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UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Wednesday that human rights must not only be available to the privileged few and joint efforts must be made to deliver them.

"Much like COVID-19 vaccines, human rights will not lead to a healthier world if they are only available to the privileged few," the UN chief told the UN General Assembly briefing on the Call to Action for Human Rights.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Linda Thomas-Greenfield takes up her post as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations on Thursday and a senior Russian diplomat said the red carpet will be rolled out and Moscow is ready to work with the Biden administration -- but “it takes two to tango.”

After being sworn in on Wednesday by Vice President Kamala Harris, Thomas-Greenfield headed to New York where she is scheduled to present her credentials to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres Thursday afternoon.

NEW YORK (AP) — The Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation is formally expanding a $3 million financial relief fund that it quietly launched earlier this month, to help people struggling to make ends meet during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 23 (APP): Despite a drop in civilians killed and injured overall in 2020, there was a rise in civilian casualties following the start of peace negotiations in September, according to a UN human rights report released Tuesday.

In their annual Afghanistan Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict Annual Report, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the UN Assistance Mission in the country (UNAMA) documented some 8,820 civilian casualties (3,035 deaths and 5,785 injuries) in 2020, about 15 per cent less than in 2019.

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 24 (APP): The world must stop it’s assault on nature and find more political will to combat climate change, the president of United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), Ambassador Munir Akram of Pakistan, has told the 5th UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-5).

“The impact of global warming and climate change are visible and the impacts of biodiversity loss, though less visible, will be equally devastating for the future of humanity,” the Pakistani envoy said in a speech to the Assembly, which ended a two-day online meeting on Tuesday.

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 24 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A UN official accused Iran of lying in its explanation of how it shot down a Ukrainian passenger jet near Tehran last year at a time of acute tension with the US.

On Jan 8, 2020, Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752 crashed shortly after taking off from Iran’s capital Tehran killing all 176 people aboard, including 55 Canadians.

Iran admitted three days later that its forces mistakenly shot down the Kiev-bound Boeing 737-800 plane after firing two missiles.

NEW YORK, Feb 23 (APP): The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), an independent watchdog body, has called on authorities in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) to drop their investigations into the work of journalists — Yashraj Sharma, Mir Junaid, and Sajad Gul — and let them to report without interference.

On January 31, the IIOJK authorities opened criminal investigations into Sharma, a reporter at The Kashmirwalla news website, and Junaid, a reporter at The Kashmiriyat news website, for alleged incitement, according to news reports.

NEW YORK, Feb. 22 (APP): Nearly half of Republicans say they would ditch the party as it is currently structured and join a new party if former President Donald Trump was its leader, according to a new poll released Sunday.

A Suffolk University-USA Today poll found that 46 percent of Republicans said they would abandon the party and join the Trump party if the former president decided to create one. Only 27 percent said they would stay with the Republican party, with the remainder indicating they would be undecided.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — American security contractor Erik Prince, a close ally of former U.S. President Donald Trump, violated the U.N. arms embargo against Libya along with three United Arab Emirates-based companies and their top managers during an operation to help a rebel military commander take the capital Tripoli, U.N. experts said.

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — At the outset of the coronavirus pandemic, two Democratic governors on opposite ends of the country were hailed as heroes for their leadership in a crisis. Now they’re leaders on the ropes.

Andrew Cuomo of New York and Gavin Newsom of California are embroiled in distinct political woes. For Cuomo, it’s a federal investigation into whether his administration sought to hide the true toll of the pandemic. For Newsom, it’s fending off a recall effort fueled by opposition to his lockdowns — and his own personal missteps.