Thursday to end normal trade relations with Russia and to ban the importation of its oil.
Both bills have been bogged down in the Senate, frustrating lawmakers who want to ratchet up the U.S.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. General Assembly will vote Thursday on whether to suspend Russia from the U.N.’s premier human rights body. The move was initiated by the United States in response to the discovery of hundreds of bodies after Russian troops withdrew from towns near the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, sparking calls for its forces to be tried for war crimes.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The war in Ukraine has put a spotlight on the U.N. Security Council’s failure to stop Russia’s aggression and carry out its mandate to ensure international peace and security. On Tuesday, that paralysis produced a demand from Ukraine's president: Radically reform global security.
UNITED NATIONS — A top official in the global campaign against the use of land mines is urging Russia to halt the use in Ukraine of these weapons that too often kill and maim civilians.
Alicia Arango Olmos, Colombia’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva and this year’s president of the state parties to the 1997 convention banning the production and use of land mines, expressed deep concern at media reports that Russia is using land mines in its war in Ukraine.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will address the U.N. Security Council for the first time Tuesday at a meeting that is certain to focus on what appear to be widespread deliberate killings of civilians by Russian troops.
BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — The United States plans to seek a vote this week to suspend Russia from its seat on the U.N.’s top human rights body, pointing to increasing signs that Russian troops may have committed war crimes in Ukraine, U.S.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N.’s powerful budget committee rejected an attempt by Ethiopia on Thursday to deny funding for an investigation of human rights violations in the war between Ethiopian government forces and fighters from the country’s northern Tigray region.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Nations chief launched an initiative Monday to immediately explore possible arrangements for “a humanitarian cease-fire in Ukraine” in order to allow the delivery of desperately needed aid and pave the way for serious political negotiations to end the month-long war.
LVIV, Ukraine — With the war headed into its second month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke of hope and determination in his nighttime video address to the nation late Thursday.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly approved a resolution Thursday blaming Russia for the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine and urging an immediate cease-fire and protection for millions of civilians and the homes, schools and hospitals critical to their survival.
WASHINGTON — The U.S. State Department says Russia has begun the process of expelling several more diplomats from the U.S. embassy in Moscow.
The department said it received a list of diplomats on Wednesday who have been declared “persona non grata” by the Russian foreign ministry.
WASHINGTON (AP) — As she pressed the Clinton administration into action against Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic over war crimes in the Balkans, Madeleine Albright would harken back to her own childhood as a refugee from war-torn Europe.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council on Wednesday overwhelmingly defeated a Russian resolution that acknowledged Ukraine’s growing humanitarian needs -- but didn’t mention the Russian invasion that caused the escalating crisis which has left millions of Ukrainians in desperate need of food, water and shelter.
LVIV, Ukraine -- Russian military forces have destroyed a new laboratory at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant that among other things works to improve management of radioactive waste, the Ukrainian state agency responsible for the Chernobyl exclusion zone said Tuesday.
KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said late Monday he was prepared to discuss a commitment from Ukraine not to seek NATO membership in exchange for a cease-fire, the withdrawal of Russian troops and a guarantee of Ukraine’s security.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — France and Mexico are pressing U.N. members to mention Russia's invasion in a resolution on the worsening humanitarian situation in Ukraine. But South Africa is arguing against that approach, saying that inserting political issues may block consensus on helping civilians.
KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni recently remarked that Russia's war on Ukraine should be seen in the context of Moscow being the “center of gravity” for Eastern Europe.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Six Western nations accused Russia of using the U.N. Security Council to launder disinformation, spread propaganda and justify an unprovoked attack on Ukraine on Friday, and the United States again warned that Moscow’s claim the U.S.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Russia announced it will not ask the U.N. Security Council to vote Friday on its draft resolution on humanitarian relief for Ukraine, which has been criticized for making no mention of Moscow's invasion of its neighbor.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council will meet Thursday at the request of six Western nations that sought an open session on Ukraine ahead of an expected vote on a Russian humanitarian resolution that they have sharply criticized for making no mention of Moscow’s war against its smaller neighbor.
LVIV, Ukraine — Russian warships around midnight fired missiles and artillery at the Ukrainian sea coast near Tuzla, to the south of Odesa, Interior Ministry adviser Anton Gerashchenko said.
“They fired a huge amount of ammunition from a great distance,” he said on Facebook.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Russia circulated a proposed U.N. Security Council resolution Tuesday demanding protection for civilians “in vulnerable situations” in Ukraine and safe passage for humanitarian aid and people seeking to leave the country, but it make no mention of Russia’s responsibility for the war against its smaller neighbor.