News stories by Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS, October 23 (IPS) - The international day for the eradication of poverty, commemorated last week, was a grim reminder that the UN will not achieve its highly-ambitious target of helping eradicate extreme poverty—“in all its forms”– by 2030.

UNITED NATIONS, October 13 (IPS) - The United Nations has once again revived a longstanding problem that has been left lingering behind closed doors for decades – racism and racial discrimination at the UN Secretariat.

UNITED NATIONS, October 8 (IPS) - The seven candidates, still in the running for the post of UN Secretary-General (SG), have so far faced a barrage of questions, mostly from delegates and the news media.

UNITED NATIONS, September 24 (IPS) - The world’s ongoing arms race is threatening to extend beyond planet earth—and spillover into outer space.The US has deployed weapons in space and will use them to defend American forces, Air Force Secretary Troy Meink said last week, according to Cable News Network (CNN). His comments marked the first public acknowledgment of such capabilities, though he offered no details about the weapons or when they were put into orbit.

UNITED NATIONS, September 21 (IPS) - When Yasser Arafat was denied a US visa for his second visit to New York to address the United Nations back in 1988, the General Assembly defied the United States by temporarily moving the UN’s highest policy making body to Geneva – perhaps for the first time in UN history – providing a less-hostile political environment and a platform, for the leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).

UNITED NATIONS, September 15 (IPS) - As the race for the election of a new Secretary-General (UNSG) gathers momentum, the spotlight is on the 193-member General Assembly, the highest policy making body at the United Nations, which has refused to assert itself and continues to play a subservient role in the elections of UNSGs.

UNITED NATIONS, September 11 (IPS) - When over 130 world leaders arrive in New York for the high-level segment of the General Assembly next week– it will be rare to hear hard-hitting, headline-grabbing political statements from the podium.

UNITED NATIONS, September 10 (IPS) - First, it was the mass deportations of undocumented aliens, then a crackdown on liberal-minded academics from prestigious US Universities, and now, restrictions on foreign journalists based in the US.

UNITED NATIONS, August 28 (IPS) - As the UN commemorates its 81st anniversary, one lingering question remains: what is the future of the world body? Will a hostile US downsize its operations at the United Nations, cut down its funding, continue defaulting in its payments — and perhaps eventually, withdraw from the world body?

UNITED NATIONS, August 19 (IPS) - When smoking was common in the corridors of the UN, in the delegate’s lounge and in committee rooms during the 1970s and 90s, the office of the Secretary-General sent a memo that read: “Smoking was Discouraged” in the UN building—sounding far short of a ban.