We are in the final innings of the third quarter, and energy markets remain tepid amid bearish sentiment. Brent crude for November delivery was trading at $69.45 per barrel at 8.45 am ET on Friday, more than $10/bbl below the current year’s peak at ~81/bbl, while WTI crude was changing hands at $65.05 per barrel compared to the January peak of $78.71 per barrel. Oil prices have mostly traded ~15/bbl lower in 2025 compared to the previous year, primarily due to oversupply fears due to OPEC+ accelerating the unwinding of production cuts, coupled with sluggish global economic growth and heightened trade tensions that suppressed oil demand, leading to ample global supply outweighing demand. Increased output from non-OPEC+ countries also contributed to a build-up of oil inventories. Lately, Wall Street has been warning that oil markets could soon face a surplus, putting more pressure on already depressed oil prices. To wit, Goldman Sachs has predicted that oil markets could be oversupplied by 1.9 million b/d in 2026 amid OPEC+ unwinding production cuts and production in the Americas rising. Wall Street now sees oil prices sinking to the $50s per barrel next year, further compounding this year’s decline.
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In sharp contrast, commodity analysts at Standard Chartered have predicted that oil prices will move higher in the coming year driven by robust demand and a raft of economic stimulus measures.
StanChart notes that U.S. supply has hit an all-time high in the current year, but is predicting that producers will be forced to cut output due to prevailing low oil prices. On the demand side, expectations of weaker global demand in the final quarter of the year, driven by trade wars and tariffs, are likely to trigger a raft of economic stimulus in the form of rate cuts in the United States and potential for China to respond with a package of measures. Further, Ukraine’s targeted attacks on Russian energy infrastructure have forced Russia to cut refinery runs and ramp up crude exports. According to StanChart, vessel-tracking data suggests that Russia’s seaborne crude exports jumped to a 16-month high at 3.62 million barrels per day (mb/d) in August. The analysts note that Ukrainian attacks have also focused on both pipeline pumping stations and export terminals, which would pressure crude loadings further if they become significant enough to halt flows for extended periods. Meanwhile, an escalation in the unfolding tensions between Europe and Russia is likely to increase the risk premium for crude oil and natural gas.
Speaking recently at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) 80th Session General Debate. U.S. President Donald Trump ordered NATO nations to shoot down Russian aircraft violating their airspace. He also mentioned further potential sanctions on Russia: “In the event that Russia is not ready to make a deal to end the war, then the United States is fully prepared to impose a very strong round of powerful tariffs…. But for those tariffs to be effective, European nations, all of you are gathered here right now, would have to join us in adopting the exact same measures… Europe has to step it up…. They’re buying oil and gas from Russia while they’re fighting Russia.” However, only three NATO members, namely Türkiye, Slovakia, and Hungary still buy Russian oil.
Meanwhile, Europe’s natural gas selloff appears to have found a floor, hovering around €32 per megawatt-hour since mid-September thanks to ample inventories. According to Gas Infrastructure Europe, the continent’s inventories have hit 95.5 billion cubic
metres (bcm), 6.66bcm below the five-year average, and 14.6 bcm lower y/y. The daily injection rate over the past week clocked in at 0.19 bcm/d, representing the seasonal slowing at the end of the injection period. StanChart has now forecast that Europe’s gas stores will reach a maximum fill of 100.2 bcm on 2 November.
On a brighter note, Europe’s consumers are not likely to see massive spikes in gas prices again, thanks to the ongoing LNG infrastructure buildout in the United States. Indeed, TotalEnergies’ (NYSE:TTE) CEO Patrick Pouyanné has warned of a looming LNG supply glut in the United States, shortly after Texas-based NextDecade Corp. (NASDAQ:NEXT) announced it has made a positive final investment decision (FID) on Train 4 at its Rio Grande LNG liquefaction plant with a planned total capacity of 48 million tonnes per annum (mpta). Pouyanné says the U.S. is building too many LNG plants, which could trigger a long-lasting glut if the projects come online as planned. Pouyanné might have a valid concern. Rio Grande’s Train 4 has LNG production capacity of ~6 mpta, bringing the plant’s total capacity under construction to 24 mpta. Meanwhile, NextDecade has revealed that Train 5 is nearing a positive FID while Trains 6-8 are currently in the development and permitting process. Project costs for Train 4 are expected to total ~$6.7 billion, financed with 40% equity and 60% debt. TotalEnergies holds a 10% stake in Rio Grande LNG.
Israeli strikes and gunfire killed at least 38 people across Gaza, health officials said. International pressure for a ceasefire is growing, but Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu remained defiant about continuing the war during an address to the United Nations Friday afternoon.
Strikes in central and northern Gaza killed people in their homes in the early hours of Saturday morning, including nine from the same family in a house in the Nuseirat refugee camp, according to health staff at the Al-Awda hospital, where the bodies were brought.
The attacks came hours after Netanyahu told fellow world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly Friday that his nation “must finish the job” against Hamas in Gaza.
Netanyahu’s words, aimed as much at his increasingly divided domestic audience as the global one, came after dozens of delegates from multiple nations walked out of the U.N. General Assembly hall en masse Friday morning as he began speaking.
Mourners attend the funeral of Palestinians killed in an Israeli army strike, outside Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025.
Abdel Kareem Hana / AP
International pressure on Israel to end the war is increasing, as is Israel’s isolation, with a growing list of countries deciding recently to recognize Palestinian statehood — something Israel rejects.
Countries have been lobbying U.S. President Donald Trump to press Israel for a ceasefire. On Friday, Trump told reporters on the White House lawn that he believes the U.S. is close to achieving a deal on easing fighting in Gaza that “will get the hostages back” and “end the war.”
Trump and Netanyahu are scheduled to meet Monday, and Trump said on social media Friday that “very inspired and productive discussions” and “intense negotiations” about Gaza are ongoing with countries in the region.
Israel is pressing ahead with another major ground operation in Gaza City, which experts say is experiencing famine. More than 300,000 people have fled, but up to 700,000 are still there, many because they can’t afford to relocate.
Palestinians survey the aftermath of an Israeli military strike on the Abu Dahrouj family home in Zawaida, central Gaza Strip, Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025.
Abdel Kareem Hana / AP
The strikes Saturday morning demolished a house in Gaza City’s Tufah neighborhood, killing at least 11 people, more than half of them women and children, according to the Al-Ahly Hospital, where the bodies were brought. Four other people were killed when an airstrike hit their homes in the Shati refugee camp, according to Shifa hospital.
Six other Palestinians were killed by Israeli gunfire while seeking aid in southern and central Gaza, according to Nasser and Al Awda hospitals, where the bodies were brought.
Israel’s army did not immediately respond about the airstrikes or the gunfire.
Hospitals and health clinics in Gaza City are on the brink of collapse. Nearly two weeks into the offensive, two clinics have been destroyed by airstrikes, two hospitals shut down after being damaged and others are barely functioning, with medicine, equipment, food and fuel in short supply.
Many patients and staff have been forced to flee hospitals, leaving behind only a few doctors and nurses to tend to children in incubators or other patients too ill to move.
