UN committee takes step to treaty on crimes against humanity
November 19, 2022 GMTUNITED NATIONS (AP) — A key U.N. committee took a first step Friday toward negotiating a treaty on crimes against humanity, which can be committed at any time, not just during conflicts.
The committee that deals with legal issues approved a resolution by consensus that would authorize its members to hold sessions in April 2023 and April 2024 to exchange views on draft articles for a treaty submitted by the International Law Commission, a U.N.
UN General Assembly calls for Russian reparations to Ukraine
November 15, 2022 GMTUNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. General Assembly approved a resolution Monday calling for Russia to be held accountable for violating international law by invading Ukraine, including by paying reparations for widespread damage to the country and for Ukrainians killed and injured during the war.
Ukraine FM: Moscow playing ‘hunger games’ with world
November 12, 2022 GMTPHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba pressed Southeast Asian countries for political and material support in his county's fight against Russia, while accusing Moscow on Saturday of playing “hunger games” with the world by holding up shipments of Ukrainian grain and other agricultural products.
Key UN committee seeks legal opinion on Israel’s occupation
November 11, 2022 GMTUNITED NATIONS (AP) — A key U.N. committee approved a draft resolution Friday calling on the International Court of Justice to urgently issue its opinion on the legal consequences of denying the Palestinian people the right to self-determination as a result of Israel’s actions since the 1967 Mideast war.
Russian ambassador blames Japan for strained relations
November 11, 2022 GMTTOKYO (AP) — Russia's ambassador to Tokyo blamed Japan on Friday for straining relations between the countries by imposing sanctions on Moscow over its war with Ukraine.
Mikhail Galuzin also accused the United States of attempting to isolate Russia from the international community and of pressuring many countries into supporting a U.N.
UN: Taliban has plunged Afghanistan into `dire’ conditions
November 11, 2022 GMTUNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. General Assembly adopted a resolution Thursday accusing the Taliban of violating the human rights of Afghan women and girls, failing to establish a representative government, and plunging the country into “dire economic, humanitarian and social conditions.”
S Korea leader criticized for banning broadcaster from plane
November 10, 2022 GMTSEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Journalist organizations say South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol attacked press freedoms when his office banned a TV broadcaster's crew from the media pool on his presidential plane this week for alleged bias in reporting.
UN to vote on resolution saying Russia must pay reparations
November 9, 2022 GMTUNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. General Assembly scheduled a vote for Monday on a resolution that would call for Russia to be held accountable for violating international law by invading Ukraine, including by paying reparations.
UN sets November 18 as day to spotlight child sexual abuse
November 8, 2022 GMTUNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. General Assembly approved a resolution Monday establishing November 18th as a day to spotlight the sexual exploitation and abuse of children.
The day also will be used to stre,ss the need for prevention, for perpetrators to be brought to justice, and for victims to be given a voice as part of the long process of healing.
UN votes overwhelmingly to condemn US embargo of Cuba
November 3, 2022 GMTUNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. General Assembly voted overwhelmingly Thursday to condemn the American economic embargo of Cuba for the 30th year, with the Biden administration continuing former President Donald Trump’s opposition and refusing to return to the Obama administration’s 2016 abstention.
50 countries urge China to release detained Uyghurs
October 31, 2022 GMTUNITED NATIONS (AP) — Fifty mainly Western countries urged China on Monday to fully implement all recommendations in a U.N. report accusing the country of possible “crimes against humanity" against Uyghurs and other mostly Muslim ethnic groups, including taking prompt steps to release all those “arbitrarily deprived of their liberty” in the far western province of Xinjiang.
UN experts decry Israeli occupation of Palestinian areas
October 20, 2022 GMTGENEVA (AP) — Experts with the U.N.’s top human rights body on Thursday decried Israel’s occupation of territories Palestinians seek for their future state, saying it was “unlawful under international law” and increasingly entrenched.
UN demands Russia reverse ‘illegal’ annexations in Ukraine
October 13, 2022 GMTUNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. General Assembly voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to condemn Russia’s “attempted illegal annexation” of four Ukrainian regions and demand its immediate reversal, a sign of strong global opposition to the seven-month war and Moscow’s attempt to grab its neighbor’s territory.
Live Updates: Russia-Ukraine-War
October 12, 2022 GMTUNITED NATIONS — The U.N. General Assembly voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to condemn Russia’s “attempted illegal annexation” of four Ukrainian regions and demand that Moscow immediately reverse its actions.
