UN envoy

WASHINGTON: Ivanka Trump on Tuesday tamped down the suggestion her father could be poised to tap her as UN envoy, after President Donald Trump said she would make a "dynamite" replacement — were it not for nepotism concerns. "It is an honor to serve in the White House alongside so many great colleagues and I know that the President will nominate a formidable replacement for Ambassador Haley. That replacement will not be me," Ivanka tweeted.…

GENEVA: A fresh round of UN-sponsored Syria peace talks will begin on July 10 in Geneva amid slim hopes for progress towards ending over six years of bloodshed. UN envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura also said he intended to convene further talks in August and September, adding meetings on constitutional and legal issues will continue alongside the formal sessions. The last round of UN-sponsored peace talks finished on May 19 with De Mistura telling the UN Security Council that "important gaps remain between the parties…

DHAKA: Rohingya refugees who fled violence in Myanmar have told how government forces gang-raped women, slit people's throats and threw children into burning houses, a UN envoy has said after a mission to neighbouring Bangladesh. Yanghee Lee said the accounts given by Rohingya who had crossed into Bangladesh since a crackdown across the border in October indicated the violence was "far more extensive" than she had previously realised. "There was not a single account I heard which was not harrowing," said the human…