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UNITED NATIONS, Mar 01 (APP): The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, Tuesday asked all nations to work harder towards abolishing the death penalty, an ongoing practice in 79 countries.

He was speaking at the Geneva-based Human Rights Council which held its biennial high-level panel discussion on the question of the death penalty. The theme of this year’s panel was “Human rights violations relating to the use of the death penalty, in particular with respect to limiting the death penalty to the most serious crimes”.

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Award-winning Haitian broadcaster Michele Montas follows the chaos in her home country every day from her apartment in New York. She has a simple answer to why peace remains elusive and violence is worsening in the country: Haitians were never part of any solution.

UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 27 (Xinhua) -- The UN mission in Mali condemned and vowed to investigate a recent raid where terrorists killed at least 12 civilians, a UN spokesman said on Monday.

The UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali, known as MINUSMA, condemned the attack by an armed terrorist group in the village of Kani-Bonzon, in the Bandiagara region, said Stephane Dujarric, the chief spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. The raiders killed the villagers, wounded three others and torched several buildings.

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 26 (APP): The head of the World Food Programme (WFP), a Rome-based UN agency, concluded a visit on Saturday to earthquake-devastated Syrian and Turkish communities and aid supply routes, calling on authorities to open more border crossings to help survivors of the disaster that hit both countries in early February.

“While the world has quickly mobilized in support of people here, the impact of this quake will be felt for months and years to come,” WFP Executive Director David Beasley said in a statement.

NEW YORK (AP) — Republican presidential contenders typically fight for prime speaking slots at the Conservative Political Action Conference. But as conservative activists gather in suburban Washington this week, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will be courting donors more than a thousand miles away in Texas and California.

The apparent CPAC snub is nothing new for DeSantis, who has emerged in the early phase of the 2024 presidential election as a leading contender for the GOP nomination even as he ignores many conventions of modern politics.

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 26 (APP): A global surge of cholera cases has put one billion people in 43 countries, including Pakistan, at risk, the World Health Organization (WHO), a Geneva-based UN agency, has warned.

Three countries, this week alone, have reported outbreaks, WHO cholera team leader Philippe Barboza told reporters at a press conference on Friday, according to a UN press release issued in New York on Sunday.

For the first time, WHO is asking donors for help to fight the outbreaks, he said.

NEW YORK, February 25. /TASS/: US President Joe Biden said that Ukraine does not currently need F-16 fighters, so for now he rules out their transfer to Kiev.

"I am ruling it out for now," he said in response to a related question in an interview with ABC television. Excerpts from the interview were aired on Friday.

Biden added that at the moment "he (Ukrainian President Vladmir Zelensky - TASS) needs tanks, artillery, air defense, including HIMARS."

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 25 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The United Nations voted overwhelmingly to demand Russia immediately and unconditionally withdraw its troops from Ukraine, marking the one-year anniversary of the war (Feb 24) with a call for a “just and lasting” peace.

Ukraine earned strong backing in a nonbinding vote that saw 141 of the 193 UN members in support, seven opposed and 32, including China and India abstaining.

NEW YORK, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks fell on Friday as a hotter-than-expected inflation report rattled Wall Street.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 336.99 points, or 1.02 percent, to 32,816.92. The S&P 500 sank 42.28 points, or 1.05 percent, to 3,970.04. The Nasdaq Composite Index shed 195.46 points, or 1.69 percent, to 11,394.94.

UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday called for preventing further escalation of the conflict in Ukraine and giving peace "a chance."

"We must prevent further escalation," he told a Security Council high-level meeting on Ukraine, which was convened on the first anniversary of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and attended by about 30 foreign ministers and diplomats.

"We must all encourage every meaningful effort to end the bloodshed and, at long last, give peace a chance," said Guterres.