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UNITED NATIONS, Apr 20 (APP): Pakistan has called for flexibility to achieve the required consensus among all United Nations’ member states to break the impasse in the long-running negotiations to restructure the UN Security Council.

“The principle and the single most important requirement is flexibility on part of all groups and all member states, to try to accommodate each others’ positions,” Ambassador Munir Akram said, as the Inter-Governmental Negotiations (IGN) aimed at making the 15-member Council more effective, representative and accountable, resumed on Monday.

UNITED NATIONS, April 19 (Xinhua) -- United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday called for specific commitments and real action to fight climate change after speaking out about the severity of the climatic disruptions that have raged the planet.

"We must agree to a common direction of travel," the UN chief said at the joint hybrid press conference with Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization Petteri Taalas to launch the State of the Global Climate in 2020 Report.

NEW YORK, Apr 18 (APP): Prominent Kashmiri leader Dr. Ghulam Nabi Fai has strongly condemned Thursday’s mass shooting at a FedEx centre in the US city of Indianapolis where eight people, including four Sikh-Americans, were killed by a lone gunman, and expressed solidarity with the Sikh community.

In a statement, Dr. Fai, Secretary-General of the Washington-based World Kashmir Awareness Forum, an advocacy group, said he has been in touch with the leadership of the Sikh-American community and expressed his sympathies and condolences with the families of the victims.

17 Apr 2021; MEMO: Libya's High Council of State on Saturday welcomed UN Security Council Resolution 2570, which calls for timely presidential and parliamentary elections in Libya scheduled for December 24 this year, Anadolu Agency reports.

UNITED NATIONS, Apr 17 (APP): Prominent speakers at a special ministerial meeting of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), held on Friday under Pakistan’s presidency, called for fair, transparent and equitable access to and distribution of coronavirus vaccines to help developing countries, especially small island states, to combat the pandemic.

“Vaccines offer our best hope in addressing this pandemic and overcoming it,” the ECOSOC President, Pakistani Ambassador Munir Akram, told the virtual meeting which took place in virtual format with the theme “A Vaccine for Al”.

UNITED NATIONS, April 16 (Xinhua) -- The Security Council on Friday called on parties to the Yemeni conflict to negotiate a nationwide cease-fire and a political settlement.

In a press statement, the members of the Security Council welcomed the announcement of Saudi Arabia on March 22, supported by the Yemeni government, to end the conflict in Yemen and reach a comprehensive political solution. They welcomed Oman's mediation efforts between the key stakeholders and encouraged continued engagement in the region.

16 Apr 2021; MEMO: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has recommended the Security Council to refer cases of conflict-related sexual violence in a number of countries to the International Criminal Court (ICC). The countries in question include six members of the Arab League: Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Yemen, Libya and Somalia.

UNITED NATIONS, Apr 15 (APP): The top official for the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) has strongly condemns acts of anti-Muslim hatred that took place in Western France where vandals defaced the walls of a mosque with Islamophobic graffiti two days ahead of the start of the holy month of Ramazan.

A statement issued on Wednesday by UNAOC’s spokesperson said that the High Representative for the alliance, Miguel Ángel Moratinos expressed his solidarity with the Muslim community in France and beyond and wishes them a blessed and peaceful Ramadan.

UNITED NATIONS, April 15 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The humanitarian and economic crisis unleashed by the eruption of the La Soufriere volcano on the Caribbean island of Saint Vincent will last months and could extend to nearby islands, a UN official warned.

“It is a crisis that will require a humanitarian response but also a response in terms of rehabilitation” which could last for several months, said Didier Trebucq, the United Nations coordinator for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean.

UNITED NATIONS, Apr 13 (APP): President of UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), Pakistani Ambassador Munir Akram, has called for stepped up efforts to address the world’s drug problem, saying that drug use had increased manifold during the coronavirus pandemic.