The number of dead and missing in China's worst earthquake in recent decades is nearing 90,000, as visiting United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon flew into the disaster zone on Saturday and pledged the world body's support for the relief work. Chinese premier Wen Jiabao briefed the UN Secretary General on quake relief efforts and said China would carry out reconstruction as soon as possible. Wen told Ban that the quake had claimed more than 60,000 lives in Sichuan province.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said on Wednesday he intended to set up an international commission to probe the assassination of former Pakistani premier Benazir Bhutto during a meeting with her widower, President Asif Ali Zardari.
United Nations and Arab League envoy Kofi Annan has resigned from his post as international envoy for Syria after trying in vain for six months to broker peace and bring the country's warring parties to the table.
United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon has appointed Atul Khare of India as assistant secretary-general for peacekeeping operations.
With the unrest in Africa and West Asia triggering a refugee deluge, the United Nations on Tuesday urged countries to welcome millions of such asylum seekers fleeing threats to their lives and not turn away from them citing budget constraints.
Seven United Nations peacekeepers from the west African country of Niger were killed in an ambush while they were on a patrol in a southwest region of Ivory Coast, an attack which drew strong condemnation from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the Security Council.
United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon has appointed Atul Khare of India as head of its Change Management Team tasked with suggesting reforms to make the global organisation work more efficiently.
Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, is among 19 members chosen by UN chief Ban Ki-moon for a high-level advisory group on Climate Change Financing tasked with mobilising funds pledged during the Copenhagen meet to tackle global warming.
"Italy is willing to try the marines at home, but in the meantime we ask for their freedom," said Interior Minister Angelino Alfano was quoted as saying by ANSA news agency.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has sought a renewed commitment from governments to tackle the global HIV/AIDS epidemic which has already claimed more than 25 million lives worldwide and devastated communities, especially in Africa.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has rejected the UN deadline of January 31 for submission of emission targets and climate actions under the Copenhagen Accord.
Pakistan has taken up the "despicable act" of desecration of the Quran in Florida with the United Nations, and urged it to take urgent steps to promote inter-faith harmony in the wake of increasing acts of Islamophobia.
"There is a serious problem of accountability and transparency, efficiency, mobility and professionalism," Ban said on September 11 at the United Nations.
As the world readies to welcome its seventh billion inhabitant on Monday, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called for "unity of purpose" among people across nations to address problems of climate change, economic crisis and inequality.
The Daily Telegraph of London reported on Tuesday, the first day of Ban in office, that UN peacekeepers and civilian staff were raping and abusing children as young as 12 in southern Sudan.
"India will continue to play a constructive and positive role, along with like-minded countries, to this end," External Affairs Ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna said while briefing on the talks Gambari had with Dr Singh, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon during his two-day visit to New Delhi since Monday.
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas on Friday handed over a landmark request to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon seeking a full United Nations membership for a Palestinian state.
Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh has been made part of high-level UN panel on global sustainability set up by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
According to reports, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has talked to Indian External Affairs Minister SM Krishna as well as his Pakistani counterpart, Shah Mehmood Qureshi on the telephone to raise the prospect of another "talk about talks".
Rejecting Pakistan's appeal to reopen the probe by United Nations into the assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has said, "The work of the commission is complete."
The Sri Lankan government has slammed the decision of the United Nations to set up a panel of experts to advice Secretary General Ban Ki Moon on the human rights situation in the country, saying it was 'unwarranted' since Colombo has already formed a mechanism to address accountability issues. "The proposed panel of experts was unwarranted since Lanka has already set in motion its local mechanism to address accountability issues, said Minister of External Affairs G L Peiris.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban ki Moon on Tuesday said he had impressed upon top Pakistani leadership, including President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani that they should fully cooperate with India and thoroughly investigate the Mumbai terrorist attacks. Addressing a press conference on returning from his visit to India and Pakistan, he said the Pakistani leaders had 'committed to me that they will fully cooperate' with India in the investigation
Making an aggressive move on its foreign policy front, the new United States administration has reached out to key world leaders, with President Barack Obama himself calling heads of the states of Canada, Saudi Arabia and Britain, besides United Nations chief Ban Ki-Moon.Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reached out to as many as 21 foreign leaders including Minister of External Affairs Pranab Mukherjee, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon joined other senior United Nations officials in urging countries to refocus attention on human rights in the fight against terrorism, as experts began considering innovative ways to combat the global scourge.
In a letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and all member nations, Pakistan's Ambassador to the world body Abdullah Hussain Haroon has said, building up circumstantial evidence has resulted in some of the costliest mistakes by mankind, the latest example being the US intervention in Iraq.
The United Nations on Tuesday delayed till April 15 the release of its probe panel's report on the assassination of former Pakistani premier Benazir Bhutto following a request from Islamabad.
Terming India a "leading voice" in the developing world, the UN today said both India and Pakistan should continue their composite dialogue process to maintain peace in the subcontinent but ruled out withdrawal of its observer mission in both countries.
A United Nations panel has said killing of tens of thousands of people in the final stages of the Sri Lankan civil strife could amount to "war crimes", but Secretary General Ban Ki-moon insisted he would only launch an international investigation if Colombo agrees or member states call for it.
The Indian Consulate celebrated the 60th anniversary of the Republic Day in New York with much fanfare.
Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor recently made his first foray to the United Nations -- where he had served for more than two decades as Under Secretary General of Communications -- over two-and-a-half years after his unsuccessful bid for the position of UN Secretary General.
Iran has complained to the United Nations about the remarks of Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton, who had said that the United States would totally obliterate the Islamic Republic, if it were to launch a nuclear attack on Israel. In a letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Iranian Deputy Ambassador to the UN Mehdi Danesh-Yazdi described the statement as "provocative, unwarranted & irresponsible". "Iran would not hesitate to act in self-defense," he warned.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed Ajay Chhibber of India as United Nations Development Programme's assistant secretary-general, assistant administrator and director of its Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific.Chhibber replaced Hafiz Pasha, who finished his assignment in December last year.
In a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and the President of the UN Security Council Ruhakana Rugunda, Israel accused an Indian contingent of United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) of having done nothing to prevent the demonstrators from crossing the border and even cooperating with the group, The Jerusalem Post reported.
With countries across the world, including India, staking claim to being home to the seven billionth baby, United Nations Chief Ban Ki Moon said his office would not be able to pin-point who the world's seven billionth inhabitant is and where the baby was born.
Stating that he wanted to make a solid contribution to the country of his origin, Tharoor said it was too late for him to emerge as a politician from the grassroots.
The United Nations on Thursday recalled its top envoy to Sri Lanka and closed down an office in Colombo following angry protests against a UN panel which was set up to probe allegations of war crime during the country's civil war.
China has backed Sri Lanka in its opposition to the setting up of a human rights panel by the United Nations to look into alleged rights abuses during the ethnic war, saying the government was capable of handling it.
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has promised the United Nations that his forces would protect Tamil civilians as it pushes ahead with its offensive to defeat the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Rajapaksa gave this assurance over telephone to UN Secretary General Ban ki Moon, as his forces overran the last base of the sea Tigers near Mulaittivu, cutting off all their escape routes.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances