The World of International Organizations
(AN) — Russia announced plans on Friday to withdraw from an international treaty that permits mutual unarmed surveillance flights over 34 nations, two months after U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration abandoned it.
(AN) — The U.N. labor agency reported on Wednesday the number of home-based workers soared with the pandemic, prompting the need for more employment protections and access to health, legal and training resources.
(AN) — Pro-independence leaders in Western Sahara want U.S. President-elect Joe’s Biden incoming administration to resolve an apparent contradiction: shifting U.S. foreign policy runs counter to U.N.-led peace efforts in the disputed region.
(AN) — Wealthy countries locked up most of 2021’s COVID-19 vaccine supply — six times what developing nations expect to get over the next four years — despite the COVAX Facility’s multilateral efforts to ensure all nations have equal access, global health data shows.
(AN) — The U.N. health agency chief expressed rare displeasure with China on Tuesday over its bureaucratic delays preventing an international team from entering the country to investigate how COVID-19 originated.
(AN) — Iran resumed enrichment of uranium to 20 percent on Monday in a move closer to weapons grade levels and further away from the 2015 nuclear deal, raising pressure on incoming U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration.
(AN) — The World Health Organization listed Pfizer-BioNTech’s coronavirus vaccine Comirnaty® for emergency use on Thursday, the first such designation since the pandemic began and a step towards global access.
(AN) — The European Union on Wednesday moved to clinch a major business investment deal with China that has been seven years in the making, despite concerns from the United States and human rights organizations.
(AN) — Britain and Argentina became the first nations on Wednesday to authorize emergency use of the coronavirus vaccine developed by Oxford University and U.K.-based drugmaker AstraZeneca, adding momentum to its anticipated global use by international organizations.
(AN) — World Health Organization senior officials ended the year on a somber and cautionary note with a warning on Monday that a future pandemic more severe than the coronavirus may hit one day if the world is not ready.
(AN) — The world surpassed 80 million confirmed COVID-19 infections with 1.75 million deaths on Saturday, as the coronavirus — including a new strain — keeps accelerating and affects nearly every region.
(AN) — The U.N. Development Program said in response to a news article on Monday it examined possible “misuse of funds” affecting almost USD$100 million in Global Environment Facility-funded projects.
(AN) — International election observers praised U.S. general elections as competitive and well-managed but concluded on Wednesday that U.S. President Donald Trump’s false claims of victory and calls to halt vote-counting are eroding public trust in American democracy.
(AN) — Germany and France pushed for European Union sanctions against Russia on Wednesday, a day after the international organization that investigates chemical weapons attacks confirmed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was poisoned with a Soviet-era nerve agent.
(AN) — Ahead of his last U.N. visit, U.S. President Donald Trump dusted off a favorite self-aggrandizing tale about the time he “offered to rebuild” the world body’s headquarters and save it a ton of money. There’s just one problem: he declined the opportunity, a U.N. official said.
(AN) — A generation of children could suffer major setbacks in education if nations fail to sufficiently contain the spread of the coronavirus so schools can reopen, according to UNESCO data showing 100 nationwide closures impacting half of the world’s student population.
(AN) — Who knew that a new coronavirus had been detected and when did they know it? As the World Health Organization gears up for an investigation into its handling of the pandemic, its own revised timeline on the first reports of COVID-19 might raise more questions than it answers.
(AN) — Dozens of nations repeatedly urged the United States to eradicate its systemic racism and police brutality — and U.S. officials vowed to make changes — but there have been few such improvements, according to two comprehensive U.N. human rights reviews. The third review is aptly slated for November.
(AN) — A suppressed World Health Organization report critical of Italy’s initial pandemic response says hospitals were “improvised, chaotic and creative,” dangers to elderly went unrecognized, and training was haphazard.
(AN) — After its first high-level session on the pandemic, the U.N. General Assembly on Monday created a new “international day” to prevent global health crises like COVID-19 that has killed 1.5 million people worldwide.
(AN) — Fifteen Asia-Pacific nations including China signed a pact on Sunday to promote regional stability by creating the world’s biggest trading alliance, covering 30 percent of global GDP and a market of 2.2 billion people.
(AN) — Pandemics will become more frequent, faster spreading and deadlier than COVID-19 if people do not restore Earth’s natural life support systems, the 132-nation IPBES organization reported on Thursday.
(AN) — The final phase in a high-stakes race for World Trade Organization director-general began on Monday with delegates from 164 nations weighing two highly qualified candidates from Nigeria and South Korea for the top post. One will become the first woman to lead WTO. Both have a history of shattering glass ceilings.
(AN) — U.S. President Donald Trump appeared to be pushing for a foreign policy win before Election Day, as his special envoy for arms control declared on Tuesday “important progress” was made towards renewing a nuclear arms control deal with Russia.
(AN) — U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration followed through on its threat to unilaterally restore sanctions against Iran on Monday, defying widespread international criticism that the action is illegal.
(AN) — A proposal by South Africa and India for the World Trade Organization to suspend IP protections of COVID-19 vaccines and treatments is set to die down this month, kicking the crucial issue over to 2021.
(AN) — Diplomats failed to meet an end-of-year deadline for a deal aimed at halting government subsidies that contribute to overfishing, several high-ranking World Trade Organization officials confirmed on Monday.
(AN) — Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels reached a record high in 2019 and are expected to keep rising this year despite an economic slowdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.N. weather agency said on Monday.
(AN) — The United Nations’ top official for global climate action said on Monday that 65 percent of the world body’s 193 member nations, up from 40 percent last year, will seek net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
(AN) — Election observers from the world’s largest security-oriented intergovernmental organization reported widespread concerns on Thursday about U.S. President Donald Trump’s efforts to undercut voters’ confidence in the November 3 U.S. elections.
(AN) — Seven nations joined the United States in signing agreements to reinforce and use U.N.-brokered international rules for cooperating on and around the surface of the Moon, NASA announced on Tuesday.
(AN) — Just 25 nations, or 12 percent of the world, have comprehensive measures to protect women against the pandemic’s social and economic impacts, according to two U.N. agencies’ new data tracker released on Monday.
