Million gather at Catalonia national day rally in Barcelona
Sep 12, 2018, at 12:49 pm
Barcelona, Sept 12 (IBNS): Around a million people took to the streets in Barcelona to participate in the Catalonia national day rally and demand independence from Spain.
Former Brazilian President Lula pulls out of presidential election
Sep 12, 2018, at 11:06 am
Brasilia, Sept 12 (IBNS): Tainted Brazilian politician and former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has pulled out of next month's presidential election, reports said.
Yemen: UN envoy asks Security Council for more support ‘to move back’ to the negotiating table
Sep 12, 2018, at 09:13 am
New York, Sept 12 (IBNS): United Nations Special Envoy Martin Griffith told the Security Council on Tuesday that he never expected an easy mission when he convened Intra-Yemeni Consultations in Geneva last week, for which the Houthis delegation failed to show up.
‘Vague and over-broad’ laws stifling independent journalism in Myanmar – UN rights report
Sep 12, 2018, at 08:52 am
New York, Sept 12 (IBNS): Describing the conviction in Myanmar of two Reuters journalists last week as a “particularly outrageous” example of judicial harassment against the media there, “vague and over-broad” laws have made it impossible for the press to do its job in the country, without fear or favour, a new United Nations report has found.
Hunger reached ‘alarming’ ten-year high in 2017, according to latest UN report
Sep 12, 2018, at 08:45 am
New York, Sept 12 (IBNS): With food deprivation on the rise due to conflict and climate change, more people went hungry in 2017 than at any time in the previous decade, according to the latest edition of the UN’s annual multi-agency flagship report on the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World.
Sep 12, 2018, at 08:41 am
New York, Sept 12 (IBNS): A full-scale battle for Idlib must be avoided at all costs, the United Nations Secretary-General has stressed, warning that failure to do so would unleash “a humanitarian nightmare unlike any seen in the blood-soaked Syrian conflict” so far.
Hungarian government ‘fuels discrimination against migrants’, say UN human rights experts
Sep 12, 2018, at 08:32 am
New York, Sept 12 (IBNS): New laws in Hungary, and Government attacks on civil society in the country, fuel “hostility, xenophobia, and discrimination against migrants, asylum seekers, refugees and all those trying to provide them support”, say a team of independent human rights experts mandated by the UN Human Rights Council.
Sep 11, 2018, at 08:51 am
New York, Sept 11 (IBNS): Corruption is present in all countries, “rich and poor, North and South, developed and developing,” United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres told the Security Council on Monday, at a session on tackling corruption for the sake of peace and international security.
New UN rights chief pledges to push back on ‘centuries of prejudice and discrimination’
Sep 11, 2018, at 08:45 am
New York, Sept 11 (IBNS): The UN’s newly appointed High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, intends to push back “centuries of prejudice and discrimination” against vulnerable groups including women and the peoples of the Global South, by pushing for more consensus between Member States, she said on Monday.
Egyptian death sentences a ‘gross miscarriage of justice’: UN human rights chief
Sep 10, 2018, at 03:20 pm
New York, Sept 10 (IBNS): An Egyptian court’s confirmation of 75 death sentences on Saturday has been condemned by Michelle Bachelet, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, as being the result of an unfair trial.
Madagascar: UN Secretary-General reaffirms support for electoral process
Sep 10, 2018, at 03:18 pm
New York, Sept 10 (IBNS): The Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, has welcomed the appointment on 7 September of Rivo Rakotovao, President of the Madagascar Senate, as acting president of the country.
Knife attack leaves seven hurt in Paris
Sep 10, 2018, at 09:08 am
Paris, Sept 10 (IBNS): At least seven people were hurt as a man, who was armed with knife and iron bar, attacked them in French city of Paris on Sunday, media reports said.
Madagascar: UN Secretary-General reaffirms support for electoral process
Sep 09, 2018, at 04:16 pm
New York, Sept 9 (IBNS): The Secretary-General of the United Nations, António Guterres, has welcomed the appointment on 7 September of Rivo Rakotovao, President of the Madagascar Senate, as acting president of the country.
Brazil election: Candidate Jair Bolsonaro not returning to campaign after being stabbed
Sep 08, 2018, at 12:12 pm
Brasilia, Sept 8 (IBNS): Brazilian presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro will not return to campaign after he was stabbed during a rally on Thursday, his family has confirmed.
144 years on, Universal Postal Union meets to define its 21st Century role
Sep 08, 2018, at 08:45 am
New York, Sept 8 (IBNS):The Universal Postal Union (UPU), one of the world’s oldest international organizations, has met in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa to improve its working practices and define its role in the modern world.
