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REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha/Summary WHO's executive board meets from Jan. 30-Feb. 7WHO seeking $6.86 bln for 2024-2025 budgetBody seen pushing for bigger role in global health crisesGENEVA, Jan 30 (Reuters) - The World Health Organization will push at its board meeting this week for an expanded role in tackling the next global health emergency after COVID-19, but is still seeking answers on how to fund it, according to health policy experts. Also on his list was "the position of the World Health Organization, recognizing there is a need for a reinforced central role for WHO" in the global health emergency system. "It's a huge knot," said Nicoletta Dentico, the co-chair of the civil society platform the Geneval Global Health Hub. PANDEMIC PREPARATIONThe WHO, which celebrates its 75-year anniversary having been set up in 1948, will also use the meeting to advocate for a boosted role in pandemic preparedness, documents showed. Tedros will call for a Global Health Emergency Council to be set up linked to WHO governance.

☆ Trump had to explain his 'Little Rocket Man' nickname to Kim Jong Un, Mike Pompeo says in new book
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Kimberly Leonard | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Trump had to explain to Kim Jong Un that his "Little Rocket Man" nickname was an Elton John reference. Kim told him that he didn't like the "Little" part of the nickname. When Kim said no, Trump explained that the British singer's 1972 hit song "Rocket Man" inspired him to give Kim the nickname in 2017. Kim and others at the lunch laughed, and Kim said, "'Rocket man,' OK. 'Little,' not OK."During his 2016 race for the White House, Trump gave many of his opponents catchy nicknames. Trump first referred publicly to Kim as "Little Rocket Man" on Twitter in 2017 and repeated it at a UN General Assembly speech and throughout his presidency.

☆ Qatar backpedals on energy minister's comment that Europe would be able to 'forgive and forget' Russia for invading Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-18 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Qatar's energy minister said Europe would be able to "forgive and forget" Russia for the Ukraine war. And I think things get mended with time," Saad Sherida al-Kaabi, Qatar's energy minister, said during an energy forum in Abu Dhabi on Saturday, according to an official transcript. "I don't think that — this war and this situation will not last forever." "We don't accept threatening by force or the use of force, we don't accept civilians to be hurt. Qatar's energy and foreign ministries did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment.

☆ The US is quietly extracting concessions from Saudi Arabia after Mohammed bin Salman humiliated Biden
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( Tom Porter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Saudi Arabia has made moves to placate the US after a recent feud over oil. Diplomatic ties between the Biden White House and the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, are being tested as never before in a series of high-stakes diplomatic encounters. Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman in Moscow in May 2017. Biden himself said there would be "consequences" for Saudi Arabia, though did not specify what they'd be. "These are mutual interests keeping the US and Saudi Arabia interested in the bilateral partnership.

☆ 143 countries voted to condemn Russia's illegal Ukraine annexations in key UN vote. Here are the 5 that didn't.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-13 | by ( Erin Snodgrass | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The UN General Assembly on Wednesday overwhelmingly voted to condemn Russia's annexations in Ukraine. Of the 193-member body, 143 countries supported Ukraine, while 35 abstained from the vote. The vote was sparked by Russia's recent annexation of partially-occupied territories in Ukraine, including the Kherson, Luhansk, Donetsk, and Zaporizhzhia regions. The 193-member body issued its most staunch support for Ukraine yet during Wednesday's vote, which saw 143 nations condemn Russia's actions and 35 countries abstain from voting. Only five countries voted against the resolution, one of which was Russia itself.

☆ Ukraine's UN rep trolls Russia after UN vote it badly lost, using binoculars to spot its 4 allies among 183 nations
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-13 | by ( Sinéad Baker | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Only four countries against condemning Russia's annexation of Ukrainian regions at the UN. Ukraine's UN representative mocked Russia, sharing a photo of himself at the UN with binoculars. …"Reuters reported that the photo of Kyslytsya using the binoculars was taken in the room shortly before the vote on Wednesday. 143 countries voted in support of the resolution at the at the UN General Assembly to condemn Russia's annexation and demand that it return the territory to Ukraine. Four countries joined Russia in opposing the resolution: North Korea, Belarus, Syria, and Nicaragua.

☆ Some of Russia's closest allies abstained at the UN rather than support its claim to have annexed parts of Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-13 | by ( Sinéad Baker | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

UN members voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to condemn Russia's annexation of Ukrainian regions. 143 nations voted in support, agreeing to condemn Russia's annexation, while 35 abstained. Experts say Russia's invasion of Ukraine has pushed them further from Russia. Russia tried to make Wednesday's vote a secret ballot, which would have obscured which nations voted with Russia. It did so after conducting referendums in the four regions — Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia — which Ukraine and Western nations dismissed as a sham.

☆ UN General Assembly applauds Ukraine, shuns Russia in tense meeting just hours after deadly missile strikes
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-11 | by ( Erin Snodgrass | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The UN General Assembly on Monday greeted Ukraine's delegate with applause, according to CNN. The body met Russia's ambassador with silence. The special session came just hours after Russia launched a barrage of attacks across Ukraine. On Monday, The General Assembly handily vetoed Russia's attempt to conduct the annexation vote via secret ballot, according to the outlet. "A trail of blood is left behind the Russian delegation when it enters the General Assembly," he said, "and the hall is filled up with the smell of smoldering human flesh."

