united nations

‘Steep Climb’ Ahead as Clock Ticks on Stalled Climate Talks

Pressure mounted on rich nations Wednesday to commit nearly $1 trillion a year in assistance for poorer countries as time runs out to strike a deal at the COP29 climate talks. With two days left to break the impasse in Azerbaijan, wealthy nations have still not revealed how much they are willing to provide the developing world to cope with ...

Gaza Civil Defence Says 17 Killed in Israeli Strikes

Gaza's civil defence agency said on Wednesday that at least 17 people, including a baby, were killed in Israeli air strikes on the war-ravaged Palestinian territory. The Israeli military said one of its soldiers was killed and another seriously wounded during combat in the north of the Gaza Strip. The baby was killed in nighttime shelling of the ...

Hennis-Plasschaert: 'Lebanon Faces a Humanitarian Crisis of Catastrophic Proportions'

Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Jean-Pierre Lacroix and UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert held meetings on Tuesday centered on the escalation of hostilities across the Blue Line and the upcoming report by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on the implementation of resolution 1701. According to a press ...

Western Countries Submit New Iran Resolution at IAEA

Western countries on Wednesday formally submitted a new resolution critical of Iran at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) ahead of its board meeting, diplomatic sources said. "The text was formally submitted" just before midnight on Tuesday, a diplomatic source told AFP on condition of anonymity, with a second diplomatic source ...

UN Second Committee Approves Draft Resolution Regarding 2006 Lebanon Oil Spill

The United Nations General Assembly’s Economic and Financial Committee approved a resolution on Tuesday requesting that Israel assume responsibility for prompt and adequate compensation to Lebanon affected by an oil slick on its shores during Israel’s 2006 military operations in Lebanon. The resolution marks the 19th consecutive year it has ...

G20 Fails to Progress on Climate

G20 leaders failed on Monday to break a deadlock in UN climate talks at a summit in Rio that was dominated by divergences over the war in Ukraine and Donald Trump's impending return to the White House. Ahead of the meeting, the UN had implored the leaders of the world's richest economies to rescue stalled climate talks in Azerbaijan by boosting ...

UN Chief Says No Substitute to UNRWA to Aid Palestinian Refugees

There is no alternative to the UN agency supporting Palestinian refugees, its chief insisted Monday, following Israel's order to ban the organization that coordinates nearly all aid in war-ravaged Gaza. "There is no plan B,” head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, Philippe Lazzarini, told reporters in ...

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 ...