Venezuela, SKorea, Afghanistan lose vote for UN rights body
October 11, 2022 GMTUNITED NATIONS (AP) — Venezuela, South Korea and Afghanistan lost contested races for seats on the top U.N. human rights body in Tuesday by the General Assembly, which faced criticism for electing countries like Vietnam and Sudan, which have been accused of having abysmal human rights records.
Worried UN meets on Ukraine hours after Russian strikes
October 11, 2022 GMTUNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. General Assembly started debating Monday whether to demand that Russia reverse course on annexing four regions of Ukraine — a discussion that came as Moscow's most extensive missile strikes in months alarmed much of the international community anew.
Live Updates: Russia-Ukraine War
October 11, 2022 GMTUNITED NATIONS — The U.N. General Assembly started debating Monday whether to demand that Russia reverse course on annexing four regions of Ukraine. The discussion came as Moscow’s most extensive missile strikes in months alarmed much of the international community anew.
Indian minister says Ukraine war serves no one’s interests
October 10, 2022 GMTCANBERRA, Australia (AP) — India’s External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said Russia’s war on Ukraine “does not serve the interests of anybody,” but declined to say whether his government would support a United Nations General Assembly motion condemning Moscow’s annexation of Ukrainian territories.
Live Updates: Russia-Ukraine War
October 7, 2022 GMTKYIV — A Ukrainian official says the bodies of 530 people have been discovered in recaptured areas of Kharkiv region since Sept. 7.
Ukraine's First Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Yevhen Yenin said Friday the bodies included those 225 women, 257 men and 19 children, while 29 bodies haven't been identified.
UN passes resolution urging support for flooded Pakistan
October 7, 2022 GMTUNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. General Assembly expressed solidarity Friday with flood-battered Pakistan and called on the international community to increase aid and keep up the political will to support the country's recovery long-term.
UN rights body agrees to appoint expert to scrutinize Russia
October 7, 2022 GMTGENEVA (AP) — The U.N.'s top human rights body voted Friday to appoint an independent expert to step up scrutiny of Russia's rights record at home as arbitrary arrests, a crackdown on dissenting voices and limits on free speech worsen during the war in Ukraine.
Russia strikes Ukraine housing; detains refugees at border
October 6, 2022 GMTKYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian missiles hit apartment buildings in the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia on Thursday, killing at least seven people, with at least five others missing, in a region that Moscow has illegally annexed, a local official said.
Live Updates: Russia-Ukraine War
October 6, 2022 GMTKYIV, Ukraine — The head of the U.S. Agency for International Development has met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to discuss Ukraine’s humanitarian, economic and development needs.
At a briefing in Kyiv on Thursday, USAID director Samantha Power said that “this war will be won on the battlefield, but it is also being won in Ukraine’s ongoing efforts to strengthen its democracy and its economy.”
Russia seeks secret UN vote on condemning Ukraine annexation
October 6, 2022 GMTUNITED NATIONS (AP) — Russia called for a secret ballot vote next week on a Western-backed resolution that would condemn its “attempted illegal annexation” of part of four Ukrainian regions and demand that Moscow immediately reverse its actions.
Blinken backs Colombia’s ‘holistic’ approach to drug policy
October 4, 2022 GMTBOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday backed Colombia’s recent efforts to rethink its drug policy and said the Biden administration and Colombia’s newly elected government will work together on rural development programs and interdiction efforts, while sharing intelligence on drug trafficking groups.
Russia vetoes UN resolution calling its referendums illegal
September 30, 2022 GMTUNITED NATIONS (AP) — Russia vetoed a U.N. resolution Friday that would have condemned its referendums in four Ukrainian regions as illegal, declared them invalid and urged all countries not to recognize any annexation of the territory claimed by Moscow.
Army officers appear on Burkina Faso TV, declare new coup
September 30, 2022 GMTOUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (AP) — More than a dozen soldiers seized control of Burkina Faso's state television late Friday, declaring that the country's coup leader-turned-president, Lt. Col. Paul Henri Sandaogo Damiba, had been overthrown after only nine months in power.
Amid rising seas, island nations push for legal protections
September 30, 2022 GMTAPIA, Samoa (AP) — When and if an island nation fully submerges due to rising seas, what happens to the nationalities of its citizens?
This and other related questions are being considered by island nations advocating for changes to international law as climate change threatens their existence.
Live Updates: Russia-Ukraine War
September 30, 2022 GMTKIYV, Ukraine (AP) — UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. Security Council has scheduled a vote for Friday afternoon on a resolution that would condemn Russia for its “illegal so-called referenda” in four Ukrainian regions and declare that they “have no validity.”
