United Nations

NEW YORK - A debate requested by Russia to mark the 25th anniversary of the 1999 NATO aggression on the then Federal Republic of Yugoslavia has again failed to make it to the UN Security Council agenda after six of 15 members of the top UN body voted in favour and nine abstained on Thursday.

Russia, China, Algeria, Guyana, Sierra Leone and Mozambique voted for the request.

The UN International Court of Justice has ruled that Israel must allow unrestricted access to humanitarian aid in Gaza. Reuters reported that the court rejected Israel's argument that it was not obstructing supplies to the enclave. Israel insists on inspecting every shipment to prevent Hamas from using the cargo, resulting in lengthy approval processes that effectively block aid.

Russia on Thursday blocked the renewal of a panel of U.N. experts monitoring international sanctions on North Korea, weeks after the body said it was investigating reports of arms transfers between Moscow and Pyongyang.

Japan is preparing to resume funding to the U.N.'s crisis-hit Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA), which coordinates nearly all aid to Gaza, the government said.

Once the sixth-largest contributor to the agency, Japan joined more than a dozen countries in pausing funding after Israel claimed that 12 of UNRWA's 13,000 Gaza employees were involved in the deadly Oct. 7 Hamas attack.

The world's top court ordered Israel Thursday to "ensure urgent humanitarian assistance" reaches Gazans, as warnings multiplied of imminent famine after nearly six months of relentless conflict.

Heavy fighting and sustained bombardment again rocked the territory despite the U.N. Security Council's adoption of a resolution earlier this week demanding an "immediate ceasefire".

The United Nations has hosted an event to mark the second International Day of Zero Waste, highlighting a project initiated in Türkiye aimed at reducing waste burden, with Turkish first lady Emine Erdoğan calling for tangible steps towards sustainability.

March 30 was declared as International Day of Zero Waste by a United Nations General Assembly resolution in 2022.

The U.N.'s human rights chief has told the BBC that Israel is using starvation as a weapon in the war-torn Gaza by blocking aid deliveries, citing that if this intention is proven, it could be considered a war crime.

BELGRADE - Serbian FM Ivica Dacic slammed on Wednesday as "disgraceful and scandalous" a decision by the Committee on Political Affairs of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) to accept a recommendation to invite the so-called Kosovo to membership in the CoE.

At least 63,285 people have perished or disappeared on migration routes around the world between 2014 and 2023, with most deaths caused by drowning, the UN migration agency said on Tuesday.

BELGRADE - Russian Ambassador to Serbia Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko said on Tuesday Western states had blocked the holding of a UN Security Council session requested by Russia to mark 25 years since the start of the 1999 NATO aggression on the then Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) because they were "afraid of the truth."