UN

Siberian heatwave: Wildfires rage in Arctic, sea ice melts

7:33 pm July 24, 2020

Geneva: The UN weather agency warned on Friday that average temperatures in Siberia were 10 degrees Celsius (18 Fahrenheit) above average last month, a spate of exceptional heat that has fanned devastating fires in the Arctic Circle and contributed to a rapid depletion in ice sea off Russia’s Arctic coast. “The Arctic is heating more than twice as fast as the […]

Thousands without heat, water after tornadoes kill dozens

UN: World could hit 1.5-degree warming threshold by 2024

8:39 pm July 9, 2020

Geneva: The world could see annual global temperatures pass a key threshold for the first time in the coming five years, the U.N. weather agency said Thursday. The World Meteorological Organization said forecasts suggest there’s a 20% chance that global temperatures will be 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit) higher than the pre-industrial average in at […]

WHO report on Wuhan virus mission expected soon

Germany laments US exit from WHO, says EU seeks to reform it

11:29 pm July 8, 2020

Geneva: Germany’s health minister on Wednesday lamented the formal US notification of its withdrawal from the World Health Organization as a “setback for international cooperation” and said Europe would work to reform the UN health agency. The comments from German Health Minister Jens Spahn epitomized concerns in Europe over the WHO’s largest contributor preparing to pull out following the Trump administration’s complaints that the agency […]

Israeli defense chief says West Bank annexation ‘will wait’

10:45 pm June 29, 2020

Jerusalem: Israel‘s defense minister says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to begin annexing West Bank territory will have to wait due to the country’s coronavirus crisis. Benny Gantz, who also holds the title of alternative prime minister, told his Blue and White Party on Monday that his top priority is helping the country navigate the health and economic crisis stemming […]

CMS holds Global Interfaith Convention to promote communal harmony

Top US diplomat calls UN rights body ‘a haven for dictators’

11:59 pm June 20, 2020

Frankfurt: US Secretary of State Michael R Pompeo said the decision by the UN’s top human rights body to commission a report on policing and race amid international protests spurred by George Floyd‘s death “marks a new low” and confirmed the Trump administration’s decision to withdraw from the Human Rights Council in 2018. The council agreed Friday in Geneva to commission […]