Sep 30, 2020, at 11:12 pm
New York: From domestic violence to sexual abuse, online harassment and increased child marriage, gender-based violence (GBV) is “a global scourge” that is being exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the UN chief said on Tuesday.
Sep 30, 2020, at 11:01 pm
Amsterdam: The European Foundation for South Asian Studies (EFSAS) hosted a well-attended webinar titled, ‘Rise of ISIS in South Asia’, on the sidelines of the 45th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC).
Pandemic shows international cooperation ‘delivers results’, says German Foreign Minister
Sep 30, 2020, at 10:10 pm
New York: The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed how international cooperation “delivers results” in efforts to resolve conflict, though there is still a long way to go, Germany’s Foreign Minister told the UN General Assembly in a pre-recorded speech broadcast on Tuesday.
Sep 30, 2020, at 09:45 pm
New York: Bilateral cooperation is the only way to effectively resolve the repatriation issue between Myanmar and Bangladesh, the Minister of the Office of the State Counsellor of Myanmar, told the UN General Assembly.
Loud sound rocks Paris, police say it was caused due to sonic boom from a fighter jet
Sep 30, 2020, at 09:36 pm
Paris: A loud sound was heard in the French capital Paris on Wednesday.
Protect the world from sliding into global recession, urges UN chief
Sep 30, 2020, at 09:26 pm
New York: The economic and social consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic “are as bad as we feared”, the UN Secretary-General said, as he warned that the international community must act now if it is stave off a global recession, which could wipe out decades of development gains.
India slams Pakistan over its treatment towards minorities
Sep 30, 2020, at 05:57 pm
Geneva: At UNHRC, India on Monday slammed Pakistan by stating that Pakistan is known as the “killing field” for the minorities.
Flooding leaves South Sudan facing threat of ‘catastrophic’ hunger levels
Sep 30, 2020, at 03:59 pm
New York: Torrential rains and flooding across South Sudan have created the threat of “catastrophic” levels of hunger and left hundreds of thousands homeless, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.
Food loss and waste ‘an ethical outrage’, UN chief says on International Day
Sep 30, 2020, at 03:44 pm
New York: New approaches and solutions are needed to address worsening food loss and waste, the UN Secretary-General has said, in a message marking the first ever International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste Reduction.
COVID-19: ‘Legitimate concerns’ must be heard, and fears addressed over misinformation
Sep 30, 2020, at 03:37 pm
New York: Amid continuing uncertainty, fear and anxiety around the world over the COVID-19 pandemic, senior UN officials are keen to stress the legitimacy of concerns, listen carefully to citizens around the world, and help them distinguish between misinformation and accurate information, based on science.
ISIS kills 9 civilians in Syria's Hama
Sep 30, 2020, at 02:46 pm
Damascus/Xinhua: Nine civilians were killed on Tuesday by the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria's central province of Hama, Syrian state news agency SANA reported.
US sentences Chinese national to 5 Years over money laundering charges
Sep 30, 2020, at 02:39 pm
Washington/Sputnik: A US federal judge has sentenced a citizen of China to five years in jail for laundering millions of dollars for Mexican drug cartels, the Department of Justice announced in a press release.
Canada Conservatives skeptical if Liberals meet target to end First Nations' boil water advisories
Sep 30, 2020, at 05:09 am
Ottawa/IBNS: COVID-19 pandemic has jeopardized some of the Liberal government's key deadlines of its reconciliation agenda including a promise to end all long-term boil-water advisories on First Nations by March 2021, media reports said.
Pakistan media bodies target Imran Khan govt, condemns ‘systematic war’ against press
Sep 30, 2020, at 04:55 am
Islamabad: Expressing their strong opinion against Prime Minister Imran Khan's regime, the country's journalist fraternity on Sunday issued a declaration expressing serious concern over torture, abduction and arrest of mediapersons, unannounced censorship through financial curbs on media houses, threats to owners and journalists by anti-media forces to compel them to toe the official line or face government’s wrath.
Amid Xinjiang crisis, Chinese authorities are now targeting tiny Muslim community in Hainan province
Sep 30, 2020, at 04:42 am
Beijing: The Chinese government's religious crackdown on a minor community has now reached Sanya city in Hainan province, located almost 12,000 km from the controversial Xinjiang region where the atrocities on the Uyghur Muslims have already earned global attention.
