US and as many as 40 other nations boycott UN talks on a nuclear ban

The United States led a group of dozens of United Nations members in a boycott of Monday’s talks about a treaty that would ban the development and use of nuclear weapons anywhere on the globe. “There is nothing I want more for my family than a world with no nuclear weapons,” Ambassador Nikki Haley of […]

Syria government urges U.N. chief to avert ‘looming dam catastrophe’

Syria’s government urged U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to demand that a U.S.-led military campaign against Islamic State militants stop targeting the Euphrates and Tishrin dams and surrounding areas “to forestall a looming catastrophe.” In a letter to Guterres and the Security Council, released on Thursday, Syria’s Deputy U.N. Ambassador Mounzer Mounzer wrote that residents along […]

UN report calls for international cyber surveillance treaty amid new Wikileaks revelations

This week, Wikileaks unveiled their latest revelation regarding the American government (in particular the Central Intelligence Agency) and their cyber-capabilities, indicating that the CIA was able to remotely hack into most smartphones, as well as other common technology like certain television sets, in order to listen in on target conversations, among a number of other […]

New U.N. chief confronts the ‘nightmare’ of Somalia’s food crisis

BAIDOA, Somalia — The new leader of the United Nations visited Somalia on Tuesday to issue a global appeal for aid as the war-torn nation teeters on the brink of its second famine in a decade. It was António Guterres’s first field visit as U.N. secretary general, a position the former Portugal prime minister assumes […]

Netanyahu to meet Putin, says Iran seeks permanent foothold in Syria

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Thursday to voice opposition to what the Israeli leader charged were Iran’s attempts to establish a permanent military foothold in Syria. “In the framework of a (future peace agreement) or without one, Iran is attempting to base itself permanently in […]

Syrian opposition accepts U.N. principles at end of peace talks

The Syrian opposition has provisionally accepted 12 principles given to delegates by the United Nations at the end of an eight-day round of peace talks, chief negotiator Nasr al-Hariri said. The general principles on the future of Syria were derived from points set out by U.N. mediator Staffan de Mistura last year, Hariri told reporters […]

Meaningful resolution for Syrian peace talks unlikely as talks falter

Tenuous peace negotiations are ongoing between the Assad government and a representative of the Syrian opposition in Geneva, supervised by Russia. Russia is playing head diplomat within the United Nations-backed peace talks, which have had a rocky track record over the past few years. Historically, these peace talks have done nothing to abate the fighting […]

U.N. to vote Tuesday on Syria sanctions despite Russia veto pledge

The U.N. Security Council is set to vote on Tuesday on a bid by Western powers to ban the supply of helicopters to the Syrian government and to blacklist Syrian military commanders over accusations of toxic gas attacks, despite a pledge by Russia to veto the move. The Security Council showdown – pitting Syrian ally […]

Iranian general threatens US with a ‘strong slap in the face’

Since taking office, President Trump has repeatedly pledged to take a harder line on Iran – a promise he upheld earlier this month when he levied sanctions against twenty-five individuals and organizations tied to Iran’s ballistic missile program on February 3rd.  The sanctions came days after the Iranian military tested a nuclear capable missile that […]