Israeli army flares drift over buildings destroyed during Israeli ground and air operations in the northern Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2025.
Leo Correa / AP
On Friday, aid group Doctors Without Borders said it was forced to suspend activities in Gaza City amid an intensified Israeli offensive. The group said Israeli tanks were less than half a mile from its health care facilities and the escalating attacks have created an “unacceptable level of risk” for its staff.
Meanwhile, the food situation in the north has also worsened, as Israel has halted aid deliveries through its crossing into northern Gaza since Sept. 12 and has increasingly rejected U.N. requests to bring supplies from southern Gaza into the north, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said.
Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed more than 65,000 people and wounded more than 167,000 others, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. It doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants, but says women and children make up around half the fatalities. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government, but U.N. agencies and many independent experts consider its figures to be the most reliable estimate of wartime casualties.
Israel’s campaign was triggered when Hamas-led terrorists stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage. Forty-eight captives remain in Gaza, around 20 of them believed by Israel to be alive, after most of the rest were freed in ceasefires or other deals.
Technicians at the United Nations headquarters inspected the escalator that stalled when President Trump and first lady Melania Trump rode it on Tuesday. Now, Mr. Trump is claiming that the escalator was stopped on purpose to undermine his speech. Jeff Rodriguez, senior consultant of HKA Elevator Consulting, joins CBS News to discuss.
Donald Trump just can’t shut up about himself. Anyone who has followed the past decade in American public life knows this all too well. And yet he still manages to astonish. When he spoke at the United Nations General Assembly, on Tuesday, it took less than ten minutes for Trump to get to his personal grievances with the international body, which stretch back at least a quarter century, beginning with its supposed refusal, in 2001, to grant him a contract to redevelop its headquarters. “They decided to go in another direction, which was much more expensive at the time, which actually produced a far inferior product,” Trump said. He claimed that he had promised the U.N. mahogany walls and marble floors and that what it got instead was cheap terrazzo flooring and enormous cost overruns. “And I realized that they did not know what they were doing when it came to construction.”
The reason Trump was ranting about the U.N.’s floors was that he was mad about the reception he had received while entering the building to make his speech—the escalator conveying him and Melania Trump to the main speaking floor had come to a halt, forcing them to walk one floor up, only to find that the teleprompter also was not working and the President would have to read out his address the old-fashioned way. “These are the two things I got from the United Nations—a bad escalator and a bad teleprompter,” he said. By the next day, he was calling his experience in New York “triple sabotage,” adding to his list of complaints that the sound for his speech had been turned off in the Assembly Hall itself. “The people that did it should be arrested!” he demanded in a social-media post, on Wednesday. Never mind that an official statement from the U.N. suggested that it was likely Trump’s own White House videographer who might have accidentally triggered the escalator shutdown. Both Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, and Mike Waltz, Trump’s newly confirmed Ambassador to the U.N., demanded full investigations into the conspiracy theories that the President was so quick to float—confirmation, as if any were needed, that the personal complaints of Donald Trump are now the official foreign policy of the United States.
Somehow, the state of the world seemed a lot more assured when it was the rambling, unscripted speech of the late Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi that shocked the General Assembly, rather than the rambling, unscripted speech of America’s President, who also expounded on his sky-high approval ratings, his brilliant move to call in the National Guard to eliminate crime in the District of Columbia, and his personal genius for predicting the future. “They had a hat, the best-selling hat: ‘Trump was right about everything,’ ” he explained. “And I don’t say that in a braggadocious way, but it’s true. I’ve been right about everything.” Imagine if he had said that in a braggadocious way.
The substance of the speech was, in many ways, just as jarring as its narcissistic surround sound: Trump denouncing much of the rest of the world for buying into the idea of climate change—“the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world, in my opinion”—and for failing to adopt his close-the-borders, shut-it-down approach to illegal immigration. “Your countries are going to hell,” he told the other Presidents and potentates in the room; indeed, it was this statement that led to his meditation on how he was always right about everything.
In his first term, Trump provoked incredulous laughs when he took the lectern at the U.N. to brag that, “in less than two years, my Administration has accomplished more than almost any Administration in the history of our country.” This time, after only a few months back in office, Trump has made clear that he plans to operationalize his bluster far more than he was able or willing to back in 2018. Perhaps that explains why it was not laughter but stunned silence that greeted much of Trump’s nearly hour-long lecture, which was not only far more boorish and self-serving than his address seven years ago but also far more menacing and explicit about the path down which he is now leading the United States.
Take what he said about Venezuela. Everyone has heard his rhetoric about going after the country’s violent drug gangs. But now that Trump has ordered the U.S. military to attack three different alleged drug-trafficking boats from Venezuela, an escalation of dubious legality, his threat to “blow you out of existence” using “the supreme power of the U.S. military” sounds markedly different. Trump is not constrained by his own party, or political advisers, or even America’s supposedly co-equal branches of government; international law that he does not recognize hardly stands a chance.
And yet there is still so much wishful thinking about how to interpret Trump’s words. Despite his clear indication, for years, that he would refuse to embroil the United States too deeply in defending Ukraine, for example, every hint of support he gives to the embattled country is greeted as a major turn away from Russia. In his speech on Tuesday, he threatened Russia with “a very strong round of powerful tariffs” on its energy industry if it did not agree to end the war. But he also reiterated his previous, threat-neutering position that he would go forward with such a measure only if all of the European Union, which has sharply curtailed its energy dependence on Russia but which continues to buy billions of dollars’ worth of oil and gas from it, would join in the tariffs, too. A total non-starter, in other words. A few hours later, it was treated as major news when Trump, emerging from an unexpectedly positive meeting with Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, published a long social-media post in which he seemed to endorse Ukraine’s view that it could win the war militarily and warned that “Putin and Russia are in BIG Economic trouble.” The backstory, according to various reports, is that Trump’s surprising rhetorical shift was, as always, strictly personal in nature, driven by his pique at the Russian leader’s rebuff of his many overtures for a peace deal.
It’s Climate Week in New York City. The annual event partners with the United Nations Global Assembly and brings together business, political and civil leaders from around the world to collaborate on climate action and police. Bill Ritter, former governor of Colorado, joins “The Daily Report” to discuss.
President Trump criticized efforts to fight climate change while addressing the United Nations General Assembly Tuesday. Vanessa Kerry, CEO of Seed Global Health and WHO special envoy for climate change and health, joined CBS News to discuss the president’s remarks.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — President Donald Trump returned to the United Nations on Tuesday to boast of his second-term foreign policy achievements and lash out at the world body as a feckless institution, while warning Europe it would be ruined if it doesn’t turn away from a “double-tailed monster” of ill-conceived migration and green energy policies.
World leaders listened closely to his remarks at the U.N. General Assembly as Trump has already moved quickly to diminish U.S. support for the world body in his first eight months in office. Even in his first term, he was no fan of the flavor of multilateralism that the United Nations espouses.
Trump escalated that criticism on Tuesday, saying it’s “empty words don’t solve wars.”
