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.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has rejected the UN deadline of January 31 for submission of emission targets and climate actions under the Copenhagen Accord.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon met with Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of Myanmar's National League for Democracy, for the first time at her lakeside residence in Yangon on Tuesday, the last day of Ban's three-day official visit to the country. Ban hailed Suu Kyi's efforts to advance democracy in Myanmar, congratulating her for being elected as a parliamentarian and admiring her decision to prepare for the parliament debut.
India on Thursday urged United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon to ask member nations not to cut down financial and technical aid for public health initiatives across the globe.
India will convey its views on major regional and global issues apart from strongly pitching for an expansion of the Security Council with its inclusion as a permanent member during the four-day visit of United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who arrived in New Delhi on Thursday.
Terming as "very positive" and "encouraging" the recent efforts by India and Pakistan to normalise their relations, United Nations chief Ban Ki Moon on Tuesday expressed hope that the two neighbours will continue the dialogue process and play a greater role for peace, security and harmony in the region.
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.
Veteran Indian diplomat Vijay Nambiar has been appointed as UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's special adviser on Myanmar, the UN chief announced on Thursday
"There is a serious problem of accountability and transparency, efficiency, mobility and professionalism," Ban said on September 11 at the United Nations.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has regretted Colombo's the decision to expel James Elder, a spokesman for United Nation's Children Fund in Sri Lanka for allegedly making adverse remarks against the government over rights violations and war causalities.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has said the progress at the climate conference here have been "insufficient", warning that the absence of a "breakthrough" would condemn the lives of billions of people "to smaller futures".
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday said the UN would play a role in resolving the situation in Kashmir when India and Pakistan wanted the world body to step in.
At the Human Rights Councils special session on Sri Lanka last week, High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said that investigating abuses allegedly committed against civilians by both the Government and LTTE will help the country transition into a new future. "There are strong reasons to believe that both sides have grossly disregarded the fundamental principle of the inviolability of civilians," Pillay had stated.
"The Secretary-General regrets the latest loss of life. He (Ban) calls for an immediate end to violence and urges calm and restraint by all concerned," Martin Nesirky told media persons on Wednesday, adding that Ban was "closely following events".
"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.
The death of Libya's former strongman Muammar Gaddafi marks an "historic transition" for the North African country, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said on Thursday, as he urged Libyans to lay down their arms and unite in this "time of rebuilding."
Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh has been made part of high-level UN panel on global sustainability set up by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
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.
"Ban's spokesperson issued the e-mail on his own, misquoting the secretary general. And some of the separatist leaders tried to exploit it by claiming that the SG is calling for dialogue between India and Pakistan on the Kashmir issue," the sources said. "The issue has been settled despite what some news media is claiming."
The role of the Pakistani-origin spokesperson of United Nations secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has come under scanner with the denial of the UN chief's controversial remarks on Kashmir by his office.
A landmark treaty banning cluster munitions will come into force from August 1, the United Nations announced, but all major powers, the US, China, Russia Israel and India are shunning it.
Intense rocket barrage prevented a plane carrying United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt from landing at the Kabul airport on Tuesday and the aircraft was forced to be diverted to Bagram air base.
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".
Concerned over the political turmoil in Pakistan, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called on the country's leaders to engage in "honest dialogue" to resolve their differences.
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
The Mumbai attacks came up for discussion when UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon met External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday, with the Indian side apprising him about Pakistani linkages to the terror strikes and urging him to press Islamabad to cooperate.
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.
The UN AIDS agency (UNAIDS) also commended the decision by the Chinese government.
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 powerful United Nations Security Council on riday approved a second five-year term for Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, ahead of the voting by the 192-member General Assembly next week.
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.
The United Nations has launched an independent review of the functioning of its top climate change body IPCC, which has come under much criticism in the recent months for some errors in its reports.
United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon on Monday called the killing of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden a "watershed moment" in the war against terrorism, expressing relief that "justice" had been done.
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.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has expressed concern over the escalating violence between government forces and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam rebels in northern Sri Lanka and reminded the two parties of their obligation to ensure the safety of civilians.Ban's statement comes in the wake of Sri Lankan government's request that United Nations relief workers relocate from conflict affected areas.
The Federation of Indian American Christian Organisations of North America on Friday staged a protest outside the United Nations headquarters and urged Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to look into the 'naked violation' of human rights of Christians in Orissa.Holding placards with slogans that read 'Ban VHP,' 'Stop Burning Christians alive in Orissa,' and 'Deploy Army to Orissa to Christians,' the FIACONA activists staged a three-hour protest outside the UN.
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