United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will travel to Myanmar later this week where he will meet pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Ahead of a visit to India, United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday expressed hope that the Security Council's reform process will be accelerated to meet expectations of countries like India which are keen to play a bigger role as permanent members of the powerful UN body.
The Indian Consulate celebrated the 60th anniversary of the Republic Day in New York with much fanfare.
UN chief Ban-Ki moon vowed to stand behind the Haitian people as he visited the quake- devastated country and termed the catastrophe a "tsunami-like disaster". Touring the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince on Sunday, UN Secretary-General Ban assured the disaster-hit people that "help is already arriving".
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has agreed to Pakistan's request to constitute an independent commission to inquire into the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.
United Nations chief Ban Ki-Moon on Monday said the presence of one billion hungry people in the world was unacceptable and noted that farmers are the 'heart and soul' of food security and poverty reduction.Speaking at the World Food Summit that kicked off today at Rome, Ban said, "They (farmers) need seeds and extension services. They need secure water supplies, they need better market access and fairer trade. We must resist protectionism."
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.
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.
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.
During talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Principal Secretary T K A Nair, Ban inquired about India's views on climate change both in terms of the developments at the national level and the climate summit to be held at the headquarters, next week, Indian authorities said on Thursday.
The global community is in a position to eradicate AIDS, but funding will be critical to future progress, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has said as the fight against endemic entered into its fourth decade.
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.
Accusing the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon of "failing" to release the Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and political prisoners in Myanmar, a rights group has dubbed his recent trip a "complete failure."
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon on Saturday witnessed the conditions of tens of thousands of displaced Tamil civilians in northern Sri Lanka as he appealed to a triumphant government to 'heal the wounds' left by three decades of ethnic conflict. The Secretary General visited the camps in Vavuniya district today, where more than 300,000 people are staying, after escaping from the battle lines between government forces and Tamil Tigers.
Welcoming the $1.1 trillion package committed by the world leaders at the G-20 Summit in London, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has said the developing and poor countries must get the "crucial" funds to avert a human development crisis.
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.
US President Barack Obama will meet UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon next week in Washington to discuss a host of issues, including the global economic crisis, Sudan conflict and situation in Afghanistan and West Asia
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.
India is expected to share details of the Mumbai terror attacks with United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon on Thursday when he meets External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and urge him to press Pakistan to cooperate.
"I made clear to President (Mahinda) Rajapaksa that I intend to move forward on a Group of Experts which will advise me on setting the broad parameters and standards on the way ahead on establishing accountability concerning Sri Lanka," Ban told media-persons I New York, referring to a conversation he had with Sri Lankan President on Thursday.
Ms Swaraj was a conscientious woman who understood suffering and pathos and attempted in her inimitable way to mitigate them, recalls Rup Narayan Das.
Acting on his pledge to achieve continuity with change, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has named four new senior officials to his Cabinet while retaining a dozen others.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday said getting a binding agreement sealed on climate change was among his top priorities for the year after the Copenhagen conference that marked "an important step forward".
United Nations chief Ban Ki-Moon has criticised Zimbabwe's presidential run off election, in which President Robert Mugabe won another term, saying the outcome does not reflect the true and genuine will of the people nor produce a legitimate result.The observers, Ban said, confirmed that conditions were not in place for a free and fair election and the process was deeply flawed.
India handed over a letter to the president of the Security Council, formally withdrawing Tharoor's candidature, officials said.
Myanmar has agreed to allow all aid workers to participate in relief efforts for cyclone survivors, United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon said after meeting leader Than Shwe in Naypyidaw on Friday.
United Nations chief Ban Ki Moon on Friday came out strongly in support of the Nobel Peace Prize for United States President Barack Obama and termed the Norwegian Committee's decision 'a very wise' one. "The Nobel Peace Committee has made their decision, and this should be respected, and I wholeheartedly support it," he told journalists. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said, "He has done nothing for peace in Afghanistan. We condemn the award."
The director was seen in a relaxed mood after a 45-minute meeting over the Sudan's Darfur conflict, with United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon at the United Nations Headquarters.
External Affairs Minister S M Krishna has said that the country has taken a 'principled' stand on the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) and there is no scope for change in its position unless a number of other developments take place to address the concerns.This comes after a high-level conference on disarmament in the United Nations on Thursday, addressed by UN General Secretary Ban Ki Moon, asked India and eight other countries to ratify the agreement.
Talking about helping countries meet the Millennium Development Goals, he said, "This is not charity. It is solidarity." In an interconnected world, it is also an expression of enlightened self-interest since we are all in this together.
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon has asked all sides to refrain from any actions or statement that could endanger peace and incite violence in Kosovo, which declared its independence from Serbia.
The 20-page report on the island nation covering the period from November 2006 to September 2007, notes that 'both parties have failed to cease the abduction, recruitment and use of children.'
In a sharp criticism of the US$ 4.2 billion United Nations budget presented by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for 2008-09, India has slammed its emphasis only on peace, security and human rights rather than on resolving the basic causes of conflicts including lack of development and socio-economic inequities. Describing it as "technically inadequate and politically flawed," India's Ambassador to the UN Nirupam Sen bluntly told Ban that it needs to be fundamentally revised.
The council's appeal came in a presidential statement at the end of a day-long discussion on crimes against women.
Myanmar's Foreign Minister Nyan Win, in a letter sent to Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon on Friday, confirmed his nation had agreed to the visit by Paolo Sergio Pinheiro, the S-G's Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Myanmar. The announcement comes as Ibrahim Gambari, UN's Special Envoy for Myanmar, continued his consultations with the troubled country's neighbours and regional partners ahead of a planned return trip to Myanmar next month.
With countries like the US restricting hiring of foreign workers on H-1B work visas, the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday opposed imposition of restrictions on international migration.
Union Minister for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh has been selected as a member of the United Nations' high-level panel on global sustainability.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has sent his Chief of Staff Vijay Nambiar, a veteran Indian diplomat, to Colombo to speak with the government there about the humanitarian situation in war zones of Sri Lanka's north and to express the world body's concern over the matter.
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