Top Pakistan diplomat urges flood aid, patience with Taliban
September 28, 2022 GMTWASHINGTON (AP) — Pakistan's foreign minister says the international community should work with Afghanistan's ruling Taliban, not against them, when it comes to combatting foreign extremist groups and the economic and humanitarian crises in that country — even as many U.S.
Ukraine’s president: No talks with Putin if its land annexed
September 28, 2022 GMTUNITED NATIONS (AP) — Ukraine’s president warned Tuesday that Russia’s just concluded “sham referendums” and attempts to annex Ukrainian territory rule out any talks with Moscow as long as Vladimir Putin remains president, and called for Russia’s “complete isolation” and tough new global sanctions.
UN meeting produces sense that a ‘new epoch’ is arriving
September 27, 2022 GMTUNITED NATIONS (AP) — The war in Ukraine and its global fallout transfixed the meeting of world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly this year. When it wasn’t out front, it lurked in the background of virtually every speech.
UN General Assembly meeting of world leaders, by the numbers
September 27, 2022 GMTUNITED NATIONS (AP) — The barricades are down, the world leaders have left and New Yorkers are complaining slightly less about traffic. The gathering of world leaders at the U.N.
At UN, a fleeting opportunity to tell their nations’ stories
September 27, 2022 GMTUNITED NATIONS (AP) — Pakistan's new prime minister stepped onto the U.N. podium and faced world leaders, ready to spin a tale of floods and climate change and more than 33 million people at risk.
Older people left out as UN speeches repeatedly invoke young
September 27, 2022 GMTUNITED NATIONS (AP) — One after another, the world’s presidents and prime ministers came to warn of their countries’ trials and tout their triumphs. But one of the biggest issues in either column was mostly left out.
Saudi Arabia’s triumphant week reclaims the West’s embrace
September 26, 2022 GMTNEW YORK (AP) — Saudi Arabia appears to be leaving behind the stream of negative coverage that the killing of Jamal Khashoggi elicited since 2018.
Live updates: U.N. General Assembly
September 26, 2022 GMTUNITED NATIONS (AP) — The Latest on the U.N. General Assembly:
CAMEROON
Cameroonian Foreign Affairs Minister Lejeune Mbella Mbella says it’s more urgent than ever to finalize the rules for implementing the Paris climate agreement.
Syria, North Korea take swipes at West as UN assembly ends
September 26, 2022 GMTUNITED NATIONS (AP) — Some of the West's fiercest critics made their cases in the closing hours of the U.N. General Assembly meeting of world leaders, as Syria and North Korea on Monday accused the United States and its allies of trying to impose their will on the world.
SDG, ECOSOC, P5+1: Seeking meaning in the UN’s coded lingo
September 26, 2022 GMTUNITED NATIONS (AP) — P5+1. The Sec-Gen. Perm Reps. The SDGs. ECOSOC, UNDP, OCHA. Stockholm+50.
Welcome to UNGA.
The United Nations, like many large institutions, has its own language.
UN speeches end with silence from Myanmar, Afghanistan
September 26, 2022 GMTUNITED NATIONS (AP) — For the second straight year, Afghanistan and Myanmar were silent at the U.N. General Assembly's leaders' meeting, which ended Monday with no representative of either government stepping forward to talk as the United Nations tries to resolve who should represent them.
EU, US question Serbia’s EU commitment after Russia deal
September 26, 2022 GMTBELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — The European Union and the U.S. on Monday questioned Serbia’s proclaimed commitment to join Europe’s 27-nation bloc after Belgrade signed an agreement with Moscow pledging long-term “consultations” on foreign policy matters amid Russia's war in Ukraine.
‘An inspiration’: Tributes to UK’s late queen at UN meeting
September 26, 2022 GMTUNITED NATIONS (AP) — This year's U.N. General Assembly meeting of world leaders came on the heels of another event that reverberated internationally — the death of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, followed by both an outpouring of tributes and sometimes bitter reflection on the colonialist empire that came to an end during her seven decades on the throne.
South Korea’s president scolds media over hot mic moment
September 26, 2022 GMTSEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Monday accused the country’s media of damaging its alliance with the United States after a TV broadcaster released a video suggesting that he insulted U.S.
Politics impede long-advocated growth of UN Security Council
September 26, 2022 GMTUNITED NATIONS (AP) — Virtually everyone involved agrees: Almost eight decades after it came into existence, the powerful U.N. Security Council needs to expand, to evolve, to include more voices. But as with so many things, the central question — and the biggest disagreement — is exactly how.
