UN chief

KATOWICE: "Key political issues" deadlocking UN climate talks "remain unresolved", UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned Wednesday after an unscheduled stop at the troubled negotiations in Poland. The fight against climate change is a "matter of life and death today," he told ministers and delegates at the 195-nation UN forum tasked with beating back the threat of global warming, barely 48 hours before the meet in the coal town of Katowice was set to adjourn. The two-week talks are tasked with breathing life into…

SRINAGAR: The Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL) of occupied Kashmir, in a letter to the UN secretary general, has urged Antonio Guterres to constitute a commission of inquiry to conduct comprehensive and independent international investigation into human rights violations by Indian troops in the territory. The JRL comprising Syed Ali Gilani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik in a statement issued in Srinagar asked the UN secretary general to impress upon New Delhi to stop the gross human rights violation…

TOKYO: Millions still live in fear of nuclear war with many countries ramping up their atomic arsenals, the head of the United Nations warned Thursday, marking the anniversary of the Nagasaki bombing. Antonio Guterres, the first sitting UN secretary general to attend ceremonies honouring those who died in the bombing, said that even 73 years later, there was still a "shadow cast by the dread of unthinkable carnage." Nuclear-armed states are spending "vast sums" to modernise their arsenals and "disarmament processes…

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has said the “deliberate and unprovoked” ceasefire violations by India along the Line of Control and the Working Boundary could escalate dangerously, if not put to an end. He was talking to the United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres who called on him on the sidelines of BOAO Forum for Asia. The prime minister said the violations by India were moving towards a dangerous escalation resulting in martyrdom of innocent civilians, a press release issued here from the…

UNITED NATIONS: United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is continuing to follow “very closely” the deteriorating situation in Indian occupied Kashmir, his spokesman said Thursday, adding that the world body’s good offices are available provided all parties agree to this course towards peaceful settlement of disputes. “As a matter of principle, in any issue where there are differences to be bridged between member states, the good offices of the United Nations are available, but they only work if both parties…

BEIJING: War must not be allowed to break out on the Korean peninsula and the issue must be resolved through talks, Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Thursday, while U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned of the danger of "sleepwalking" into conflict. Xi made his comments to visiting South Korean President Moon Jae-in just days after U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson offered to begin direct talks with North Korea without pre-conditions. But the White House said on Wednesday that no negotiations could be…

NEW YORK: Former UN chief Kofi Annan urged the Security Council on Friday to push for the return to Myanmar of hundreds of thousands of Muslim Rohyingas who have been driven out in an army campaign. Annan, who led an advisory commission to the Myanmar government, said world powers must work with the country's military and civilian leaders to end the refugee crisis. The Security Council is weighing action, possibly a resolution laying out demands, but diplomats have said China, a supporter of Myanmar's former ruling…

NAYPYIDAW: Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi pledged Tuesday to hold rights violators to account over the Rohingya crisis but refused to blame Myanmar's army, as the UN chief demanded an end to the military campaign and a better deal for the Muslim minority. In an address timed to pre-empt censure at the UN General Assembly in New York -- delivered entirely in English and aimed squarely at an international audience -- she called for patience and understanding of the crisis which has driven some 421,000 Rohingya out of her…

UNITED NATIONS: United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed to Myanmar authorities on Tuesday to end violence in the country’s Rakhine state, which he warned was “creating a situation that can destabilise the region.” Guterres told reporters he had written to the UN Security Council to express his concern and propose steps to end the violence. When asked about ethnic cleansing, Guterres said: “We are facing a risk, I hope we don’t get there.” The latest violence in Myanmar’s northwestern Rakhine state…

JERUSALEM: UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres held talks with Israeli leaders Monday on his first visit since taking office, making a forceful argument for a two-state solution with the Palestinians and speaking of his "dream" for peace. Guterres also spoke of what he called obstacles to peace when meeting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, including Israeli settlement building and the need for Palestinian leaders to condemn "terrorism". "I dream that I will have the chance to see in the Holy Land two states able to…