“What is the purpose of the United Nations?” Trump said. “The U.N. has such tremendous potential. I’ve always said it. It has such tremendous, tremendous potential. But it’s not even coming close to living up to that potential.”
Trump offered a weave of jarring juxtapositions in his address to the assembly.
He trumpeted himself as a peacemaker and enumerated successes of his administration’s efforts in several hotspots around the globe. At the same, Trump heralded his decisions to order the U.S. military to carry out strikes on Iran and more recently against alleged drug smugglers from Venezuela and argued that globalists are on the verge of destroying successful nations.
The U.S. president’s speech is typically among the most anticipated moments of the annual assembly. This one comes at one of the most volatile moments in the world body’s 80-year-old history. Global leaders are being tested by intractable wars in Gaza,Ukraine and Sudan, uncertainty about the economic and social impact of emerging artificial intelligence technology, and anxiety about Trump’s antipathy for the global body.
Trump has also raised new questions about the American use of military force in his return to the White House, after ordering U.S. airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities in June and a trio of strikes this month on alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean Sea.
The latter strikes, including at least two fatal attacks on boats that originated from Venezuela, has raised speculation in Caracas that Trump is looking to set the stage for the ouster of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Some U.S. lawmakers and human rights advocates say that Trump is effectively carrying out extrajudicial killings by using U.S. forces to lethally target alleged drug smugglers instead of interdicting the suspected vessels, seizing any drugs and prosecuting the suspects in U.S. courts.
Warnings about ‘green scam’ and migration
Trump touted his administration’s policies allowing for expanded drilling for oil and natural gas in the United States, and aggressively cracking down on illegal immigration, implicitly suggesting more countries should follow suit.
He sharply warned that European nations that have more welcoming migration policies and commit to expensive energy projects aimed at reducing their carbon footprint were causing irreparable harm to their economies and cultures.
“I’m telling you that if you don’t get away from the ‘green energy’ scam, your country is going to fail,” Trump said. “If you don’t stop people that you’ve never seen before that you have nothing in common with your country is going to fail.”
Trump added, “I love the people of Europe, and I hate to see it being devastated by energy and immigration. This double-tailed monster destroys everything in its wake, and they cannot let that happen any longer.”
The passage of the wide-ranging address elicited some groans and uncomfortable laughter from delegates.
Trump to hold one-on-one talks with world leaders
Trump touted “the renewal of American strength around the world” and his efforts to help end several wars. He peppered his speech with criticism of global institutions doing too little to end war and solve the world’s biggest problems.
General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock on Tuesday said that despite all the internal and external challenges facing the organization, it is not the time to walk away.
“Sometimes we could’ve done more, but we cannot let this dishearten us. If we stop doing the right things, evil will prevail,” Baerbock said in her opening remarks.
Following his speech, Trump is scheduled to hold one-on-one meetings with U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres and the leaders of Ukraine, Argentina and the European Union. He will also hold a group meeting with officials from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Turkey, Pakistan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan.
He’ll return to Washington after hosting a reception Tuesday night with more than 100 invited world leaders.
Gaza and Ukraine cast shadow over Trump speech
Trump has struggled to deliver on his 2024 campaign promises to quickly end the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. His response has been also relatively muted as some longtime American allies are using this year’s General Assembly to spotlight the growing international campaign for recognition of a Palestinian state, a move that the U.S. and Israel vehemently oppose.
Trump, for his part, in the lead-up to Tuesday’s address has tried to keep focus on getting agreement on a ceasefire that leads Hamas to releasing its remaining 48 hostages, including 20 still believed be alive.
But in his address, he sharply criticized the statehood recognition push.
“The rewards would be too great for Hamas terrorists,” Trump said. “This would be a reward for these horrible atrocities, including Oct. 7.”
It’s been more than a month since Trump’s Alaska summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin and a White House meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and key European leaders. Following those meetings, Trump announced that he was arranging for direct talks between Putin and Zelenskyy. But Putin hasn’t shown any interest in meeting with Zelenskyy and Moscow has only intensified its bombardment of Ukraine since the Alaska summit.
European leaders as well as American lawmakers, including some key Republican allies of Trump, have urged the president to dial up stronger sanctions on Russia. Trump, meanwhile, has pressed Europe to stop buying Russian oil, the engine feeding Putin’s war machine.
Trump said a “very strong round of powerful tariffs” would :stop the bloodshed, I believe, very quickly.” He repeated his calls on Europe to “step it up” and stop buying Russian oil.
Trump has Oslo dreams
Despite his struggles to end the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, Trump has made clear that he wants to be awarded a Nobel Peace Prize, repeatedly making the spurious claim that he’s “ended seven wars” since he returned to office.
“Everyone says that I should get the Nobel Prize — but for me, the real prize will be the sons and daughters who live to grow up because millions of people are no longer being killed in endless wars,” Trump offered.
He again highlighted his administration’s efforts to end conflicts, including between Israel and Iran, India and Pakistan, Egypt and Sudan, Rwanda and the Democratic Congo, Armenia and Azerbaijan, and Cambodia and Thailand.
“It’s too bad that I had to do these things instead of the United Nations doing them,” Trump said. “Sadly, in all cases, the United Nations did not even try to help in any of them.”
Although Trump helped mediate relations among many of these nations, experts say his impact isn’t as clear cut as he claims.
AP journalists Tracy Brown and Darlene Superville in Washington and Bill Barrow in Atlanta contributed to this report.
Rubio says of effort to recognize Palestinian state: “The whole thing is irrelevant”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday on “CBS Mornings” of the effort by several U.S. allies to ask the U.N. to formally recognize a Palestinian state that “the whole thing is irrelevant” as long as the war continues. He added that “it’s almost a vanity project for a couple of these world leaders who want to be relevant.” He said the effort has “made it even harder to get Hamas to enter into concessions” to bring an end to the war.
The secretary of state said there’s “a window opportunity right now” to bring an end to war in Gaza.
“The only leader in the world really that can sort of broker that or bring that together is President Trump,” Rubio said. “That’s why every country in the region, and frankly, every country in the world, including many of those involved in this recognition effort, are begging the president to get involved in this issue.”
Rubio said “we’ll have a very important meeting today with the majority of Muslim countries, including the Gulf kingdoms and others in different parts of the world, in the hopes of perhaps taking one last shot here at ending the conflict in Gaza, getting all of the hostages, all of them, released and and putting together in place something where humanitarian relief can be provided to people safely without rewarding a terrorist group like Hamas.”
Trump’s speech comes as his administration breaks with U.N.
As the U.S. hosts leaders from around the world in New York City this week, President Trump has withdrawn the U.S. from multiple U.N. agencies, including the Human Rights Council and the World Health Organization. The U.S. has also cut its contributions to the U.N., with the president and his administration critical of their approach to Israel and extensive U.S.-funded reach around the world.
Trump to speak as Russia-Ukraine war remains unresolved
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is in New York City for this week’s sessions, as he seeks to rally European allies and the Trump administration to continue backing his military.
The fact that the war in Ukraine is ongoing continues to be a point of frustration for Mr. Trump, who insisted during the campaign he would be able to resolve the conflict with Russia in one day.
