Free Republic

Six weeks after the start of the war in Gaza, the UN security council has come together to back a resolution calling for “urgent extended humanitarian pauses for [a] sufficient number of days to allow aid access” to the embattled territory. The vote late on Wednesday overcame an impasse which saw four unsuccessful attempts to adopt a resolution. Malta drafted the resolution, which calls for humanitarian corridors across the Gaza Strip and urges the release of all hostages held by Hamas. The US and the UK, two potentially veto-wielding powers, abstained on the resolution on the grounds that although they...

The United Nations has raised a rare racism alarm in the US as it called on American President Donald Trump to ‘unequivocally’ condemn racist speech and crimes warning that failure to do so may give room to further violence. The rare “early warning and urgent action” statement, which is reserved for serious situations, was issued by the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) on Wednesday. Trump has been under constant condemnation after he blamed “both sides” for violence that broke out at a rally, organised by neo-Nazis and white supremacists, in Charlottesville, Virginia earlier this month. Yesterday,...