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UNITED NATIONS, Aug 11 (APP): Rear Admiral Guillermo Pablo Rios of Argentina has been appointed as Head of Mission and Chief Military Observer for the United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP), which monitors the Line of Control (LoC) in the disputed state of Jammu and Kashmir, it was officially announced Thursday.

Rear Admiral Rios succeeds Major General Jose Eladio Alcain of Uruguay, who will shortly complete his assignment.

UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) -- Under the Black Sea Initiative, 12 vessels have been authorized to depart the Ukrainian ports, a United Nations official coordinating the grain export deal said on Wednesday.

These ships contain "over 370,000 metric tons of grain and other food stocks," Frederick Kenney, interim coordinator for the UN at the Joint Coordination Center for the Black Sea Initiative, told a regular press briefing held at the UN headquarters in New York via video link from Istanbul, Türkiye.

NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump’s pick for governor in the swing state of Wisconsin easily defeated a favorite of the Republican establishment.

In Connecticut, the state that launched the Bush family and its brand of compassionate conservatism, a fiery Senate contender who promoted Trump’s election lies upset the state GOP’s endorsed candidate. Meanwhile in Washington, Republicans ranging from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to conspiracy theorist Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene defended Trump against an unprecedented FBI search.

And that was just this week.

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 10 (APP): Dozens of people are said to be missing after a boat of migrants and refugees sank in the Aegean Sea on Wednesday off the Greek island of Karpathos, according to the UN refugee agency, UNHCR.

“Very sad news from the Aegean: Dozens of people are missing after a boat sank off the island of Rhodes this morning [Wednesday],” UNHCR’s office in Greece said in a tweet.

News media reported that the vessel sank at dawn after setting sail from southern Türkiye on Tuesday, heading for Italy.

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 11 (APP): The UN trade and development body, UNCTAD, has called for action to curb cryptocurrencies in developing nations, in three policy briefs published Wednesday.

Although private digital currencies have rewarded some individuals and institutions, they are an unstable financial asset that can bring social risks and costs, the agency, which is based in Geneva, warned.

UNCTAD said their benefits to some are overshadowed by the threats they pose to financial stability, domestic resource mobilization, and the security of monetary systems.

NEW YORK, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- The Joe Biden administration on Tuesday announced a new strategy to stretch the limited available doses of the Jynneos monkeypox vaccine by changing how the vaccine is injected, The Hill reported.

The new method would split up the doses and use one-fifth as much vaccine per shot. The partial dose of the vaccine would be injected into the upper layer of skin, rather than the full dose into the underlying fat, which is how shots are typically administered.

NEW YORK (AP) — Donald Trump invoked his Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination as he testified under oath Wednesday in the New York attorney general’s long-running civil investigation into his business dealings, the former president said in a statement.

Trump arrived at Attorney General Letitia James’ Manhattan offices in a motorcade shortly before 9 a.m., before announcing more than an hour later that he “declined to answer the questions under the rights and privileges afforded to every citizen under the United States Constitution.”

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 09 (APP):The U.N. team in Pakistan is stepping up its response efforts to assist millions of people impacted by the devastating flooding, following the authorities’ recent official request for assistance, a UN Spokesman said Tuesday.

The UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, Julien Harneis, who is leading the efforts, visited the flooded areas last week and met with officials and affected people, Spokesman Stephane Dujarric, said in response to a question by APP at the regular noon briefing in New York.

NEW YORK, August 9. /TASS/: The US supports the ‘one-China’ policy, the visit to Taiwan was not an attempt to change it, US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in an interview with the NBC TV channel on Tuesday.

Pelosi stressed that all she wanted was to show China that the United States supported Taiwan. According to her, the American delegation didn’t go to Taiwan to change the ‘one-China’ policy, to which the US was still committed. Pelosi said she had gone there to recognize the status quo.

She added that there was nothing destabilizing about the trip.

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 9 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The UN Security Council held an emergency meeting to discuss the situation in Gaza, with several members raising concerns despite the tenuous truce between Islamic Jihad militants and Israel after three days of deadly conflict.

Speaking via video at the start of the meeting, UN Middle East envoy Tor Wennesland warned that a resumption of hostilities will have “devastating” consequences.

“The ceasefire is fragile,” he warned.