Unga Session

UNGA declares Dec 21 as World Meditation Day in resolution co-led by India

India co-sponsored a UN General Assembly draft resolution that was unanimously adopted to proclaim December 21 as World Meditation Day. India, including Liechtenstein, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Mexico and Andorra, was a member of the core group of countries that guided the unanimous adoption of the resolution titled World Meditation Day' in the 193-member UN General Assembly on Friday. A day for comprehensive well-being and inner transformation! Glad that India along with other nations of the core group guided the unanimous adoption of the resolution on the declaration of December 21 as World Meditation Day @UN General Assembly today (Friday), India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Parvathaneni Harish said in a post on X. He said India's leadership in overall human wellbeing stems from our civilisational dictum of #VasudhaivaKutumbakam - the whole world is one family. Harish noted that December 21 marks the Winter Solstice, which in Indian tradition is the beginning of ...

UNGA meet: India reaffirms commitment to social determinants of health

India reaffirmed its steadfast commitment to improving social determinants of health during the G20 Joint Finance-Health Task Force (JFHTF) High-Level Meeting held at the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly, a Union health ministry statement said on Friday. The session was centred on "prioritising investments in the health sector advancing the development and implementation of debt-for-health swap arrangements and the role of social determinants of health", it said. Union Minister of State for Health Anupriya Patel, who was a lead speaker at the event, highlighted the "Role of Social Determinants of Health in Supporting Health Investments Priorities", and how leveraging debt-for-health swaps can directly address the SDH. She also underscored the crucial intersection of health and finance in mitigating the impact of future health emergencies and alleviating economic burdens, the statement said. During the event, Patel emphasised the significance of addressing core SD

UNGA prez presents 'Pact for the Future', urges support from member states

The theme of the summit is 'Multilateral Solutions for a Better Tomorrow'

UNGA new prez calls for unity to tackle all kinds of borderless issue

Cameroon's former prime minister took over the presidency of the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday, issuing a clarion call to the world's divided nations to come together and take action to address global challenges from climate change and poverty to conflicts and armed violence. Philemon Yang told the 193-member world body there are doubts that nations can join forces to tackle these and other pressing issues. But he said: We must demonstrate that international cooperation remains the most effective tool at our disposal for addressing the profound and borderless issues we confront. Yang, a former diplomat who was prime minister of his West African nation from 2009 to 2019, said the cornerstone of his one-year presidency will be built on the principles of unity in diversity. He said peace and security will continue to be of paramount importance during his presidency. This is why, I will urge the assembly to intensify its determination to prioritize the resolution of conflicts, ...

PM Modi to not address UNGA session, Jaishankar to deliver speech on Sep 28

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will not address the annual debate at the United Nations General Assembly session here later this month, according to a revised provisional list of speakers issued by the UN. PM Modi is scheduled to travel to New York later this month and address a mega community event on September 22 at the 16,000-seater Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Long Island. He will also address the UN's landmark 'Summit of the Future' that is being convened at the world body's headquarters on September 22 and 23. A provisional list of speakers for the General Debate of the 79th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) issued by the UN in July had said that PM Modi would address the high-level debate on September 26. However, according to a revised provisional list of speakers issued by the UN on Friday, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is now expected to address the General Debate on September 28. A note signed by Under Secretary General for General Assembly and ...

Antibiotic production waste fuelling drug-resistant bacteria, warns WHO

In a first, the World Health Organization (WHO) has issued norms on managing waste during antibiotic production

PM Modi likely to address high-level UN General Assembly session on Sep 26

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to address the high-level UN General Assembly session here on September 26, according to a provisional list of speakers issued by the UN. The high-level General Debate of the 79th session of the UN General Assembly will take place from September 24-30. As per the provisional list of speakers for the General Debate issued by the UN on Monday, India's Head of Government is scheduled to address the high-level session in the afternoon of September 26. The list is not final and the UN releases updated provisional lists of speakers in the weeks leading up to the high-level session to reflect any modifications in attendance, schedules and speaking slots of leaders, ministers and ambassadors. Brazil, traditionally the first speaker at the debate, will open the high-level session on September 24, followed by the US, with American President Joe Biden delivering his current term's final address to global leaders from the iconic UN podium before his count

Debate on annual report is 'ritual without much substance': India at UNGA

Mathur also stated that the annual report is also meant to be an analysis on the UN peacekeeping operations, but in reality there is little information on how peacekeeping operations

UN General Assembly President Dennis Francis to visit India this month

United Nations General Assembly President Dennis Francis will embark on his maiden official visit to India later this month after assuming the highest position of the UN's main policy-making organ. The president of the 78th session of the UNGA, Francis, will first pay an official visit to Kampala, Uganda, starting Wednesday, his office said in a statement on Tuesday. Francis' four-day visit to Kampala from January 17 to 21 will be to attend the 19th Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement, held under the theme Deepening Cooperation for Shared Global Affluence. He will also attend the Third South Summit of the Group of 77 and China on January 21, convened under the theme Leaving No One Behind. In his address in Uganda at the two high-level forums of developing countries, Francis will highlight that at a time of unprecedented crises, the combined voice of the Global South is much more needed, the statement said. Francis and his delegation from Uganda will proceed to back-to-back official

