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UNITED NATIONS, Jun 29 (APP): Migrants smuggled across borders are often subjected to extreme violence, torture, rape and kidnapping, whether in transit or in captivity, but authorities take little action to address these offences, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said in a report published on Monday.

The study focusses on transit routes in West and North Africa, the Mediterranean Sea, and Central America. It also examines the differing types of violence inflicted on men and women, and presents factors and motivations behind abuse committed during smuggling operations.

28 June 2021; MEMO: Under pressure from the pro-Israel lobby, Scientific American magazine has removed an op-ed disclosing Israeli crimes against Palestinians and calling for solidarity with Palestinians.

UNITED NATIONS, Jun 26 (APP): The head of the UN health agency expressed concern on Friday over the coronavirus’ delta variant, which he called “the most transmissible” mutation to date.

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World health Organization (WHO) told journalists at a regular briefing in Geneva that delta has been identified in at least 85 countries and is “spreading rapidly among unvaccinated populations”.
The Delta variant was first identified in India in April.

UNITED NATIONS, June 26. /TASS/: Russia’s numerous attempts to achieve reconciliation in Syria encounter political counteraction from other states, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the UN Vassily Nebenzia said on Friday.

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s political star was dimmed by allegations he sexually harassed women and misled the public about COVID-19 deaths in nursing homes.

But will that hurt him with campaign donors?

Some of the Democrat’s most reliable political contributors — including unions, wealthy executives and Democratic Party officials — say they still plan to give money to his expected campaign for a fourth term in office.

NEW YORK, Jun 25 (APP): Pakistan will do everything to promote a political settlement of the long-running conflict in Afghanistan, except the use military action against the Taliban, Prime Minister Imran Khan said in an interview with an influential American newspaper.

“I mean, we will do everything up to that. All sections of our society have decided that Pakistan will take no military action,” he said in a conversation with two New York Times journalists in a video call with the Pakistani leader.

UNITED NATIONS, June 24 (Xinhua) -- The UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, Tor Wennesland, warned Thursday that the cessation of hostilities reached last month between Israel and Hamas remains very fragile.

In this regard, the United Nations is working closely with all concerned parties and partners, including Egypt, to solidify the cease-fire, allow the entry of urgent humanitarian assistance and stabilize the situation in Gaza, he told the Security Council in a briefing.

NEW YORK (AP) — An appeals court suspended Rudy Giuliani from practicing law in New York on Thursday because he made false statements while trying to get courts to overturn Donald Trump’s loss in the presidential race.

An attorney disciplinary committee had asked the court to suspend Giuliani’s license on the grounds that he’d violated professional conduct rules as he promoted theories that the election was stolen through fraud.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Russia previewed a showdown with the United Nations, United States and Western nations Wednesday over the delivery of humanitarian aid to rebel-held northwest Syria from Turkey, rejecting their warnings that closing the only border crossing will leave more than 1 million people without desperately needed food and cause people to die because they lack medicine.

UNITED NATIONS, Jun 23 (APP): Amid the swift withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan, the top UN official in the Central Asian state told the UN Security Council Tuesday that the Taliban fighters are flexing their muscles to gain greater control of the territory

“The Taliban’s advances are significant,” said Deborah Lyons, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), as she briefed the 15-member body and introduced the latest report of the Secretary-General.