Correctional Service Canada seizes contraband, unauthorized items at Donnacona Institution in Quebec
Sep 30, 2020, at 04:16 am
Quebec/IBNS: Packages containing contraband and unauthorized items were seized Sept 20, 21, and 22, 2020 at Donnacona Institution in Quebec, a federal maximum-security institution by vigilant staff members of the Correctional Service Canada (CSC), reported CSC on Monday.
Britain insists it will go ahead with law-breaking bill linked to Brexit
Sep 29, 2020, at 10:58 pm
London/Xinhua: The British government put itself on a potential collision course with Brussels on Tuesday after rejecting calls by the European Union (EU) to withdraw parts of a controversial bill that will break international law.
Afghanistan: 11 civilians killed in bomb blast
Sep 29, 2020, at 10:45 pm
Kabul: At least eleven civilians were killed and four others injured when an improvised bomb struck a vehicle in Afghanistan's central Daykundi province on Tuesday, the provincial police chief confirmed.
Pakistan opens border crossings with Afghanistan in NW province for pedestrians
Sep 29, 2020, at 10:40 pm
Islamabad/Xinhua: Pakistan has announced to open the border crossings with Afghanistan in the country's northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province for pedestrian movement from Tuesday, which were closed due to COVID-19 in March, a government notification and officials said.
Japan's new Prime Minister Suga holds first phone talks with Putin: Reports
Sep 29, 2020, at 10:31 pm
Moscow/Sputnik: Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, appointed earlier in September, held on Tuesday his first phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Japanese media reported on Tuesday.
Illicit capital robbing Africa and its people of their future: UN trade and development chief
Sep 29, 2020, at 03:59 pm
New York: Every year, an estimated $88.6 billion, which is equivalent to 3.7% of Africa’s GDP, leaves the continent in the form of illicit capital, according to UN trade and development agency UNCTAD’s Economic Development in Africa Report 2020, launched on Monday.
Most countries failing to protect women from COVID-19 economic and social fallout
Sep 29, 2020, at 03:52 pm
New York: The COVID-19 pandemic is “hitting women hard”, but most nations are failing to provide sufficient social and economic protection for them, the head of the UN gender empowerment agency said on Monday.
‘Eyes and ears’ of Human Rights Council facing funding crisis
Sep 29, 2020, at 03:36 pm
New York: The work of UN-appointed independent rights experts is at risk from a critical lack of funding, they warned on Monday.
Rights experts denounce death sentence against Nigerian singer who posted on WhatsApp
Sep 29, 2020, at 03:30 pm
New York: Independent UN human rights experts have called on the Government of Nigeria to immediately release a singer sentenced to death over an allegedly blasphemous song he performed and shared on social media.
Australian PM announces digital business plan to drive economic recovery from COVID-19 pandemic
Sep 29, 2020, at 03:06 pm
Canberra/Xinhua: The Australian Government announced on Tuesday a digital business plan to enable businesses to take advantage of digital technologies to grow their businesses and create jobs in the wake of the coronavirus crisis.
Fresh Armenia-Azerbaijan clashes over Nagorno-Karabakh, as UN chief urges an end to fighting
Sep 29, 2020, at 02:55 pm
New York: The UN chief is “extremely concerned” over renewed hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict zone that erupted on Sunday.
Yemen’s warring parties agree to free more than 1,000 prisoners
Sep 29, 2020, at 02:22 pm
New York/IBNS: At the end of a week-long meeting in Switzerland, the parties to the conflict in Yemen reached what the UN envoy there called “a very important milestone”, in agreeing to release a first group of detainees.
Ontario promotes public transit, launches free Wi-Fi on GO transit
Sep 29, 2020, at 05:06 am
Toronto/IBNS: Ontario government, with its commitment to improving public transit across the province, is offering free Wi-Fi, beginning Sept 28 for passengers on all GO buses and approximately for 50 per cent of GO trains, media reports said.
Canada: Montreal and Quebec City to be upgraded to COVID-19 red alert level
Sep 29, 2020, at 02:32 am
Quebec/IBNS: Christian Dubé, Quebec Health Minister, has confirmed while speaking on Radio-Canada's popular Sunday night talk show 'Tout le monde en parle,' that Montreal and Quebec City would move from orange to red alert, the highest alert level "in the coming days."
Ontario's second wave of COVID-19 projected to culminate in October
Sep 29, 2020, at 02:23 am
Ottawa/IBNS: Latest forecasts of COVID-19 Modelling Collaboration, a joint effort of scientists and physicians from the University of Toronto, University Health Network, and Sunnybrook Hospital projected Ontario's second wave of the virus to peak in mid- to late October, media reports said.