‘Multilateral’? Global South’s leaders question solidarity
September 25, 2022 GMTDAKAR, Senegal (AP) — The United Nations was established on one simple notion above all others: Working together is better than going it alone. But while the term “multilateralism” might be trending at this year's U.N.
Spanish PM Sánchez says he has COVID, cancels appearance
September 25, 2022 GMTMADRID (AP) — Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said Sunday he has tested positive for COVID-19.
The leader of Spain’s Socialist party and of the country’s coalition government said in a Twitter post that he was canceling his appearance at a Socialist event Sunday marking the beginning of the new political season after the summer recess.
Flashes of bold UN talk on feminism, masculinity, patriarchy
September 25, 2022 GMTFew men in power have delved deeply into gender equality on the main stage of the United Nations this month, but the ones who did went there boldly: claiming feminist credibility, selling “positive masculinity” and resolutely demanding an end to The Patriarchy.
India stays neutral on Ukraine war, previews G-20 term at UN
September 25, 2022 GMTUNITED NATIONS (AP) — India's foreign minister laid out the country's plans for its turn at the G-20 presidency during his speech Saturday in front of the U.N. General Assembly.
India assumes the mantle of the consortium of leading developed and developing nations in December.
On Ukraine, Russia repeats insistence that it had no choice
September 25, 2022 GMTUNITED NATIONS (AP) — Russia made its case to the world Saturday for its war in Ukraine, repeating a series of grievances about its neighbor and the West to tell the U.N.
They said it: Leaders at the UN, in their own words
September 24, 2022 GMTUNITED NATIONS (AP) — Many leaders saying many things about many topics that matter to them, to their regions, to the world: That’s what the U.N. General Assembly invariably produces each year.
Live updates: U.N. General Assembly
September 24, 2022 GMTUNITED NATIONS (AP) — The Latest on the U.N. General Assembly:
SAUDI ARABIA
Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister said Saturday that the world needs more fossil fuel investments, a message at odds with the United Nations' own panel of scientists and researchers.
They said it: Leaders at the UN, in their own words
September 24, 2022 GMTUNITED NATIONS (AP) — Many leaders saying many things about many topics that matter to them, to their regions, to the world: That’s what the U.N.
Belarus foreign minister blames NATO, West for Ukraine war
September 24, 2022 GMTUNITED NATIONS (AP) — In the eyes of Belarus' foreign minister, the root cause of the war in Ukraine dates back 30 years ago to the end of the Cold War.
At that time, there was no official treaty — just a “gentlemen’s agreement” that opened a path for the West to secure its domination, in part through the expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance, Vladimir Makei told the U.N.
As Ukraine worries UN, some leaders rue what’s pushed aside
September 24, 2022 GMTUNITED NATIONS (AP) — In speech after speech, world leaders dwelled on the topic consuming this year’s U.N. General Assembly meeting: Russia’s war in Ukraine.
A few, like Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, prodded the world not to forget everything else.
China on Taiwan: ‘External interference’ won’t be tolerated
September 24, 2022 GMTUNITED NATIONS (AP) — China underscored its commitment Saturday to its claim on Taiwan, telling assembled world leaders that anyone who gets in the way of its determination to reunify with the self-governing island would be “crushed by the wheels of history.”
EU candidate Serbia and Russia sign foreign policy agreement
September 24, 2022 GMTBELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbia has signed an agreement with Russia for mutual “consultations” on foreign policy matters, the Balkan country’s media reported Saturday.
Serbian Foreign Affairs Minister Nikola Selakovic signed the agreement Friday along with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of the U.N.
Interview: New UN climate chief takes the fight personally
September 24, 2022 GMTUNITED NATIONS (AP) — For the United Nations’ new climate chief, the fight is personal.
As a former engineer who says he knows “how to make things work and get things done,” it wasn’t just what Simon Stiell did before he became a top U.N.
Egypt’s leader meets with Sudan’s military ruler in Cairo
September 24, 2022 GMTCAIRO (AP) — President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi of Egypt on Saturday met with Sudan’s leader in Cairo for talks that focused on ties between the two neighbors, officials said.
Mali prime minister lashes out at France, UN, regional bloc
September 24, 2022 GMTMali’s prime minister lashed out Saturday at former colonizer France, the U.N. secretary-general and many people in between, saying that the tumultuous country had been “stabbed in the back" by the French military withdrawal.
GLIMPSES: One prime minister, many quotable quotes
September 24, 2022 GMTUNITED NATIONS (AP) — So you're paying attention to the tectonic geopolitical issues at the U.N. General Assembly, and many of them are addressed in carefully calibrated and crafted diplospeak. Then, suddenly, someone like Ralph Gonsalves steps up to the podium.