“The one that I thought would be easiest would be because of my relationship with President Putin, but he’s let me down — he’s really let me down — was gonna be Russia and Ukraine,” the president said during a press conference last week alongside U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer. “But we’ll see how that turns out. But that turned out to be, I thought it might be among the easiest of the group.”
Meanwhile, Polish President Karol Nawrocki may address the entry of Russian drones into his country’s airspace during his U.N. speech later Tuesday. Mr. Trump has said the incursion may have been a mistake, an idea Polish officials have rejected.
Separately, Leavitt told reporters Monday that the White House is aware of Russia’s offer to keep abiding by nuclear warhead limits in the New START treaty with the U.S. when it expires in February, if the U.S. does the same — but only for a year. The nuclear arms reduction treaty between the U.S. and Russia, signed in 2010, calls for halving the number of strategic nuclear missile launchers.
U.S. Secret Service disrupts telecom network that threatened NYC during U.N. General Assembly
The Secret Service has disrupted a sprawling telecommunications network in the New York tristate area that investigators say could have posed a threat to this week’s General Assembly meetings.
In the largest seizure of its kind, the Secret Service announced Tuesday that the agency found active SIM farms at abandoned apartment buildings located at more than five sites. In total, law enforcement discovered 300 SIM servers – over 100,000 SIM cards – enabling encrypted, anonymous communication and capable of sending 30 million text messages per minute.
Officials say the servers were so powerful they could have disabled cell phone towers and launched distributed denial of services attacks with the ability to block emergency communications like EMS and police dispatch.
“This network had the potential to disable cell phone towers and essentially shut down the cellular network in New York City,” U.S. Secret Service Special Agent in Charge Matt McCool said in a video released by the agency.
Early analysis shows the network was used for communication between foreign governments and individuals known to U.S. law enforcement, including members of known organized crime gangs, drug cartels and human trafficking rings, according to multiple officials briefed on the investigation.
Here’s what President Trump could talk about in his United Nations speech — including Russia-Ukraine and Gaza
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the president will tout the renewal of American strength around the world, list his accomplishments and discuss “how globalist institutions have significantly decayed the world order.”
The speech comes as the president hopes to settle Russia’s war in Ukraine by brokering a deal between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Mr. Trump also called the situation in Gaza a “disaster” over the weekend.
“The hatred between Putin and Zelenskyy is very substantial,” the president told reporters Sunday, as a peace deal remains elusive. “There’s a lot of bad blood. And of course, Gaza is a basic disaster. We’ve got to get that taken care of. But the big thing will be that I’m going to be speaking at the United Nations, and I hope to do a good job.”
Trump administration restricting Iranian leaders’ movement
One unusual sight at the U.N. General Assembly’s annual sessions is the presence of world leaders who have chilly or even hostile relationships with the United States.
Under a 1947 agreement, the U.S. is generally expected to grant visas to U.N. delegates — even those from U.S. foes — who wish to travel to the organization’s headquarters in Manhattan. But those can be subject to restrictions.
The State Department said Monday that Iranian delegates who are in town for this week’s meetings will only be allowed to access “areas strictly necessary to transit to and from the UN headquarters district to conduct their official UN business.” Iranian officials are also barred from accessing luxury goods or club stores, according to a statement from the department.
“We will not allow the Iranian regime to allow its clerical elites to have a shopping spree in New York while the Iranian people endure poverty, crumbling infrastructure, and dire shortages of water and electricity,” the statement read.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian is expected to travel to New York for this week’s meetings, Iran’s government has said.
Last month, the State Department said it would deny visas to members of the Palestinian Authority, which is a U.N. observer rather than a full-fledged member. The department cited national security and accused the organization of “undermining the prospects for peace.” Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will address the General Assembly in a video.
Israel-Hamas war — and recognition of Palestinian state — could take center stage this week
The Israel-Hamas war is sure to be a frequent topic in this week’s speeches. Last week, the U.N. General Assembly overwhelmingly passed a nonbinding resolution that calls for a phased end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and pushes for the creation of a Palestinian state.
As frustration with the war grows, the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada formally recognized a Palestinian state over the weekend, and France followed suit at a U.N. meeting on Monday.
The Trump administration disagrees, with White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt calling those U.S. allies’ recognition of a Palestinian state “just more talk and not enough action.”
French President Emmanuel Macron announced over the summer that he would recognize a Palestinian state, and he said on Monday that France had done so. In an interview last week with CBS News’ Margaret Brennan, he argued the move could disempower Hamas. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has called the move “reckless,” a reaction Macron called “excessive.”
Also, the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, is set to speak on Tuesday, after Israel targeted Hamas leaders in a strike on the Qatari capital of Doha earlier this month. Qatar condemned the move, and Mr. Trump criticized it.
Trump’s new U.N. ambassador Mike Waltz was confirmed last week
This week’s U.N. General Assembly meeting is the first public test for Mike Waltz, who was approved by the Senate only last week to be the U.S. ambassador to the U.N.
The U.S. has gone without a confirmed ambassador to the U.N. since the start of Mr. Trump’s second term as president. Mr. Trump originally nominated Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, who gave up her role in congressional leadership for the job, but the president pulled her nomination in March, saying he needed her in Congress due to the GOP’s razor-thin majority.
Waltz previously served as Mr. Trump’s national security adviser, but he was replaced in that role by Secretary of State Marco Rubio in May.
What is the U.N. General Assembly?
The U.N. General Assembly includes all United Nations member states. As the U.N.’s primary deliberative body, its members consider and vote on recommendations to tackle major world issues, ranging from climate change to human rights. Its resolutions are often nonbinding.
The body meets every year, starting in September. This year’s sessions are also marked by the 80th anniversary of the United Nations’ founding.
The U.N. says the theme for the general debate of this session is “Better together: 80 years and more for peace, development and human rights.”
Israeli strikes killed at least 14 people overnight in Gaza City, said Palestinian health officials, as Israel ramps up its offensive there and urges Palestinians to leave.
Dr. Rami Mhanna, the managing director of Shifa Hospital, where some of the bodies were brought, said the dead included six people from the same family after a strike hit their home early Saturday morning. They were relatives of the hospital’s director, Dr. Mohamed Abu Selmiya, he said.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said five other people were killed in another strike close to Shawa Square.
Israel’s military didn’t immediately respond to questions about the strikes.
In recent days, Israel has been urging hundreds of thousands of Palestinians sheltering in Gaza City to move south to what it calls a humanitarian zone.
Smoke rises to the sky following an Israeli military strike in the northern Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, Saturday, Sept. 20, 2025.
Leo Correa / AP
Palestinians have streamed out of the city — some by car, others on foot. Israel opened another corridor south of Gaza City for two days this week to allow more people to evacuate. But many Palestinians in the famine-stricken city are unwilling to be uprooted again, too weak to leave or unable to afford the cost of moving.
Aid groups have warned that forcing thousands of people to evacuate will exacerbate the dire humanitarian crisis. They are urging for a ceasefire so aid can reach those who need it.
