united nations

Iran Hopes for Nuclear Talks 'Without Pressure' Under Trump

Iran said Monday it hoped talks on its nuclear program would be conducted "away from political pressure and considerations" ahead of a UN nuclear agency board meeting this week. "All our efforts and our emphasis in our talks were to allow the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to do its technical work away from the destructive and evil ...

Enforcing Resolution 1701: Ending the Deception Game

During one of the early phases of the Lebanese war, Bachir Gemayel made a quip to journalists that, while tinged with sarcasm, offered a fundamentally sharp insight into an aspect of public life in the country. “Lebanon (before the war) was not so much a land of coexistence, but rather one of mutual deceit among its people,” he stated, with a ...

Iranians Sceptical About Talks Under Trump

Many Iranians were sceptical on Saturday about the possibility of the Islamic republic opening negotiations with the United States under Donald Trump, given the fractured history he has with Tehran. On Thursday, The New York Times reported that tech billionaire and Trump ally Elon Musk had met Iran's ambassador to the United Nations in a bid to ...

UN Climate Chief Urges G20 to Bridge Financing Gaps at COP29 Talks

The UN's climate chief urged G20 nations on Saturday to push COP29 negotiations toward a deal to raise money for developing nations, warning there was a “long way to go.” Negotiators worked through the night to narrow their differences at the UN talks in Baku before ministers arrive next week for the final days of the summit, but ...

IAEA Chief Tours Sensitive Iran Nuclear Plants

The UN nuclear chief toured two Iranian uranium enrichment plants that have been the focus of Western concern on Friday after Tehran said it was ready to address "doubts" about its ambitions. The visit to Iran by International Atomic Energy Agency director general Rafael Grossi comes after he warned "the margins for manoeuvre are beginning to ...

Loyalists and Powerhouses: Key Figures of the Trump Administration

RFK Jr., Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is a longtime health and environmental campaigner, who at 70 proudly shows off his muscular body. But the scion of the famous US political dynasty is also a leading anti-vaccine activist and conspiracy theorist who has promoted the disproven idea that childhood vaccines cause autism and claimed ...

Musk Met Iran UN Ambassador on Defusing Tension Under Trump

Elon Musk, the tech billionaire closely allied with US President-elect Donald Trump, met Iran's ambassador to the United Nations in a bid to defuse tensions between Tehran and Washington, The New York Times reported Thursday. The newspaper quoted anonymous Iranian sources as describing the meeting between the world's richest person and Ambassador ...

UN Committee Reports Israel Warfare in Gaza 'Consistent with Genocide'

Israel's warfare in Gaza is consistent with the characteristics of genocide, a special UN committee said Thursday, as a Human Rights Watch report said Israel's displacement of Gazans amounts to a "crime against humanity". Israel said HRW's claims were "completely false", insisting its "efforts are directed solely at dismantling Hamas's terror ...

Human Right Watch Accuses Israel of 'War Crimes'

Human Rights Watch said in a report released Thursday that Israel's repeated evacuation orders in Gaza amount to the "war crime of forcible transfer", and to "ethnic cleansing" in parts of the Palestinian territory. "Human Rights Watch has amassed evidence that Israeli officials are... committing the war crime of forcible transfer," the report ...

UN Peacekeeping Chief Visits UNIFIL in South Lebanon

Jean-Pierre Lacroix, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, visited southern Lebanon on Wednesday to assess the situation in the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) area of operations. During his visit, Lacroix toured the UNIFIL 1-26 site in Mansouri and the UNIFIL headquarters in Naqoura, where he ...

UN Nuclear Chief to Visit Iran for Talks on Nuclear Program

International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi is set to visit Tehran on Wednesday for crucial talks on Iran's nuclear program, warning just ahead of his trip that room for manoeuvre is narrowing. His visit comes only two days after the defense minister of Iran's nemesis Israel warned the Islamic republic was "more exposed than ever to ...