Only weeks from a summit on UN reforms, the US has called for a drastic renegotiation of the draft agreement and wants to scrap many of its key provisions, the Washington Post said yesterday.
A total of 750 amendments contained in a confidential 36-page document obtained by the < In them, the US government proposes to eliminate new pledges on foreign aid to poor nations, scrap provisions calling for action to halt climate change and urging greater progress by nuclear powers in dismantling their nuclear arms. The US proposals also call for tougher action against terrorism, promoting human rights and democracy and halting the spread of the world's deadliest weapons, the daily said. Jean Ping, the current president of the UN General Assembly, is trying to fine-tune a draft on the UN reform package in time for the summit, scheduled for Sept.14 to Sept. 16, ahead of the UN General Assembly session. The US amendments call for striking any mention of the 2000 Millennium Development Goals, in which UN members set goals over the next 15 years to reduce poverty, preventable diseases and other scourges of the world's poor. In their stead, the US wants to underscore the importance of the 2002 Monterrey Consensus, that focused on free-market reforms and required governments to improve accountability in exchange for aid and debt relief, the Post said. The proposals also underscore US efforts to impose greater oversight of UN spending and to eliminate any reference to the International Criminal Court. The US also opposes language that urges the five permanent members of the UN Security Council not to cast vetoes on resolutions to halt genocide, war crimes or ethnic cleansing, the daily added. The proposals, the Post said, face strong resistance from poorer countries who want the UN to focus more on alleviating poverty and scale back US propensity to intervene in small countries that abuse human rights. US and UN diplomats told the newspaper that Bolton has indicated in face-to-face meetings with foreign delegates that he is prepared to pursue other negotiating options if the current process proves cumbersome. Bolton has suggested replacing the entire document with a brief statement, or splitting the document up by themes so nations could choose the ones to support, the diplomats said. "We are looking at very, very difficult negotiations in the days ahead," Pakistan's UN Ambassador Munir Akram was quoted as saying by the daily. The US has "strong positions, and many of us do have very strongly held positions. That's the nature of the game. My only regret is we didn't get into the negotiations early enough," Akram said.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was