The latest Israeli operation, which started this week, likely pushes any ceasefire farther out of reach. The Israeli military, which says it wants to “destroy Hamas’ military infrastructure,” hasn’t given a timeline for the offensive, but there were indications it could take months.
The death count in Gaza has climbed over 65,100, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which is part of the Hamas-run government, since Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led terrorists stormed into southern Israel and killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians. Over 250 people were also abducted as hostages. Forty-eight hostages remain in Gaza, with fewer than half believed to be alive.
Displaced Palestinians flee Gaza City, carrying their belongings along the coastal road in Nuseirat toward the southern Gaza Strip, Friday, Sept. 19, 2025.
Abdel Kareem Hana / AP
The Gaza Health Ministry does not say how many of the dead were civilians or militants. Its figures are seen as a reliable estimate by the U.N. and many independent experts. Israeli bombardment in the territory has also destroyed vast areas of the strip, displaced around 90% of the population and caused a catastrophic humanitarian crisis, with experts saying Gaza City is experiencing famine.
On Friday, UNICEF said lifesaving therapeutic food meant for thousands of children in Gaza was stolen from four of its trucks. The statement said armed individuals approached the trucks outside their compound in Gaza City, the drivers were held at gunpoint while the food was taken.
“They were intended to treat malnourished children in Gaza City where famine is declared … it was a life-saving shipment amid the severe restrictions on aid delivery to Gaza City,” said Ammar Ammar, a spokesperson for UNICEF.
In a statement Friday, Israel’s army blamed Hamas for stealing the food.
Displaced Palestinians flee Gaza City, by foot and vehicles, carrying their belongings along the coastal road in Nuseirat toward the southern Gaza Strip, Friday, Sept. 19, 2025.
Abdel Kareem Hana / AP
Israel accuses Hamas of siphoning off aid and using it to fund its military activities, without providing evidence. The U.N. says there are mechanisms in place that prevent any significant diversion of aid.
The incidents come as Western countries plan to recognize Palestinian statehood at the United Nations General Assembly in New York City next week. The United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Malta, Belgium, Portugal and Luxembourg are all expected to recognize Palestinian statehood in the coming days.
The United Nations’ General Assembly overwhelmingly voted on Friday to support a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict and urge Israel to commit to a Palestinian state.
The 193-member world body approved a nonbinding resolution endorsing the “New York Declaration,” which sets out a phased plan to end the nearly 80-year conflict. The vote was 142-10 with 12 abstentions. The United States was one of the 10 states that voted against.
Hours before the vote, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, “There will be no Palestinian state.”
The resolution was sponsored by France and Saudi Arabia, who co-chaired a high-level conference on implementing a two-state solution in late July, where the wording of the declaration was agreed.
Displaced Palestinians check what remains of their tents following an overnight Israeli strike that leveled a building and damaged the surrounding temporary shelters in the Rimal neighbourhood of Gaza City.
Majdi Fathi/NurPhoto via Getty Images
The nearly two-year war in Gaza and the broader Israeli-Palestinian conflict are expected to be at the top of the agenda of world leaders at their annual gathering at the General Assembly starting on Sept. 22. The Palestinian delegation says they hope at least 10 more countries will recognize Palestine as a state, adding to the more than 145 countries that have already done so.
Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian U.N. ambassador, said the majority support for the resolution reflects “the yearning of almost everyone, the international community, to open the door for the option of peace.”
But Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon dismissed the resolution as “theater,” saying the only beneficiary is Hamas.
“This one-sided declaration will not be remembered as a step toward peace, only as another hollow gesture that weakens this assembly’s credibility,” he said.
The United States, Israel’s closest ally, echoed that position.
The resolution “is yet another misguided and ill-timed publicity stunt that undermines serious diplomatic efforts to end the conflict,” U.S. Mission counselor Morgan Ortagus said. “Make no mistake, this resolution is a gift to Hamas.”
Flames and smoke rise from the Rimal neighborhood where the Israeli army launched an attack in Gaza City, Gaza.
Khames Alrefi/Anadolu via Getty Images
The declaration also condemns “the attacks committed by Hamas against civilians” in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, a rare condemnation by Arab nations of Hamas. The Hamas-led militants killed about 1,200 people, mainly Israeli civilians, and took about 250 hostages. Of those, 48 are still being held, including about 20 who are believed to be alive.
The U.N. resolution also condemns Israel’s attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure in Gaza and its “siege and starvation, which have produced a devastating humanitarian catastrophe and protection crisis.”
In recent days, the Israel Defense Forces have intensified strikes across Gaza City, the largest urban area in the territory, destroying multiple high-rise buildings, which the IDF says Hamas has been using for surveillance purposes.
On Saturday, the army cited the same reason for striking another high-rise in the area. The IDF has ordered all residents to leave Gaza City, as it continues an offensive against what it calls Hamas’ last stronghold. Hundreds of thousands of people remain there, struggling under conditions of famine, according to humanitarian agencies.
In a message on social media Saturday, Israel’s army told the remaining Palestinians in Gaza City to leave “immediately” and move south to what it’s calling a humanitarian zone. Army spokesman Avichay Adraee said that more than a quarter of a million people had left Gaza City — from an estimated 1 million who live in and around the city, in north Gaza.
The U.N., however, put the number of people who have left at around 100,000 between mid-August and mid-September. The U.N. and aid groups have warned that displacing hundreds of thousands of people will exacerbate the dire humanitarian crisis.
Smoke rises from the Rimal neighborhood, where the Israeli army launched an attack in Gaza City, Gaza.
Khames Alrefi/Anadolu via Getty Images
Israel’s offensive against Hamas has killed over 64,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants.
The New York declaration envisions the Palestinian Authority governing and controlling all Palestinian territory, with a transitional administrative committee immediately established under its umbrella after a ceasefire in Gaza.
“In the context of ending the war in Gaza, Hamas must end its rule in Gaza and hand over its weapons to the Palestinian Authority,” the declaration says.
It also supports deployment of “a temporary international stabilization mission” operating under U.N. auspices to protect Palestinian civilians, support the transfer of security to the Palestinian Authority and provide security guarantees for Palestine and Israel — “including monitoring of the ceasefire and of a future peace agreement.”
The declaration urges countries to recognize the state of Palestine, calling this “an essential and indispensable component of the achievement of the two-state solution.” Without naming Israel but clearly referring to it, the document says “illegal unilateral actions are posing an existential threat to the realization of the independent state of Palestine.”
The office of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas urged the U.S. government on Saturday to reverse its decision to revoke his visa, weeks before he is meant to appear at the United Nations’ annual meeting and an international conference about creating a Palestinian state.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio rescinded the visas of Abbas and 80 other officials ahead of next month’s high-level meeting of the U.N. General Assembly, the State Department disclosed on Friday. Palestinian representatives assigned to the U.N. mission were granted exceptions.
The move is the latest in a series of steps the Trump administration has taken to target Palestinians with visa restrictions.
The State Department said in a statement that Rubio also ordered some new visa applications from Palestinian officials, including those tied to the Palestine Liberation Organization, to be denied.
