United Nations

India joined China and the United Arab Emirates on Friday evening in staying on the sidelines on the resolution which received 11 votes in the 15-member Council, but was shot down by Russia which as a permanent member used its veto. Explaining the abstention, India's Permanent Representative T.S. Tirumurti said, "It is a matter of regret that the path of diplomacy was given up. We must return to it."

The pandemic could be defeated this year but "only if vaccines, tests and treatments are made available to all people," Guterres said on Wednesday. The top UN official was among some world leaders calling for $23 billion to support the ACT-Accelerator, the landmark collaboration that makes these goods accessible to everyone globally, Xinhua news agency reported.

"According to a member state, DPRK cyberactors stole more than $50 million between 2020 and mid-2021 from at least three cryptocurrency exchanges in North America, Europe and Asia," Yonhap News Agency quoted the confidential report by the UN panel of experts monitoring the implementation of sanctions on Pyongyang. DPRK is the acronym for the North's official name, Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Friday's meeting marked the second attempt by the US and other like-minded countries in just about two weeks to hold North Korea to account for its recent series of missile launches, Yonhap News Agency reported on Saturday. North Korea staged its seventh and last round of missile launch of the year on January 30. The statement was signed by the UN representatives from eight other UNSC member countries.

Russia, a permanent member of the Security Council, took over the rotating presidency on Tuesday. With its Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Ambassador Sergey Vasilyevich Vershinin currently visiting India, the country has already given clear signals of growing partnership between the two countries, not just at the key international body but also in the turmoil-hit region.

Referring to the recent attack by the IS militants on the Kurdish-run Ghwayran jail in Hasakah, Zahra Ershadi described the event as a wake-up call that once again showed "the foreign-sponsored Takfiri terrorists" remain a significant threat to regional security and stability, Xinhua news agency reported, citing the state TV's reports on Friday. Ershadi made the remarks at a UN Security Council session in New York on Thursday, said the report.

"Guinea, Iran and Vanuatu have made the payments necessary to reduce their arrears below the amounts specified in Article 19 of the Charter. This means that they can resume voting in the General Assembly," Paulina Kubiak, spokesperson for Abdulla Shahid, President of the 76th session of the UNGA, said at the daily press briefing.

North Korea seems to have test-fired at least two cruise missiles from an inland area, in what would be Pyongyang's fifth known round of missile launches this year, a South Korean official said on Tuesday. "We still need to conduct a detailed analysis (on the launches)," Yonhap News Agency quoted the military official as saying to reporters.

Majid Takht-Ravanchi said late on Saturday that as soon as Iran's arrears are received in New York, the country's voting rights should naturally be restored, official IRNA News Agency reported on Sunday. South Korea confirmed on Sunday that it has paid Tehran's membership delayed dues, amounting to $18 million, to the UN from Iranian funds frozen in the country, Xinhua news agency reported.

"Throughout all our efforts, there is one constant that needs to be present: hope. Yes, the tasks before us are daunting. Yet cynicism offers us no solutions," he told an informal meeting of the General Assembly on his priorities for the remaining eight months of his office.