Switzerland

DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for “maximum” sanctions against Russia during a virtual speech Monday to corporate executives, government officials and other elites on the first day of the World Economic Forum gathering in Davos.

He said sanctions need to go further to stop Russia’s aggression, including an oil embargo, blocking all of its banks and cutting off trade with Russia completely. He said that it’s a precedent that would work for decades to come.

DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — Davos — the hub of an elite annual gathering in the Swiss Alps — is back, more than two years after the coronavirus pandemic kept its business gurus, political leaders and high-minded activists away. There’s no shortage of urgent issues for the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting to tackle.

GENEVA (AP) — The United Nations’ top human rights official will visit China next week on a trip that will take her to the Xinjiang region, where rights groups and some Western governments allege the Chinese government is committing genocide and serious abuses against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet will start her six-day visit on Monday, her office said Friday. She will visit Guangzhou, Kashgar and the Xinjiang regional capital of Urumqi.

GENEVA (AP) — The number of coronavirus deaths globally dropped by about 21% in the past week while cases rose in most parts of the world, according to the World Health Organization.

GENEVA (AP) — The United Nations chief on Wednesday launched a five-point plan to jump-start broader use of renewable energies, hoping to revive world attention on climate change as the U.N.’s weather agency said greenhouse gas concentrations, ocean heat, sea-level rise, and ocean acidification reached record highs last year.

“We must end fossil fuel pollution and accelerate the renewable energy transition before we incinerate our only home,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said. “Time is running out.”

GENEVA, May  12 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The UN human rights office said it was “appalled” at the killing of a veteran Al Jazeera reporter in the West Bank and demanded a transparent investigation into her death.

 “We are appalled at the killing of journalist Shireen Abu Akleh while covering an Israeli military operation in Jenin, Palestine,” UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet’s office said on Twitter, adding: “We urge an independent, transparent investigation into her killing. Impunity must end.”

Shireen Abu Akleh, 51, was shot dead as she covered an Israeli army raid.

GENEVA/BRUSSELS, May 5 (Reuters) - World Health Organization states will consider a resolution against Russia next week after its invasion of Ukraine, including the possible closure of a major regional office in Moscow, a document obtained by Reuters showed on Thursday.

The resolution, to be considered on Tuesday, stopped short of harsher sanctions such as suspending Russia from the U.N. global health agency's board as well as a temporary freeze of its voting rights, three diplomatic and political sources said.

GENEVA, May 1 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The death and destruction caused by Hurricane Ida in the United States last year has prompted the World Meteorological Organization to remove the name from a rotating list of storm titles.

The UN weather agency said that “Ida” would be replaced by “Imani” after meteorologists determined that the future use of the name could be upsetting.

Hurricane Ida struck the US Gulf Coast as a Category 4 hurricane last August, bringing major flooding and knocking out power to large parts of the heavily populated region.

GENEVA, April 26 (Reuters) - U.N. aid chief Martin Griffiths said on Tuesday that close to 2 million children risk starving to death as the Horn of Africa faces one of its worst droughts in decades.

Parts of Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia are facing the driest conditions in more than 40 years and aid agencies are seeking to avoid the repeat of a famine a decade ago that killed hundreds of thousands of people. 

Addressing a closed-door donor conference held in Geneva, Griffiths said the organisation had only a fraction of the $1.4 billion it needs to respond to the drought.

GENEVA, April 25 (Reuters) - The United States, as well as the Taliban authorities, is contributing to the suffering of women in Afghanistan through asset freezes, U.N. independent experts said on Monday.

The United Nations and foreign governments, including Washington, have condemned moves by the Taliban to backtrack on women's rights commitments such as on girls' education in the months following their takeover in Aug. 2021.