Tag Archives: United Nations

The Associated Press reports: Almost every country in the world has agreed on a legally binding framework for reducing polluting plastic waste, with the United States a notable exception, United Nations environmental officials said Friday. An agreement on tracking thousands of types of plastic waste emerged at the end of a two-week meeting of U.N.-backed conventions on plastic waste and …

ABC News reports: President Trump speaking to the National Rifle Association, a group that made a multimillion investment in his campaign, declared his administration will not ratify the UN Arms Trade Treaty – an Obama-era measure aimed at regulating the arms industry and that was intended to help keep such weapons away from human rights violators. The treaty was not …

Finland’s YLE reports: Finland has once again been ranked as the happiest country in the world. The Nordic nation received the accolade for the second year in succession in the annual survey of global happiness from the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network. Finland beat out 155 other countries for the title in the 2019 report, released Wednesday. The report …

From a Fortune report posted earlier today: U.S. Ambassador to Canada Kelly Craft is emerging as the frontrunner to replace U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, who resigned in December. Craft as a UN contender comes after State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert withdrew her name over the weekend as Haley’s successor. A Kentucky native, Craft is backed by …

Bloomberg reports: President Donald Trump is considering four people to be his next UN ambassador: Goldman Sachs Group Inc. partner Dina Powell, the current ambassadors to Canada and Germany, Kelly Craft and Richard Grenell, and John James, a former Republican U.S. Senate candidate from Michigan, according to people familiar with the matter. The people asked not to be identified because …

The Washington Post reports: President Trump’s pick to be the next United Nations ambassador withdrew from consideration Saturday, the State Department said. The department’s spokeswoman, Heather Nauert, had been tapped to succeed Nikki Haley at the United Nations, but her name was never formally sent to the Senate for confirmation. The withdrawal is related to the employment of a nanny …

The Guardian reports: The Trump administration has stopped cooperating with UN investigators over potential human rights violations occurring inside America, in a move that delivers a major blow to vulnerable US communities and sends a dangerous signal to authoritarian regimes around the world. Quietly and unnoticed, the state department has ceased to respond to official complaints from UN special rapporteurs, …

Politico reports: The President of the United States is the “worst” perpetrator of misinformation on the internet, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression and Opinion David Kaye said in an interview published today. “Governments are real offenders when it comes to disinformation,” said Kaye. “In my own country, the United States, the worst perpetrator of false information is …

Bloomberg reports: As Nikki Haley finishes her tenure this month, the woman who has spent the last two years representing the U.S. at the United Nations has a question for the American public: Should the U.S. remain a member? “The American people need to decide if it’s worth it,” she said in an interview with a small group of journalists …

Bloomberg reports: President Donald Trump has decided to nominate State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert to replace departing United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, according to three people familiar with the decision, Bloomberg News reports. Nauert, 48, is an unorthodox choice for the UN role given that she had little experience in government or foreign policy before joining the administration in April …

The Catholic Crux reports: Fully automated and autonomous lethal weapons systems must be banned now before they become a reality in tomorrow’s wars, a Vatican representative said. The development of robotic weapons or “killer robots” will provide “the capacity of altering irreversibly the nature of warfare, becoming more detached from human agency, putting in question the humanity of our societies,” …

Politico reports: President Donald Trump is now seriously considering Richard Grenell, the controversial U.S. ambassador to Germany, to replace Nikki Haley at the United Nations, according to three people familiar with the matter. Grenell met with officials at the White House last week to discuss the job, according to two administration officials. At a separate White House meeting on Wednesday, …

Citing no one, this morning Glorious Leader proclaimed that everyone wants his daughter to replace Nikki Haley as US ambassador to the United Nations. Meanwhile there’s this: Former deputy national security adviser Dina Powell told the White House on Thursday that she’s not interested in serving as the next U.N. ambassador, a person familiar with the conversation told The Associated …

Mediaite reports: In their joint announcement today, neither President Donald Trump nor former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley gave anything away about who will be replacing her at the U.N. … or did they? A lot of people think they may have done just that, and the names floating around are Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump. Haley effusively praised them, especially …

Axios reports: President Trump has accepted Nikki Haley’s resignation as UN Ambassador, according to two sources briefed on their conversation. The timing of her departure is still unclear. What we’re hearing: Haley discussed her resignation with Trump last week when she visited him at the White House, these sources said. Her news shocked a number of senior foreign policy officials …

NBC News reports: The State Department on Monday began imposing a new policy that restricts visas for the same-sex partners of staff of U.S.-based international organizations, such as the United Nations, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. The State Department’s website on G-4 visas currently states: “Effective immediately, U.S. Embassies and Consulates will adjudicate visa applications that are …

Axios reports: Bloomberg showed his power on the world stage yesterday with his second annual Bloomberg Global Business Forum and a companion One Planet Summit, which drew an astonishing roster that included 70 heads of state, in town for the UN General Assembly, and 200 CEOs. Spotted: Bill Gates, Bill Clinton, Henry Kissinger, French President Emmanuel Macron, U.K. Prime Minister …

CBS News reports: Even as world leaders step up to the podium at the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday, the lion’s share of attention will be down the hall, where President Trump will be chairing the Security Council. It will be his first experience in leading a session of the U.N.’s most powerful body, where the U.S. currently holds the …

The Huffington Post reports: U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley on Wednesday claimed President Donald Trump’s speech at the United Nations General Assembly a day earlier drew laughs because world leaders “loved his honesty” and “respect” him. Trump’s boastful comment describing his administration as one of the most accomplished in U.S. history sparked laughter not because attendees of …

Mediaite reports: Enter Fox & Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade to quickly come to rescue the diplomatic reputation of the commander in chief. “I liked when everyone laughed afterward,” Kilmeade said before pivoting to assail presidential critics, adding he was “taken aback by the way other people said the world is laughing at us. I think they were having fun.” “It …