New York

UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 27 (Xinhua) -- The impact of winter weather, including flooding, on vulnerable people in Syria, has created what a UN spokesman called on Wednesday a "really dire situation."

"We just want to give you an update on the really dire situation in relation to the floods and winter conditions and the impacts they've had on the vulnerable people throughout the country," Stephane Dujarric, chief spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, told reporters at a press briefing.

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 27 (APP): Palestinian elections scheduled for later this year will be a crucial step towards unity, the new UN Middle East envoy, Tor Wennesland, said, while assuring the world body’s support for the move.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas issued a decree earlier this month announcing parliamentary and presidential elections will be held starting in May, marking the first vote across the Occupied Territories in 15 years.

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 27 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Over three dozen nations have pledged or contributed over $439 million to help secure peace in conflict-stricken states, the United Nations said, a sum that falls far short of the hoped-for $1.5 billion.

Member states met via videoconference, committing to “the importance of investing in peace,” according to a UN statement.

“Including funds received for 2020, 39 Member States have contributed or pledged over $439 million for peacebuilding in support of the Fund’s 2020-2024 Strategy,” the statement said.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden’s nominee to be ambassador to the United Nations will stress on Wednesday the importance of U.S. re-engagement with the 193-member world body in order to challenge efforts by China to “drive an authoritarian agenda.”

Veteran diplomat Linda Thomas-Greenfield is due to appear before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for her confirmation hearing. She is a 35-year veteran of the U.S. Foreign Service who has served on four continents, most notably in Africa.

UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 26 (Xinhua) -- The number of people in South Sudan in need of aid has jumped from 7.5 million last year to 8.3 million, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.

The landlocked country has a total population of just over 11 million.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) blames years of conflict, climate change and now COVID-19 for the hike. Those in need include 310,000 refugees and asylum seekers.

"Conflict, insecurity and natural disasters have displaced nearly 4 million people since 2013," the office said.

NEW YORK, Jan. 26 (Xinhua) -- Global COVID-19 cases surpassed 100 million on Tuesday, according to the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University.

The global case count reached 100,032,461, with a total of 2,149,818 deaths worldwide, as of 2:22 p.m. local time (1922 GMT), the CSSE data showed.

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 26 (APP): UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres Monday called for a dialogue between India and China to ease tensions between the two countries, after reports came in of a new clash along their disputed Himalayan border.

“We hope that through dialogue tension can be dialed down,” his Spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, said in response to a question at the regular noon briefing at UN Headquarters in New York.

The spokesman did not elaborate.

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 26 (NNN-AGENCIES) — China has overtaken the United States as the largest recipient of foreign direct investment, which rose by 4 per cent to reach 163 billion dollars in 2020, according to a UN report.

By contrast, that kind of investment into the US dropped by 49 per cent year on year, mirroring a global decrease of 42 per cent in 2020, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development said in its report.

UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Sunday called for efforts to promote education for all.

In a video message to mark the International Day of Education, Guterres paid tribute to the resilience of students, teachers and families in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, which, at its peak, forced almost every school, institute and university to close its doors.

Although this disruption has led to learning innovations, it has also dashed hopes of a brighter future among vulnerable populations, he said.

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 20 (APP): Pakistan has highlighted the threat posed by state-sponsored extremist Hindu groups to thousands of Islamic monuments in India, and called for including those religious shrines on the U.N.’s Roster of Religious Sites.

Speaking at the launch of UN programme on protection of religious sites from terrorist attacks, Ambassador Munir Akram described as “most dangerous” the threat posed by state-sponsored violent nationalist ideologies and movements.