UN police investigating killing of displaced people in Central African Republic
Sep 08, 2018, at 08:41 am
New York, Sept 8 (IBNS): Perpetrators behind the killing of a number of people displaced by conflict in the Central African Republic (CAR) must be brought to justice, the UN peacekeeping operation in the country said on Friday.
Halt ‘imminent’ executions of Kurdish prisoners, UN experts urge Iran
Sep 08, 2018, at 08:34 am
New York, Sept 8 (IBNS): Two independent United Nations human rights experts have called on the Iranian Government to halt the execution of three prisoners from the Kurdish community, amid concerns that they did not receive a fair trial and allegations that they were tortured while in detention.
‘Sanctity of human civilian life’ in Idlib must win out, urges UN Syria Envoy
Sep 08, 2018, at 08:31 am
New York, Sept 8 (IBNS): With the ingredients for a “perfect storm” brewing in the Syrian province of Idlib, the international community cannot allow civilians there to succumb to such a fate, the UN Envoy for the country told the Security Council on Friday.
Sep 08, 2018, at 08:26 am
New York, Sept 8 (IBNS): Virginia Gamba, the United Nations Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, on Friday called for much greater accountability and effort, to prevent grave violations against children across the world’s youngest nation, South Sudan.
Sep 08, 2018, at 08:21 am
New York, Sept 8 (IBNS): Emergency food supplies for hundreds of thousands of people in Syria’s Idlib are “ready for distribution” in the event of mass displacement caused by a full-scale military offensive on the last opposition-held region, the World Food Programme (WFP) said on Friday.
Brazilian presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro stabbed during election campaign
Sep 07, 2018, at 11:57 am
Belem, Sept 7 (IBNS): Brazilian presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro was stabbed during a campaign rally in southeastern Brazil on Thursday, media reports said.
British Airways probes customer data theft
Sep 07, 2018, at 09:53 am
London, Sept 7 (IBNS): Airlines major British Airways on Thursday announced it is probing a customer data theft from its website and app.
Sep 07, 2018, at 09:15 am
New York, Sept 7 (IBNS): Experts continue to gather information related to an alleged chemical weapons attack in Douma, Syria, earlier this year, the UN’s nuclear disarmament chief told the Security Council on Thursday.
Sep 07, 2018, at 09:11 am
New York, Sept 7 (IBNS): The United Kingdom and Russia traded a volley of words at the United Nations Security Council on Thursday, with the former laying out information which, it alleges, clearly places two Russian military intelligence operatives behind the deadly nerve-agent attack in the English city of Salisbury on 4 March.
Haiti’s security situation remains ‘fragile’: UN representative
Sep 07, 2018, at 09:09 am
New York, Sept 7 (IBNS): Haitian authorities must do more to prepare the Caribbean island nation for the planned withdrawal of the country’s UN peacekeeping mission, Bintou Keita, Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, told the Security Council on Thursday.
Caribbean hurricane season ‘will be different this time’
Sep 07, 2018, at 09:06 am
New York, Sept 7 (IBNS): In September 2017 two category five hurricanes swept across the Caribbean, devastating island communities in the region. In the 2nd part of this special report marking the one year anniversary of hurricanes Irma and Maria hitting the Caribbean, UN News looks at how the UN has responded, helping communities to get back on their feet, and preparing them for the inevitability of more damaging hurricanes in the future.
UN chief ‘looks forward’ to progress on denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula
Sep 07, 2018, at 09:02 am
New York, Sept 6 (IBNS): United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has welcomed the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un’s commitment on Wednesday, to continue working towards the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
UN Envoy working to ‘overcome obstacles’ barring resumption of Yemen peace talks
Sep 07, 2018, at 08:59 am
New York, Sept 7 (IBNS): The United Nations Special Envoy for Yemen met Government representatives on Thursday at the start of what were due to be the first peace talks involving both warring parties to be held in two years, vowing to “overcome obstacles” which have so far prevented the Houthi rebel delegation from showing up.
Sep 07, 2018, at 08:57 am
New York, Sept 7 (IBNS): Around 150 million school children aged 13-15 are the victims of violence from their peers, says a new report from the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF.
Verdict against South Sudan soldiers ‘finally delivers justice’ – UN Mission
Sep 07, 2018, at 08:54 am
New York, Sept 7 (IBNS): The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) has applauded the verdict by a military court on Thursday, that found ten government soldiers guilty of murder, rape and other crimes against civilians and journalists at a hotel in the capital Juba, just over two years ago.