Women and children face heightened risks, while operational challenges – including restrictions on female UN staff – threaten life-saving relief efforts. The twin quakes, measuring 6.0 and 6.2, struck on 31 August and 4 September, flattening entire villages in Kunar, Nangarhar, Laghman and Nuristan provinces. Mountainous terrain and landslides blocked key roads, leaving air transport […]
Briefing ambassadors in the Security Council, Miroslav Jenča, Assistant Secretary-General for Europe in the Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (DPPA), renewed the call for an immediate ceasefire and a return to diplomacy to end the devastation. “Ukrainian people have endured nearly three-and-a-half years of unimaginable horrors, death, devastation and destruction. They urgently need relief […]
This is the only sustainable path to global security, he told ministers at a high-level open debate of the Security Council on Tuesday. The Secretary-General emphasised that the UN Charter’s tools – negotiation, mediation, conciliation, arbitration and more – remain a lifeline when tensions escalate, grievances fester and states lose trust in each other. These […]
Amid this relative calm, the United Nations has renewed its call for a diplomatic solution to the Iran nuclear issue, warning that the objectives of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – and the resolution that endorsed it – remain unmet. Addressing a planned Security Council meeting on Tuesday to try and revive the […]
After ten days of airstrikes initiated by Israel aimed at crippling Iran’s nuclear programme which have led to deadly daily exchanges of missile fire between Tehran and Tel Aviv, the UN chief said that diplomacy must now prevail. “We now risk descending into a rathole of retaliation after retaliation,” he said, responding to the US […]
The UN Secretary-General told the Security Council on Sunday that the bombing of Iran’s nuclear sites by the United States marks a “perilous turn”, warning that the region cannot endure yet another “cycle of destruction.” António Guterres said the must be an immediate ceasefire and returned to “serious, sustained negotiations.” We’ll have live updates from […]
In a quick response to Canada’s move, India expelled six Canadian diplomats on Monday, just hours after announcing the withdrawal of its High Commissioner and other key officials from Canada. The move comes as relations between the two nations deteriorate, with India citing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s ongoing “hostility” towards New Delhi. The Ministry […]
Whether intentionally or unintentionally, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may have made a faux paux of sort when his renowned and creative chef served visiting Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe with desert dishes in a shoe on last week May 2. Shocked Japanese revealed it a week later. Japanese, like any Asian culture, do not […]
Indian Cabinet has approved an MoU last month with the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland on the return of illegal migrants, in view of businessman and former MP Vijay Mallya’s escape from the tax dragon in the country. The MoU will facilitate that the Visa Free Agreement for holders of Diplomatic passports as well as […]