☆ The UN rejected Russia's push to hold a secret vote on its attempts to annex parts of Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-11 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Russia wanted a UN vote over whether to condemn its actions in Ukraine to be a secret ballot. The UN roundly rejected that on Monday, and the vote is set to be held in public later this week. A secret vote may have made some Russian allies more likely to vote to support it, experts told Insider. Russia's UN ambassador Vassily Nebenzia had argued that the vote should be a secret one. The resolution was drafted before Russia's bombardment on Monday of numerous cities and regions of Ukraine, including some that had not been attacked in months.

☆ Video: Swedish politician cuts hair in solidarity with Iranian women
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-05 | by ( ) edition.cnn.com time to read: 1 min

Swedish politician Abir Al-Sahlani cut her hair to stand in solidarity with Iranian women while addressing the European Parliament. Al-Sahlani spoke with CNN's Isa Soares about the courage of Iranian women and criticized world leaders for not having the courage to speak about the protests during the UN General Assembly.

☆ Namibia can become green energy exporter, says first lady
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-30 | by ( Mark Tutton | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

Green hydrogen (hydrogen produced using renewable energy) is being touted as a clean alternative to fossil fuels that could power heavy industry and transport. EU officials said this summer that they hoped to strike a deal to help Namibia develop its green hydrogen sector. The southern African nation is set to open the continent’s first green hydrogen production plant in 2024, operated by French power company HDF Energy. Namibia’s first hydrogen power plant is expected to be up and running in 2024, and there’s also a potential plan in place to partner with the EU on green hydrogen. Geingos: It is clear that Namibia’s green hydrogen plans extend beyond domestic energy self-sufficiency.

☆ British PM Truss tells allies to stand firm on Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Stefan Rousseau/Pool via REUTERSLONDON, Sept 25 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Liz Truss said allies should stand firm on Ukraine and ignore Russian President Vladimir Putin's "sabre-rattling", as she seeks to mend fences with democratic powers in the face of increasing threats around the world. Truss, who met U.S. President Joe Biden and France's Emmanuel Macron on her first foreign trip as prime minister to New York last week, called on like-minded democracies to be firm against "autocratic regimes". Truss said Putin was escalating his invasion of Ukraine was because he wasn't winning and had made a strategic mistake. Truss, who became prime minister earlier this month, has taken a hard line against Russia and China. "I'm determined that we make the special relationship even more special over the coming years."

☆ Former NATO commander says he's not losing 'a lot of sleep' over Putin's nuclear threats as the Russian leader ups the ante in Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-23 | by ( John Haltiwanger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A former NATO commander said he's not losing "a lot of sleep" over Putin's nuclear threats. "I don't see Putin deciding to use a nuclear weapon," Stavridis said. The US has for months privately warned Russia there would be serious consequences if it employs a nuclear weapon, according to a Washington Post report. But Stavridis said he's not losing "a lot of sleep" over Putin's nuclear rhetoric. And in reference to Putin's nuclear threat, Daalder asserted that "anyone who finds it necessary to say that he's not bluffing most likely is."

☆ Take Five: Intervention watch is here
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Banknotes of Japanese yen and U.S. dollar are seen in this illustration picture taken September 23, 2022. Election results from Italy, euro area inflation numbers and U.S. and Chinese data also give investors plenty to chew over. Japan's authorities finally had enough of a weak yen and intervened to stem a sharp decline against the dollar. Investors have already ramped up expectations for another 75 bps, ECB rate hike in October, so the data shouldn't change the near-term rate outlook. How a new government navigates an energy crunch that is pushing highly-indebted Italy into recession will also be under scrutiny.

☆ Zelenskyy urged UN officials to ask Russian representatives why their military is 'so obsessive with castration' after sharing what was found in Izium
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-22 | by ( Lloyd Lee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy delivered a speech on Wednesday at the UN General Assembly. "Ask, please, the representatives of Russia, why the Russian military are so obsessive with castration," the Ukrainian president said in an impassioned speech delivered at the UN General Assembly on Wednesday. There is a man who was castrated before the murder, and this is not the first case," he said, later questioning why Russian soldiers continue to castrate people. This was not the first time a Ukraine official reported violent acts committed by Russian soldiers against civilians. Serhiy Haidai, the governor of Ukrainian Luhansk province, suggested that the skill belonged to a Ukrainian prisoner and was placed on a stick by Russian soldiers.

☆ CNN anchor Christiane Amanpour declined to wear a head scarf in front of Iran's president, walking away from the interview amid ongoing hijab protests over the death of Mahsa Amini
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-22 | by ( ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

CNN's Christiane Amanpour walked away from a long-anticipated interview with Iran's president. The anchor "politely declined" to wear a head scarf since the interview took place on US soil. Her decision follows a history of women journalists declining to wear the clothing for interviews. On Twitter, Amanpour said that Raisi was late to the interview in New York and received a last-minute request to wear a head scarf from one of the president's aides. Amanpour's case is not the first time a reporter declined to wear clothing that is compulsory for women in Iran.