“It is in our national security interests to hold the PLO and PA accountable for not complying with their commitments, and for undermining the prospects for peace,” the statement said.
Mahmoud Abbas, President of the State of Palestine, speaks during the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 26, 2024, in New York City.
Stephanie Keith / Getty Images
The Palestinian Authority denounced the visa withdrawals as a violation of U.S. commitments as the host country of the United Nations.
Abbas has addressed the General Assembly for many years and generally leads the Palestinian delegation.
“We call upon the American administration to reverse its decision. This decision will only increase tension and escalation,” Palestinian presidential spokesperson Nabil Abu Rudeineh told The Associated Press in Ramallah on Saturday.
“We have been in contact since yesterday with Arab and foreign countries, especially those directly concerned with this issue. This effort will continue around the clock,” he said.
He urged other countries to put pressure on the Trump administration to reverse the decision.
EU countries back Palestinian leader
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot protested restrictions on access to the U.N. General Assembly, and said he would discuss the issue with EU counterparts.
“The United Nations headquarters is a place of neutrality, a sanctuary dedicated to peace, where conflicts are resolved,” he said Saturday. “The UN General Assembly … cannot suffer any restrictions on access.”
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said he spoke with Abbas on Saturday to tell him that Madrid supports him and called the visa denial “unjust.”
“Palestine has the right to make its voice heard at the United Nations and in all international forums,” he said on X.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly to unite against Russia’s aggression. He warned Moscow is “pushing the world to the final war” and urged action to restrain the Kremlin’s nuclear abilities. Luke Coffey, senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, joins CBS News to break down Zelenskyy’s address.
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President Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy both spoke at the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday, urging continued support for Ukraine’s fight against Russia. Nancy Cordes reports.
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United Nations — “Drop by drop, the poison of war is infecting our world,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, opening the annual gathering of 193 nations at the U.N. General Assembly.
With the world facing its highest number of violent conflicts since 1945 — beset by the consequences of Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine and the related spike in food prices, as well as record temperatures, climate disasters and unprecedented numbers of migrants and asylum seekers crossing borders to look for better lives — the agenda is daunting.
President Biden will speak there on Tuesday, but the leaders of four of the five veto-wielding, permanent members of the U.N. Security Council — Britain, France, Russia and China — will be conspicuously absent. So how much can the United Nations hope to achieve?
Of the 193 U.N. member countries, 145 nations are sending their heads of state or government to the General Assembly — but of the five founding, permanent Security Council members, only Mr. Biden will be in New York this week.
China’s President Xi Jinping and Russia’s President Putin rarely attend in person (both addressed the gathering virtually during the pandemic) and this year France’s President Emmanuel Macron and U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak are not showing up.
“While Sunak (U.K.) and Macron (France) have an excuse” — King Charles III is visiting France this week — “I do think it is telling that they are absent,” Richard Gowan, U.N. Director for the International Crisis Group, told CBS News. “That said, I think the General Assembly is a good opportunity for Biden and [U.S. Secretary of State Antony] Blinken to work on firming up U.S. ties with non-Western leaders while Xi and Putin are absent.”
Many experts believe that competition between the U.S. and China for allies in what is often referred to as the “Global South” has undermined the U.N.’s ability to bring parties together for solutions to the world’s most pressing collective problems.
“I don’t see next week as being a competition between big powers. Our goal is to support smaller countries — to let them know that we are as committed to them as we always have been,” U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield told reporters before the meetings.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who led a recent regional summit and traveled recently to China, is also not attending.
“Even without Xi and Modi at the U.N., there are quite a few non-Western leaders who will speak forcefully on behalf of the developing world,” Gowan said, citing Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who is set to use his speech to make a big push for rebalancing the global system, and South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa, who will likely also hit similar notes.
He also said that leaders from small states can also have an outsize impact at the General Assembly. An example is Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley — a likely candidate to be the next Secretary General — who has used her recent U.N. appearances to call for reforms to the IMF and World Bank.
“People are looking to their leaders for a way out of this mess,” Guterres said.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres delivers a statement at U.N. headquarters in New York City, Sept. 18, 2023.
MIKE SEGAR / REUTERS
The Russian invasion of Ukraine and the continuing bombardment of civilians will be the primary focus at this year’s event because Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will take center stage amid the ongoing war. This follows Moscow’s cancellation of a U.N.-backed grain export deal that has caused food crises in developing nations.
Zelenskyy will have several opportunities to get his plea for support across to the world on this trip, including at the U.N. and in Washington, where he will meet with President Biden on Thursday.
“If Ukraine falls, what will happen in ten years? Just think about it. If [the Russians] reach Poland, what’s next? A third World War?” ge said in the interview. “We’re defending the values of the whole world. And these are Ukrainian people who are paying the highest price. We are truly fighting for our freedom, we are dying. … We are fighting for real with a nuclear state that threatens to destroy the world.”
Zelenskyy also insisted Ukraine would not consider giving up territory for a peace deal with Russia.
Nonetheless, U.N. expert Gowan says, “Zelenskyy needs to be careful,” saying that “even those who are sympathetic to Ukraine want to see peace talks sooner rather than later.”
Another pressing issue before the U.N. at this time is the forced displacement of people around the globe, which reached a new record high of 110 million people this year, High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said on Sunday at U.N. Headquarters, causing a flood of refugees from Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Food insecurity is also high on the agenda, with expectations that the daylong summit on Monday on global goals may lead to new pledges.
“The number of people globally who do not have enough to eat is at its highest in modern history,” the U.N.’s World Food Program said. Its executive director, Cindy McCain, said that 700 million people “don’t know when — or if — they will eat again.”
Not many diplomats see breakthroughs coming at U.N. week.
“We must say no to bloc confrontation, power politics or double standards. If the forthcoming General Assembly can set the right direction, rebuild people’s confidence in the U.N., all other issues will be easier to be tackled,” China’s U.N. Ambassador Zhang Jun told CBS News on Sunday.
Some experts think that focus at the U.N. is more difficult than ever.
“The U.N. is adrift, but that’s not the U.N.’s fault. Guterres has an ambitious and thoughtful agenda for the organization, emphasizing issues like regulating artificial intelligence and combating climate change,” Gowan said. “But the big powers that shape U.N. diplomacy are focused elsewhere, and it is hard to forge agreements on long-term global problems in an era of war and hot crises.”
Asked about the United States’ view of how the U.N. could be made more effective, Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield said:
“Our commitment is ironclad – to see that the U.N. and particularly the Security Council is fit for purpose for the next generation.” “The Security Council … does not represent the world that exists today,” she said.
UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. General Assembly approved a resolution Monday calling for Russia to be held accountable for violating international law by invading Ukraine including by paying reparations for widespread damage to the country and for Ukrainians killed and injured during the war.
The vote in the 193-member world body was 94-14 with 73 abstentions. It was close to the lowest level of support of the five Ukraine-related resolutions adopted by the General Assembly since Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of its smaller neighbor.
The resolution recognizes the need to establish “an international mechanism for reparation for damage, loss or injury’” arising from Russia’s “wrongful acts” against Ukraine.
