The United Nations rejected Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's request to speak at its climate summit last September, government sources said Thursday, apparently due to the government's promotion of coal-fired power plants. Abe had wanted to brief participants at the U.N. Climate Action Summit on the ...
U.N. official in Afghanistan calls for 'zero tolerance' of sexual harassment
A senior U.N. official in Afghanistan has called on government offices to adopt policies of "zero tolerance" toward sexual harassment, amid a swirling scandal that has seen women allege routine misconduct in the corridors of power. The controversy erupted in May when Gen. Habibullah Ahmadzai, ...
Three Chinese banks face U.S. restrictions in North Korea sanctions probe: report
Three large Chinese banks could lose their access to the U.S. financial system, after a judge found them in contempt for refusing to comply with subpoenas in a probe into the violation of North Korean sanctions, The Washington Post reported Monday. The three banks were ...
WHO recommends one-hour maximum screen time per day for under-5s
Children aged two to four should not be allowed more than one hour of "sedentary screen time" per day and infants less than one year old should not be exposed to electronic screens at all, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday. The United ...
Yemen's Houthis to quit two ports Monday under peace deal: sources
Iranian-aligned Houthi forces have agreed to draw back from two Yemeni ports on Monday while withdrawal from the main Hodeidah port will occur later alongside a retreat by coalition-backed forces massed outside the city, U.N. and Yemeni sources said. Houthi forces will withdraw 5 km ...
U.N. rights panel calls on Japan to address high levels of violence against children
A U.N. panel expressed concern Thursday about "the high level of violence, sexual abuse and exploitation of children" in Japan, in the wake of the death of a 10-year-old girl in Chiba Prefecture due to alleged mistreatment. The Committee on the Rights of the Child ...
Nagoya community effort to recycle food waste wins U.N.-related award
A decade-old community effort in Nagoya to recycle food waste from supermarkets and school lunches to make compost for vegetable farming has been awarded the Biodiversity Action Award by the Japan Committee for United Nations Decade on Biodiversity (UNDB). One morning earlier this month, a ...
Japan to sink to third-largest contributor to U.N. as China rises
Japan will fall from being the second-largest contributor to the United Nations’ general budget to third place starting next year as China gets set to surpass it.
The U.N. Security Council is considering action to push Myanmar to work with the United Nations to address the Rohingya refugee crisis, although China and Russia have so far boycotted talks on a British-drafted resolution, diplomats said Monday. The draft resolution aims to put a ...
Japan gets mixed assessment from U.N. over efforts to curb greenhouse gases
The United Nations warned Tuesday that current national commitments to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions are insufficient to meet a 2030 reduction goal, and that unprecedented and urgent action is required by all nations — especially from members of the Group of 20 — ...
Diplomats expressed frustration Tuesday during a U.N. General Assembly session about long-overdue negotiations to reform the Security Council. Japan's Ambassador to the United Nations, Koro Bessho, was among those who highlighted the lack of tangible progress so far. "If we fail to make significant headway in ...
A-bomb survivor, supporters call on nations to join nuke ban pact
Michiko Tsukamoto, who was just 10 years old when an atomic bomb was dropped over her hometown of Hiroshima in 1945, on Tuesday urged countries that have not signed a landmark nuclear weapons ban treaty to do so quickly. "Last year the nuclear ban treaty ...