LIVE: Eknath Shinde faction is real Shiv Sena, rules Maha speaker

Catch all the latest updates from across the globe here

Loss of civilian lives in Gaza war 'clearly unacceptable': India at UNGA

She underlined that India is aware that the immediate trigger was the terror attacks in Israel on October 7, which were shocking and deserve our unequivocal condemnation

US defends veto on Gaza ceasefire, Palestinians demand halt to fighting

The United States defended its veto of a call for the immediate suspension of hostilities in Gaza at a U.N. meeting Tuesday and again faced demands by the Palestinians and many other countries for a cease-fire now in the Israel-Hamas war as well as by a group of rabbis in the gallery. U.S. deputy ambassador Robert Wood called the Russian-proposed amendment to a Dec. 22 Security Council resolution which it vetoed disconnected from the situation on the ground. The council then adopted a watered-down resolution, with the U.S. abstaining, calling for urgent steps to immediately allow expanded humanitarian aid into Gaza, and to create conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities. Wood called it striking that those urging an end to the conflict have made very few demands of Hamas, following its surprise Oct. 7 invasion of southern Israel that killed around 1,200 people, to stop hiding behind civilians, lay down its arms, and surrender. And he reiterated ongoing U.S. efforts to ..

UNGA set to vote on nonbinding resolution for 'humanitarian truce' in Gaza

The U.N. General Assembly scheduled a vote Friday on a nonbinding resolution calling for a humanitarian truce in Gaza leading to a cessation of hostilities between Israel and Gaza's Hamas rulers. Jordan's U.N. Ambassador Mahmoud Hmoud, speaking on behalf of the U.N.'s 22-nation Arab group, which drafted the resolution, called for an afternoon vote before all 112 speakers get to the assembly's rostrum, because of the urgency of taking action. The Arab group is seeking action by the 193-member world body because of the failure of the more powerful 15-member Security Council to agree on a resolution after four attempts. Unlike the Security Council, there are no vetoes in the General Assembly so the resolution is certain to be adopted. While council resolutions are legally binding, assembly resolutions are not, but they do serve as a barometer of world opinion. It would be the first response from the United Nations to Hamas' surprise Oct. 7 attacks on Israel and Israel's ongoing milita

India strives to be developed country in next 25 years of Amrit Kaal: EAM

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said that in the next 25 years, the country's Amrit Kaal as espoused by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India will strive to be a developed country and it is logical" that it also seeks to be a global power. Jaishankar, speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations here on Tuesday, said India is now the fifth largest economy in the world, obviously your interests are more, your responsibilities are more, your contributions are more. The minister added that there will be many more countries and regions with which you are linked. So one part of it I would say really flows from the growth, from the rise of India. You actually see an India today whose footprint is more, whose interests and activities are more. The second is really the structure of the world itself. We have seen particularly over the last maybe four or five years in many ways, more openings, the nature of world politics has changed, he said, adding that the issues have changed, ...

Jaishankar meets UNGA President Dennis Francis on 9-day visit to New York

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met the President of the 78th session of the UN General Assembly Dennis Francis here on Monday. The minister began his nine-day visit to the US on Friday last week, primarily to attend the annual session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York and to host a special event on Global South. Jaishankar met Francis at the UN headquarters and thanked him for his presence at the special India-UN for Global South: Delivering for Development' side event Jaishankar hosted in New York on Saturday last on the margins of the 78th session of the UN General Assembly. He is scheduled to meet UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres later on Monday. On Sunday, Jaishankar held a series of separate bilateral meetings with his global counterparts, including from Mexico, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Armenia, on the sidelines of the high-level UN General Assembly session here, exchanging views on reforming multilateralism and cooperation in G20.

North Korea calls South's President a 'guy with trash-like brain'

North Korea on Monday called South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol a guy with a trash-like brain and a diplomatic idiot as it blasted him for using a UN speech to issue a warning over the North's deepening military ties with Russia. In a speech at the UN General Assembly last week, Yoon said South Korea will not sit idly by if North Korea and Russia agree to weapons deals that would pose a threat to the South. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's trip to Russia earlier this month to meet President Vladimir Putin and visit key military sites raised international concern about a possible push by North Korea to receive sophisticated nuclear and weapons technologies in return for replenishing Russia's conventional arms inventory depleted by its war with Ukraine. Puppet traitor Yoon Suk Yeol, even at the 78th U.N. General Assembly, malignantly slandered the relations between (North Korea) and Russia, the North's official Korean Central News Agency said in a commentary. Without addressing th

EAM Jaishankar holds bilateral meet with his Cyprus counterpart in New York

Prior to this, the EAM Minister met the Foreign Minister of Uganda, Gen JeJe Odongo and Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and held bilateral talks

EAM Jaishankar holds bilateral meeting with Uganda's Foreign Minister

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar here on Saturday held a meeting with Uganda Foreign Minister Gen JeJe Odongo on the sidelines of the 78th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) session

QUAD FMs reiterate commitment to free Indo-Pacific on UNGA 2023 sidelines

The QUAD Foreign ministers met for a follow-up on the Quad Leaders' Vision that was outlined in Hiroshima on May 20, 2023

Pakistan recruiting mercenaries to pursue its political agenda: UNGA told

Plaid said when the international community applies pressure, Pakistan has a history of "choosing subterfuge over sincerity"