It recommends that the assembly’s member nations, in cooperation with Ukraine, create “an international register” to document claims and information on damage, loss or injury to Ukrainians and the government caused by Russia.
Before the vote, Ukraine’s U.N. Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya told the assembly that “Russia has tried its best to destroy Ukraine — in a very literal sense.”
He cited Russia’s bombing and shelling of cities and villages since day one, “targeting everything from plants and factories to residential buildings, schools, hospitals and kindergartens” as well as roads, bridges, railways and almost half of Ukraine’s power grid and utilities in the last month alone. He also cited accounts of atrocities committed by Russians in territory it occupied including murder, rape, torture, forced deportations and looting.
“Ukraine will have the daunting task of rebuilding the country and recovering from this war,” Kyslytsya said. “But that recovery will never be complete without a sense of justice for the victims of the Russian war.”
“It is time to hold Russia accountable,” he said.
Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia urged assembly members to vote against the resolution, calling it “an attempt to legalize something that from the view of existing international law cannot be legalized.” It is “legally null and void,” he said.
Nebenzia accused the West of “doing everything it can to provide a veneer of legitimacy” to start spending frozen — or actually “stolen Russian assets amounting to billions of dollars.” And he accused the West of seeking a General Assembly decision “as a screen to hide this open robbery” whose “beneficiaries will end up being the Western military corporations.”
He warned that approval of the resolution “can only increase tension and instability in the entire world,” and said supporters of the resolution “will become implicated in illegal expropriation of sovereign assets of a third country.”
Russia’s veto power in the 15-member Security Council has blocked the U.N.’s most powerful body from taking any action since President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion. But there are no vetoes in the General Assembly, which previously adopted four resolutions criticizing Russia’s invasion.
Unlike Security Council resolutions, General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding, but they do reflect world opinion and have demonstrated widespread opposition to Russia’s military action.
The resolution adopted Monday was sponsored by Canada, Guatemala, Netherlands and Ukraine and co-sponsored by dozens of others.
It reaffirms the General Assembly’s commitment to Ukraine’s “sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity” and reiterates its demand for Russia to immediately “cease its use of force against Ukraine” and withdraw all its forces from Ukrainian territory.
It also expresses “grave concern at the loss of life, civilian displacement, destruction of infrastructure and natural resources, loss of public and private property, and economic calamity caused by the Russian Federation’s aggression against Ukraine.”
The resolution recalls that Article 14 of the U.N. Charter authorizes the General Assembly to “recommend measures for the peaceful adjustment of any situation … which it deems likely to impair the general welfare of friendly relations among nations” including violations of the Charter.
It also refers to a General Assembly resolution adopted on Dec. 16, 2005, titled “Basic Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Remedy and Reparation for Victims of Gross Violations of International Human Rights Law and Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law.”
Soon after Russia’s invasion, the General Assembly adopted its first resolution on March 2 demanding an immediate Russian cease-fire, withdrawal of all its troops and protection for all civilians by a vote of 141-5 with 35 abstentions.
On March 24, the assembly voted 140-5 with 38 abstentions on a resolution blaming Russia for Ukraine’s humanitarian crisis and urging an immediate cease-fire and protection for millions of civilians and the homes, schools and hospitals critical to their survival.
Monday’s vote was close to the lowest vote for a Ukraine resolution: The assembly voted 93-24 with 58 abstentions on April 7 to suspend Russia from the U.N.’s Geneva-based Human Rights Council over allegations Russian soldiers in Ukraine engaged in rights violations that the United States and Ukraine have called war crimes.
The assembly voted overwhelmingly by its highest margin — 143-5 with 35 abstentions — on Oct. 12 to condemn Russia’s “attempted illegal annexation” of four Ukrainian regions and demand its immediate reversal, a sign of strong global opposition to the seven-month war and Moscow’s attempt to grab its neighbor’s territory.
The vote in the 193-member world body was 143-5 with 35 abstentions. It was the strongest support from the General Assembly for Ukraine and against Russia of the four resolutions it has approved since Russian troops invaded Ukraine Feb. 24.
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This story corrects that the vote was close to the lowest but not the lowest for a Russia-Ukraine resolution.
UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. General Assembly adopted a resolution Thursday accusing the Taliban of violating the human rights of Afghan women and girls, failing to establish a representative government, and plunging the country into “dire economic, humanitarian and social conditions.”
The resolution also pointed to persistent violence in the country since the Taliban takeover 15 months ago and the presence of terrorist groups such as al-Qaida and the Islamic State and their affiliates as well as the presence of “foreign terrorist fighters.”
Germany’s U.N. ambassador, Antje Leendertse, had hoped the 193-member General Assembly would approve the German-facilitated resolution by consensus.
But a vote was requested and it was adopted 116-0, with 10 countries abstaining — Russia, China, Belarus, Burundi, North Korea, Ethiopia, Guinea, Nicaragua, Pakistan and Zimbabwe. Sixty-seven countries did not vote.
General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding, unlike Security Council resolutions, but they do reflect world opinion.
The adoption came the same day that the Taliban, which already banned girls from middle school and high school, prohibited women from using gyms and parks.
Before the vote, Leendertse told the assembly that since the Taliban came to power in August 2021 Afghanistan has seen “a massive economic contraction and humanitarian crisis” which has left half the population facing “critical levels of food insecurity.”
“We expect a harsh winter and levels of needs that we have not seen in the last decades with little prospect for economic recovery and reduction of poverty,” she warned.
Introducing the resolution, Leendertse told the assembly that the Taliban control the country but aren’t living up to their responsibility toward meeting the needs of the Afghan people.
“The resolution is a clear call to respect, protect and fulfill human rights, develop inclusive governance and fight terrorism,” she said. “It contains a clear message that without that, there cannot be business as usual and no pathway toward recognition.”
The resolution pledges continued U.N. support for the Afghan people “in order to rebuild a stable, secure and economically self-sufficient state, free of terrorism, narcotics, transnational organized crime, including trafficking in persons, and corruption, and to strengthen the foundations of a constitutional democracy as a responsible member of the international community.”
It calls for improved access for aid workers and recognizes the need to help address Afghanistan’s economic challenges, including efforts to restore the banking and financial systems and enabling Central Bank assets — held mainly in the United States — to be used to help the Afghan people.
The resolution expresses deep concern at human rights abuses against women and girls, including sexual violence, and calls on the Taliban to promote “full, equal, meaningful and safe participation of women in all aspects of Afghan society.”
It condemns all attacks, reprisals and violence against journalists and media workers and calls for their perpetrators to be brought to justice.
The resolution reaffirms the assembly’s expectation that the Taliban will live up to its commitments to allow the safe departure of all Afghans and foreign nationals that want to leave the country.
UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. General Assembly scheduled a vote for Monday on a resolution that would call for Russia to be held accountable for violating international law by invading Ukraine, including by paying reparations.
The draft resolution, obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press, would recognize the need to establish “an international mechanism for reparation for damage, loss or injury’” arising from Russia’s “wrongful acts” against Ukraine.
