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United Nations, Sep 14 (IANS) The 77th session of the UN General Assembly was declared open by its new President Csaba Korosi.

In his opening remarks on Tuesday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for solidarity among member states to address common challenges, reports Xinhua news agency.

The many challenges that defined the 76th session of the General Assembly are still very much around as the new session starts, he said.

"We face a world in peril across our work to advance peace, human rights and sustainable development, from conflicts and climate change to a broken global financial system that is failing developing countries, to poverty, inequality and hunger, to divisions and mistrust.

"Addressing common challenges will require continued solidarity as we demonstrate the great promise and potential of this organization," he added.

The US is the home of cooperation. And the General Assembly is the life within that home. The months ahead will continue testing the strength and durability of the multilateral system this organization represents, he told delegates.

"And the world is looking to the members of the assembly to use all of the tools at your disposal to negotiate and forge consensus and solutions: debate, deliberation, diplomacy. These eternal tools represent the best pathway to a better, more peaceful world."

In his opening remarks, Korosi called for solutions through solidarity, sustainability, and science.

The only way to achieve better outcomes is to transform, he said. "The contours of the transformation we need are already known. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Sendai Framework (for disaster risk reduction), the Paris Agreement (on climate change), and Our Common Agenda (proposed by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres ), all point us in the right direction. What remains to be seen is whether we will deliver."

The world is looking to the UN for answers. As the world body's chief deliberative body, the General Assembly bears a special responsibility, he said.

"Having begun my tenure as president, I aim to harness the great talents of this community of member states in forging the systemic solutions needed to transform our world. In accepting this privilege, I vowed to serve as an agent of multilateralism, multiculturalism, and multilingualism," said the president.

"I pledge that impartiality would be the hallmark of our operation. My team and I will do our best to push for 'Solutions Through Solidarity, Sustainability and Science,' the motto I've chosen for this presidency."

He vowed to stand firm on the principles of the UN Charter, which brought member states together 77 years ago and hold them together today.

"Encoded in international law, they (the principles of the UN Charter) provide us with a solid foundation from which to build. From here, I wish to pursue integrated approaches and enhance the role of science in our decision-shaping. I will work to foster measurable progress in the sustainability transformation and cultivate solidarity we need to achieve breakthroughs or to avert further crises and disasters," he said.

He promised to engage closely with the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, and other relevant UN bodies to further the critical revitalization process, and pursue the ongoing key reforms led by Guterres to make the General Assembly and the United Nations as a whole fit-for-purpose.

The UnS was created out of the ashes of war and destruction, with the intention of being a well of solutions, said Korosi.

"Responding to humanity's most pressing challenges demands that we work together and that we reinvigorate inclusive, networked and effective multilateralism, and focus on what unites us. It is our mission to come together when there are disagreements, and to build bridges when there are deep divides.

"This (General Assembly) hall was created as a place to build trust, to bring about peace and security, development, and human rights. We owe it to our 8 billion constituents -- the people we are here to serve -- to succeed in our aims," he said.

Korosi was sworn in on Monday at the closing of the 76th session of the General Assembly.

Apart from the General Debate, the high-level week will also see a high-level meeting to mark the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities on September 21, and a high-level meeting to commemorate and promote the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons on September 26.

On September 19, two high-level events convened by UN Secretary-General Guterres -- the Transforming Education Summit and the Sustainable Development Goals Moment -- will be held.

The start of the high-level week coincides with the planned funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, which is scheduled for September 19.

A UN spokesman said he does not anticipate any changes in the schedule of the UN meetings even though many world leaders will be in London on Monday for the funeral.

"There may be impact on the speakers' list of who speaks when. But the meetings are going on as scheduled," said Stephane Dujarric, the chief UN spokesman, on Tuesday.

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Beijing, Sep 14 (IANS) China's national observatory on Wednesday issued a red alert, the highest warning level, as typhoon Muifa is expected to make landfall twice later in the day.

The China Meteorological Administration also upgraded the typhoon emergency response to Level II, the second-highest, reports Xinhua news agency.

Muifa, the 12th typhoon this year, was observed over the ocean 185 km southeast of Xiangshan county in Zhejiang province at 10 a.m. Wednesday.

It is expected to move northwestward at a speed of 20 to 25 km per hour, the National Meteorological Centre said in a statement.

The typhoon will make the first landfall in coastal areas between Sanmen county and Zhoushan city in Zhejiang around nightfall.

It will make the second landfall in coastal areas between Jiaxing city in Zhejiang and Shanghai's Pudong district on Wednesday evening.

Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shandong are expected to experience gales and downpours from Wednesday to Thursday afternoon, according to the forecast.

The Centre has advised the aforementioned regions to make emergency preparations for the typhoon and to take precautionary measures against possible geological disasters, while ships and boats have been asked to take shelter in harbours.

China has a four-tier colour-coded system for severe weather, with red being the most serious, followed by orange, yellow and blue.