☆ Biden and UK's Truss agree on continued support for Ukraine -Truss's office
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

British Prime Minister Liz Truss and U.S. President Joe Biden hold a bilateral meeting as they attend the 77th U.N. General Assembly, in New York, U.S., September 21, 2022. REUTERS/Toby Melville/PoolRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterLONDON, Sept 21 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Liz Truss and U.S. President Joe Biden agreed on Wednesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin's actions highlight the need for allies to continue their economic and military support to Ukraine, Truss's office said. read more"The leaders condemned Putin’s recent belligerent statements on Ukraine," a spokesperson for Truss, who took office just over two weeks ago, said following the pair's first in-person meeting. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register"They agreed his actions highlight the need for allies to continue their economic and military support to Ukraine." Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Kylie MacLellan Editing by Chris Reese and Grant McCoolOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Biden rips into Putin for escalating Russia's 'outrageous' Ukraine war in a blistering speech at the UN
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-21 | by ( Jake Epstein | John Haltiwanger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Biden ripped into Putin during a scathing speech at the UN General Assembly on Wednesday. The US leader said Putin is escalating Russia's "outrageous" war in Ukraine with new announcements. Putin said earlier in the day that Russia would partially mobilize and threatened to use nukes. Putin claims he had to act because Russia was threatened, but no one threatened Russia and no one other than Russia sought conflict." Just before he invaded, Putin asserted, and I quote, 'Ukraine was created by Russia' and never had 'real statehood.'"

☆ UK to set out financial regulation reforms on Friday - Truss
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Toby Melville/PoolLONDON, Sept 21 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Liz Truss said her government will on Friday set out sweeping reforms to the financial service industry to unleash growth and boost investment. Truss said on Tuesday that saying not everything her government does will be "popular", but her priority is reviving the economy. The government also wants to rip up Solvency II rules that, insurers say, inhibit their ability to investing billions of pounds a year into long-term infrastructure projects. The Financial Services and Markets bill, which was introduced to parliament just before the summer recess, provides a mechanism for Solvency II to be replaced. Talk of a drive to eliminate unnecessary regulation has been promised by successive governments, but progress has been slow.

☆ UK's Truss and Japan's Kishida to work on countering China -statement
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

British Prime Minister Liz Truss arrives to meet Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida ahead of a lunch bilateral meeting at a Japanese restaurant during their visit to the US to attend the 77th UN General Assembly, New York, U.S., September 20, 2022. "The Prime Minister condemned China's recent provocations over Taiwan, which threatened Japan's Special Economic Zone," a statement said. "The leaders resolved to work together to tackle the strategic threat posed by China." Truss and Kishida agreed on the importance of democracies working together, including through international institutions such as the G7, to constrain economic and security threats from "authoritarian regimes", the statement said. read moreRegister now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Muvija M; Editing by Grant McCoolOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ UNGA: Tax fossil fuel companies 'feasting' on profits, UN chief urges
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-20 | by ( Angela Dewan | Cnn Business | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

The UN chief accused energy giants of "feasting on hundreds of billions of dollars in subsidies and windfall profits while household budgets shrink and our planet burns." The European Commission is proposing that EU states take a 33% share of the companies' surplus profits. US President Joe Biden's administration mulled the idea in the summer but it gained little momentum. "Today, I am calling on all developed economies to tax the windfall profits of fossil fuel companies," Guterres told the Assembly. "Those funds should be redirected in two ways: to countries suffering loss and damage caused by the climate crisis, and to people struggling with rising food and energy prices."

☆ UK's Truss to cut stamp duty in push for prosperity -The Times
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterBritish Prime Minister Liz Truss and National Security Adviser for the UK Tim Barrow walk through the UN General Assembly building, in New York, U.S., September 20, 2022. REUTERS/Toby Melville/PoolSept 20 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Liz Truss will announce plans to cut stamp duty property tax in the government's mini-budget this week in an attempt to drive economic growth, The Times reported. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Akriti Sharma in Bengaluru Editing by Chris ReeseOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ On first international trip, Britain's Truss pledges Ukraine support
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LONDON, Sept 20 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Liz Truss will pledge at a UN summit to meet or exceed the 2.3 billion pounds ($2.6 billion) of military aid spent on Ukraine in 2002 in the next year, doubling down on her support for Kyiv after Russia's invasion. Truss, on her first international visit as prime minister, will call on other leaders at the UN General Assembly in New York to help end Russia's energy stranglehold on Europe, saying it has allowed too many lives to be "manipulated". "My message to the people of Ukraine is this: the UK will continue to be right behind you every step of the way. Your security is our security," she said in a statement before her speech to the summit, which begins on Thursday. "Too many lives – in Ukraine, in Europe and around the world – are being manipulated by a dependence on Russian energy," she added.

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