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01 August 2022; MEMO: UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, thanked Turkiye on Monday for its efforts and leadership as a nascent deal to resume grain exports from Ukraine saw its first ship depart from the port of Odessa, Anadolu News Agency reports.

The departure of the Sierra Leone-flagged dry cargo ship, "Razoni", marked an "important starting point" for the agreement, Guterres said. "It must be the first of many commercial ships bringing relief and stability to global food markets," he added.

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 01 (APP): United Nations Secretary-General on Monday welcomed the departure of the first ship from the Ukrainian port of Odesa to leave carrying grain under the landmark deal signed by Ukraine, Russia and Türkiye, overseen by the UN.

The Razoni, carrying a cargo of 26,527 tonnes of corn, is the first cargo ship to leave a Ukrainian Black Sea port since February 26, just a few days after the Russian invasion began. It is bound for the Mediterranean port of Tripoli, in Lebanon.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — There was already plenty of trouble to talk about when a major U.N. meeting on the landmark Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty was originally supposed to happen in 2020.

Now the pandemic-postponed conference finally starts Monday as Russia’s war in Ukraine has reanimated fears of nuclear confrontation and cranked up the urgency of trying to reinforce the 50-year-old treaty.

“It is a very, very difficult moment,” said Beatrice Fihn, the executive director of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.

UNITED NATIONS, Jul 31 (APP): United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Sunday called on Iraqi parties to de-escalate the situation and avoid violence amid tension over the nomination of a new prime minister.

In a statement, his Deputy Spokesperson, Farhan Aziz Haq said the UN chief is “following with concern” the ongoing protests in Iraq that left many people injured.

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Difficulties in finding affordable child care cost Enoshja Ruffin her job three years ago. The mother of six was let go from her position as a counselor for kids with cerebral palsy after she missed three shifts because she had trouble finding babysitters.

After three months on a waiting list, though, she placed her children in a day care center whose cost was covered by government subsidies and the center’s financial assistance program.

UNITED NATIONS, Jul 30 (APP): Human trafficking is a horrific crime and “an all-out assault on people’s rights, safety and dignity,” Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Saturday, marking World Day Against Trafficking in Persons.

“Tragically, it is also a problem that is growing worse – especially for women and girls, who represent the majority of detected trafficked persons globally,” he said in a message. Conflicts, forced displacement, climate change, inequality and poverty, have left tens of millions of people around the world destitute, isolated and vulnerable.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council voted Friday to relax the arms embargo against the Central African Republic, a disappointment to its government, which sought a complete lifting of the ban on the sale or transfer of weapons and ammunition.

The vote was 10-0 with Russia, China and the council’s three African members that supported a lifting of the embargo abstaining.

Sylvie Baïpo-Temon, the Central African Republic’s foreign minister, told the council after the vote that the government welcomed the first step toward an arms embargo on armed groups.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations said Friday there should no longer be any doubt that Russia intends to dismantle Ukraine “and dissolve it from the world map entirely.”

UNITED NATIONS, Jul 29 (APP): A senior UN official in Afghanistan strongly condemned Friday’s attack at Kabul International Cricket Stadium, which has reportedly caused casualties among those attending a match, and called for bringing to justice those responsible for the atrocity.

In a statement, the UN Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Humanitarian Coordinator for Afghanistan, Dr. Ramiz Alakbarov, said the numbers were not confirmed at this stage.

NEW YORK, July 28 (Xinhua) -- Most Americans, who are concerned about such social issues as health care, gun violence and reproductive rights, have given up hope for any positive social change, The New York Post reported Wednesday, citing a recent poll.

The survey conducted by OnePoll, a market research company, showed that of the 2,000 Americans surveyed, nearly 67 percent are not optimistic that there will be any positive social change, said the report.