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Bangkok, Sep 14 (IANS) A shooting incident at a Thai army college in Bangkok on Wednesday claimed the lives of two people and injured another person, a military spokesperson said.

The gunman, a 59-year-old staff worker at the Royal Thai Army War College, shot at his colleagues at around 8.55 a.m., Xinhua news agency quoted deputy army spokesperson Sirichan Ngathong as saying.

The perpetrator was taken into custody after he surrendered to the police and the motive for the shooting is still unclear, he said.

According to the spokesperson, the injured person is hospitalised and the army will set up a special team to investigate the incident.

In the past year, there have been at least two other cases of shooting murders by serving soldiers, according to the Bangkok Post.

In 2020, in one of the country's deadliest incidents in recent years, a soldier gunned down 29 people in a 17-hour rampage and wounded scores more before he was shot dead by commandos.

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Washington, Sep 14 (IANS) Republican Senator Lindsey Graham has introduced a legislation that would ban abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy across the country.

The bill would prohibit doctors from performing abortions after 15 weeks gestation except in situations involving rape, incest, or risks to the life and physical health of the mother, reports Xinhua news agency.

Graham told reporters on Tuesday that the measure "will put the United States abortion policy in line with other developed nations".

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre responded by issuing a statement that "this bill is wildly out of step with what Americans believe."

In June, the Supreme Court overturned the 50-year-old landmark Roe v. Wade legislation, which eliminated the constitutional protection of abortion rights for women.

Without Roe v. Wade, states are able to impose their own legislation on the medical procedure.

Abortion has been one of the most divisive issues in the US.

According to a Pew Research Center survey last month, a majority of American voters said the issue of abortion would be very important in their midterm vote.

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Paris, Sep 14 (IANS) Wildfires have burned over 3,200 hectares of land in France's southwestern department of Gironde, forcing 840 people to be evacuated, the local government announced in a statement.

"More than 900 firefighters from Gironde and other departments will be mobilized, thanks to the arrival of reinforcements from other departments in the coming hours. Two Canadairs, one Dash (plane) and three water bomber helicopters have been deployed since this morning," Xinhua news agency quoted the statement issued late Tuesday as saying.

The local government said emergency accommodations are being offered to evacuees in Le Porge and other municipalities.

No further evacuations are planned at this time, it added.

More than 30,000 hectares of land had been burned in the department of Gironde this summer due to dry weather and heatwaves, according to media reports.

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Jakarta, Sep 14 (IANS) Representatives of G20 countries have agreed to introduce an assessment instrument to measure how far each country's policies have accommodated the needs of people with disabilities.

The agreement was concluded at the Sixth G20 Employment Working Group (EWG) meeting in Bali, which mainly discussed inclusive job opportunities.

"We aim to ensure that workers with disabilities could have the same opportunities as other workers. Thus, we agree to formulate an instrument that can evaluate whether the policies in every country have been friendly with the disabled people and how far their realisations of affirmative actions for the people with disabilities," Secretary General of Indonesia's Manpower Ministry Anwar Sanusi said on Tuesday in a written statement released after the G20 EWG meeting.

The G20 EWG, he added, also raised other development issues, including the development of capacity of human resources and social protection in the working environment.

"Inclusive job creation is one of the issues raised by Indonesia's G20 Presidency at the EWG meeting that will later be discussed further at the Labor and Employment Ministers Meeting held tomorrow (Wednesday)," Sanusi said.

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Los Angeles, Sep 14 (IANS) The US now joins a list of nearly 30 other countries with circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus (cVDPV) identified by the WHO, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said.

The polioviruses found in New York, both from the case of paralytic polio in an unvaccinated adult in Rockland County in New York and in several wastewater samples from communities near the patient's residence, meet the WHO's criteria for cVDPV, according to the CDC.

It means that poliovirus continues to be transmitted in Rockland County and surrounding areas, said the US health agency.

The virus' genetic sequences from the patient from Rockland County and wastewater specimens collected in New York have been linked to wastewater samples in Jerusalem, Israel, and London, indicating community transmission, according to the health agency.

The cVDPV occurs when local immunity to poliovirus is low enough to allow prolonged transmission of the original weakened virus in the oral polio vaccine, according to the CDC.

As the virus circulates and more genetic changes occur, the virus can regain its ability to infect the central nervous system and cause paralysis, Xinhua news agency reported.

"Polio vaccination is the safest and best way to fight this debilitating disease and it is imperative that people in these communities who are unvaccinated get up to date on polio vaccination right away," said Jose R. Romero, Director of CDC's National Centre for Immunisation and Respiratory Diseases.

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Gaza, Sep 14 (IANS) Dozens of Palestinians rallied in western Gaza against an Israeli blockade imposed on the Palestinian enclave for more than 15 years.

During the rally, which was organised on Tuesday by several Palestinian factions including Gaza's ruling faction Hamas, demonstrators demanded the Palestinians' right to natural resources, mainly the gas fields discovered in 2000 off the coast of the Gaza Strip.

They waved Palestinian flags and carried banners in both Arabic and English that read, "It is our right to travel freely and with dignity" and "Our gas is our right".