It would recommend that the assembly’s 193 member nations, in cooperation with Ukraine, create “an international register” to document claims and information on damage, loss or injury to Ukrainians and the government caused by Russia.
Russia’s veto power in the 15-member Security Council has blocked the U.N.’s most powerful body from taking any action since President Vladimir Putin ordered his forces to invade Ukraine on Feb. 24. But there are no vetoes in the General Assembly, which already has adopted four resolutions criticizing Russia’s invasion.
Unlike Security Council resolutions, General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding, but they do reflect world opinion and have demonstrated widespread opposition to Russia’s military action.
The proposed resolution is co-sponsored by Canada, Guatemala, Netherlands and Ukraine. General Assembly spokeswoman Paulina Kubiak said Tuesday that there will not be a debate on the draft resolution, but countries can give an explanation of their vote before or after the assembly takes action.
The resolution would reaffirm the General Assembly’s commitment to Ukraine’s “sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity” and reiterate its demand for Russia to immediately “cease its use of force against Ukraine” and withdraw all its forces from Ukrainian territory.
It also would express “grave concern at the loss of life, civilian displacement, destruction of infrastructure and natural resources, loss of public and private property, and economic calamity caused by the Russian Federation’s aggression against Ukraine.”
The draft recalls that Article 14 of the U.N. Charter authorizes the General Assembly to “recommend measures for the peaceful adjustment of any situation … which it deems likely to impair the general welfare of friendly relations among nations including violations of the Charter.
It also refers to a General Assembly resolution adopted on Dec. 16, 2005, titled “Basic Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Remedy and Reparation for Victims of Gross Violations of International Human Rights Law and Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law.”
Soon after Russia’s invasion, the General Assembly adopted its first resolution on March 2 demanding an immediate Russian cease-fire, withdrawal of all its troops and protection for all civilians by a vote of 141-5 with 35 abstentions.
On March 24, the assembly voted 140-5 with 38 abstentions on a resolution blaming Russia for Ukraine’s humanitarian crisis and urging an immediate cease-fire and protection for millions of civilians and the homes, schools and hospitals critical to their survival.
The assembly voted 93-24 with 58 abstentions on April 7 — significantly lower than on the first two resolutions — to suspend Russia from the world organization’s leading human rights body, the Human Rights Council, over allegations that Russian soldiers in Ukraine engaged in rights violations that the United States and Ukraine have called war crimes.
But on Oct. 12, the assembly voted overwhelmingly again — 143-5 with 35 abstentions — to condemn Russia’s “attempted illegal annexation” of four Ukrainian regions and demand an immediate reversal,
UNITED NATIONS — Venezuela, South Korea and Afghanistan lost contested races for seats on the top U.N. human rights body in Tuesday by the General Assembly, which faced criticism for electing countries like Vietnam and Sudan, which have been accused of having abysmal human rights records.
The 193-member assembly voted by secret ballot to fill 14 seats on the 47-member Human Rights Council. Seats are allocated to regions to ensure geographical representation, a rule that has regularly led to many regions putting forward uncontested slates — as Africa, Eastern Europe and Western nations did this year.
Human rights groups have long criticized this practice, saying it denies U.N. member nations any choice of countries on the council and virtually guarantees seats for some countries with poor rights records.
In this year’s election, the most hotly watched race was in the Latin America and Caribbean regional group, where Chile, Costa Rica and Venezuela were vying for two seats. The result saw Chile get 144 votes, Costa Rica 134 and Venezuela 88.
Venezuela narrowly won a seat on the Human Rights Council in 2019. Louis Charbonneau, U.N. director for Human Rights Watch, welcomed Tuesday’s result, saying the General Assembly “rightly closed the door” on Venezuela’s attempt to remain on the council.
“U.N. investigators have found evidence that (President Nicolas) Maduro and other officials may have been responsible for crimes against humanity against their own people,” Charbonneau said.
“A government facing these kinds of allegations has no business sitting on the U.N.’s top rights body. Now U.N. member states should seek ways to hold accountable those Venezuelan officials responsible for grave human rights violations, including extrajudicial killings and torture.”
The other closely watched race was in the Asia-Pacific region, where Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Kyrgyzstan, Maldives, South Korea and Vietnam contested four seats. Bangladesh, Kyrgyzstan, Maldives and Vietnam were declared the winners.
Charbonneau said that “electing abusive governments like Vietnam to the council only undermines its credibility.”
In the uncontested regions, the assembly elected Africa’s slate of Algeria, Morocco, South Africa and Sudan, Eastern Europe’s candidates of Georgia and Romania, and the Western nations’ candidates of Belgium and Germany.
The 14 newly elected countries will take their seats Jan. 1 and serve until Dec. 31, 2025
The Human Rights Council was created in 2006 to replace a commission discredited because of some members’ poor rights records. But the new council soon came to face similar criticism, including that rights abusers sought seats to protect themselves and their allies.
On April 7, the General Assembly approved a U.S.-initiated resolution to suspend Russia from the Human Rights Council because of the rights violations it committed in invading and taking control of parts of Ukraine.
The vote, 93-24 with 58 abstentions, was significantly lower than on two resolutions the assembly adopted in March demanding an immediate cease-fire in Ukraine, withdrawal of all Russian troops and protection for civilians.
The assembly voted overwhelmingly on May 10 for the Czech Republic to replace Russia on the council.
UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. General Assembly was due to start debate Monday on whether to demand that Russia reverse course on annexing four regions of Ukraine, but the discussion came as Moscow’s most extensive missile strikes in months alarmed much of the international community anew.
The assembly meeting, planned before Monday’s barrage, was intended to respond to Russia’s purported absorption last month of Ukraine’s Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. The move followed Kremlin-orchestrated “referendums” that the Ukrainian government and the West have dismissed as illegitimate.
But countries may take the occasion to speak out on the Monday morning rush-hour attacks that hit at least 14 Ukrainian regions, including the capital of Kyiv, and killed at least 11 people. Russia said it targeted military and energy facilities. But some of the missiles smashed into civilian areas.
Russia said it was retaliating for what it called a Ukrainian “terrorist” attack Saturday on an important bridge. Ukrainian presidential adviser Mikhail Podolyak has called the bridge accusation “too cynical even for Russia.”
The U.N. assembly was set to gather in the afternoon to consider a proposed resolution that would condemn the “referendums” and claimed annexations as illegal.
The European Union-led measure also would demand that Moscow “immediately and unconditionally” scrap its purported annexations, call on all countries not to recognize them and insist upon the immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal of Russian forces from all of Ukraine’s internationally recognized territory.
A vote is expected later in the week. Russia wants secret balloting, an unusual move that would need to win a procedural vote in itself.
Russia recently vetoed a similar but legally binding U.N. Security Council resolution that would have condemned the supposed annexations. Under a decision made earlier this year, Security Council vetoes must now be explained in the General Assembly.
The assembly doesn’t allow vetoes and its resolutions aren’t legally binding. During the war, the assembly has voted to demand that Russia withdraw, to blame Moscow for the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine and to suspend Russia from the U.N. Human Rights Council.
Meanwhile, the Security Council has been stalemated because of Russia’s veto power.
