Switzerland

GENEVA, June 1. /TASS/: Switzerland is considering the possibility of closing the airspace over Geneva during the Russian-US summit on June 16, but a final decision has not been made yet, the spokesperson for the Swiss Federal Department of Defense, Civil Protection and Sport, Mireille Fleury, told TASS on Tuesday.

Asked if there were plans for closing the airspace to flights during the summit, she said: "Possibly the airspace will be closed and monitored. For now, a final decision on this score has not been made yet." Fleury added that "preparations are continuing."

(Reuters) --- The World Health Organization, at the heart of the world's sluggish handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, faces a potential shake-up to prevent future outbreaks as a top official warned that "the pathogens have the upper hand".

Health ministers agreed on Monday to study recommendations for ambitious reforms made by independent experts to strengthen the capacity of both the U.N. agency and countries to contain new viruses.

28 May 2021; MEMO: The UN Human Rights Council yesterday agreed to launch an open-ended international investigation into violations and "systematic" abuses in the occupied Palestinian territories following 11 days of Israeli bombardment on the blockaded Gaza Strip.

28 May 2021; MEMO: The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, said yesterday that her organisation has not seen any evidence that the civilian buildings bombed by Israel in the besieged Gaza Strip had been used for military purposes.

28 May 2021; MEMO: Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad Al-Maliki said yesterday that the international community's failure to hold the Israeli occupation accountable for its crimes encourages it to keep committing more atrocities against Palestinians.

Lausanne, May 28 (AP-PTI) Olympic athletes were told by the IOC that a waiver they must sign releasing Tokyo organizers from liability for COVID-19 issues was "standard practice" for major sports events.

The issue was raised when IOC president Thomas Bach took questions to cap a two-day online conference hosted by the official Olympic commission representing athletes.

GENEVA, May 27 (NNN-AGENCIES) – A draft resolution on health conditions in the occupied Palestinian territory, including east Jerusalem, and in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights, was approved yesterday at the ongoing virtual World Health Assembly (WHA).

The resolution, with a significant majority of countries voting to support, was submitted by more than 20 countries and regions, such as, Turkey, Egypt, Iraq, Kuwait, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, and Syria, according to the decision made last year in WHA, the highest decision-making body of the World Health Organisation (WHO).

(Reuters) --- U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said on Thursday that Israel's deadly strikes on Gaza may constitute war crimes, and that the Hamas Islamist group had also violated international humanitarian law by firing rockets into Israel.

Bachelet said her office had verified the deaths of 270 Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, including 68 children, during violence this month. Most were killed in Hamas-controlled Gaza, where Israel fought militants for 11 days, ending in a ceasefire.

GENEVA, May 26 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The coronavirus variant first detected in India has now been officially recorded in 53 territories, a World Health Organization report showed Wednesday.

Additionally, the WHO has received information from unofficial sources that the B.1.617 variant has been found in seven other territories, figures in the UN health agency’s weekly epidemiological update showed, taking the total to 60.

The report said B.1.617 had shown increased transmissibility, while disease severity and risk of infection were under investigation.

Islamabad, May 26 (PTI) Seeking a "paradigm shift" in its ties with the US, Pakistan's National Security Adviser Moeed Yusuf has presented to his American counterpart Jake Sullivan a blueprint to enhance bilateral relations not based on security and defence but focusing on economy and trade, according to a media report on Wednesday.