"The ongoing Israeli siege on Gaza has deprived thousands of students of freedom of movement and thousands of patients of their right to medical treatment," Suhail al-Hindi, a senior Hamas member, told the rally.

He called for efforts to put pressure on Israel to lift the siege on the Gaza Strip and uphold the Palestinians' right to exploit their natural resources, Xinhua news agency reported.

"Israel continues to deprive Gazans' rights to natural resources, communicating with the world through a sea corridor, and building a port and an airport," Al-Hindi said.

Later, dozens of boats carrying flag-waving Palestinians held a sea march, with drones belonging to armed Palestinian factions flying around to protect them.

A gas field 36 km west of Gaza city was discovered in 2000, but no major progress has been made in its development and exploitation so far.

Israel has maintained a land, air and sea blockade on the Gaza Strip since Hamas violently took over the territory from the Palestinian Authority in 2007.

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New Delhi, Sep 14 (IANS) Pakistan has formally written a letter to the Afghan authorities regarding the presence of Maulana Masood Azhar, the founding head of the banned terrorist organization Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), in Afghanistan.

The letter clarified that Masood Azhar is likely to be in Nangarhar and Kunhar areas of Afghan province.

It demanded that the defunct JeM chief be found and reported to the Pakistani authorities and arrested.

The letter for the arrest of Masood Azhar has been written by Pakistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, however, no further details have been brought forward by the latter on this matter.

On May 1, 2019, the UN added the name of Masood Azhar to the list of global designated terrorists.

After the attack on the Indian Parliament in 2008, the US added JeM to the list of Foreign Terrorist Organisation.

India has been trying to ask the UN Security Council to declare JeM and Masood Azhar as global terrorist organisations, but China has been vetoing this effort.

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By Yashwant Raj
Washington, Sep 13 (IANS) Former US President Donald Trump is back with another Hindi slogan: "Bharat and US Sabse Achhe Dost (India and US are best friends)".


Trump recorded this new catchphrase at his Mar-a-Lago residence recently for Shalabh Kumar, a Chicago-based businessman, Republican donor and strategist, who was also behind Trump's first Hindi slogan in 2016: "Ab ki bar, Trump Sarkar", which was inspired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's poll slogan "Ab ki bar, Modi sarkar".

Kumar said Trump, who doesn't speak any Hindi at all, had an easier time recording the slogan than many people in Kumar's own team, who had trouble pronouncing the word 'Bharat' correctly. Most of them couldn't get it right, Kumar recalled with a laugh, despite "hundreds of takes".

The former President got it in "just three takes", Kumar said.

Trump had a far more difficult time with the first slogan though. In Kumar's telling, Trump had done 12 takes to finally get it right, recording it at his campaign headquarters at Trump Tower, which also served as the head office of the Trump Organization and, then, his residence. The former President now lives in Florida at his Mar-a-Lago club resort.

"We will use the slogan in the upcoming midterm elections in November," Kumar said, discussing the creation of the new slogan exclusively with this reporter.

The slogan is intended to mobilise Indian/Hindu American voters in support of Republicans, especially the key candidates endorsed by the former President - J.D. Vance in Ohio, Herschel Walker in Georgia, Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania, Ron Johnson in Wisconsin - and party candidates in Arizona, a one-time Republican stronghold that President Joe Biden, a Democrat, won in 2020, blocking Trump's path to re-election.

Indian Americans have emerged as a crucial vote bank in swing states where election outcomes can turn on thin margins, as slim as a thousand or few thousands.

A 2020 report by US think-tank Carnegie Endowment for International Peace noted that "in select swing states, the Indian American population is larger than the margin of victory that separated (Democratic Presidential nominee) Hillary Clinton and Trump in the closely-contested 2016 Presidential race".

The Indian American community has grown to more than four million -- said to be slightly more than 1 pert cent of the total population -- but registered voters among them are less than the total registered voters, which stood at 160 million in 2020. They are located all over the country -- the largest concentrations are in California, Texas, New Jersey, New York and Illinois.

But they matter more in swing states such as Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Virginia and, now, Georgia and Arizona, where their numbers, though smaller, are more than the margins of victory or defeat -- Biden had won Wisconsin by 20,000 votes (Trump had won the state by 22,000 in 2016), Pennsylvania by 80,000 votes (Trump won it by 50,000 in 2016), and Georgia by 12,000 votes (Trump had won it by 2,11,141 votes in 2016).

Both the Democratic and Republican parties now woo Indian Americans aggressively. Kumar said Trump's slogan will feature in an ad that will play on TV channels viewed mostly by Indian Americans, starting October when candidates will be in the last month of campaigning for US House of Representatives, Senate (a third of the 100 seats) and state-wide officials such as governors and state legislatures.

Kumar has been working with Trump since 2016 but things cooled between them towards the end of the former President's terms. Kumar stayed away from Trump's 2020 re-election campaign, but is back in the good graces of the former President. They recently appeared together in an NDTV interview.

--IANS
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