'Unseen' News and Views – By Baher Kamal & The Like
18 October 2018 – Amid increasingly violent clashes between rival armed groups in Libya’s capital, Tripoli, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) has successfully airlifted 135 migrants and refugees to safety in Niger. The agency staff endured security challenges including having to operate under the threat of intermittent fire between rival militias.
UNITED NATIONS, Oct 17 2018 (IPS) – Nikky Haley, the vociferously anti-Palestine US Ambassador to the United Nations, warned member states last year she will “take down names” of those who vote against American interests in the world body—perhaps with the implicit threat of cutting US aid to countries that refuse to play ball with the diplomatically-reckless Trump administration.
Credit: Institute for Palestine Studies
But that vengeance-driven head count – and no ball playing — could be a tedious exercise for the US when 146 out of 193 member states vote to affirm Palestine as the new chairman of the 134-member Group of 77, the largest single coalition of developing countries at the United Nations.
18 October 2018 – Every four days, a journalist is murdered, often for simply doing their job of uncovering something that someone wants to stay hidden: the vast majority of these killings go unpunished.
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To help raise awareness of this situation, UNESCO, the UN Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization, is launching a new campaign, Truth Never Dies, on 2 November, the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes against Journalists.
The United Nations specialized agency which coordinates the global postal system, has expressed “regret” over the withdrawal by the United States from the world body’s membership.
In a statement on 18 October 2018, Pascal Clivaz, the Deputy Director General of the UN Universal Postal Union (UPU), established in the 19th Century, recalled the “tremendous and positive contribution” made by the US.
Violence is on the rise in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Israeli authorities are continuing to demolish and confiscate Palestinian-owned homes and property, in contravention of international law, the United Nations envoy for the Middle East Peace Process said on 18 October 2018.
Briefing the Security Council, Nikolay Mladenov called on Israel to stop the demolitions, adding that a negotiated resolution of the so-called final status issues – as defined by Israelis and Palestinians themselves – was essential for any lasting peace settlement.
HUMAN WRONGS WATCH 