U.N

Oct. 27 (UPI) — The United Nations said its peacekeepers in southern Lebanon came under Israeli fire over the weekend, and were forced to “neutralize” one of its drones.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon accused Israel of violating a U.N. Security Council resolution as well as Lebanon’s sovereignty with the attacks. It said in a statement that the military actions “show disregard for safety and security of peacekeepers implementing Security Council-mandated tasks in southern Lebanon.”

UNIFIL said it thrice came into contact with Israeli forces on Sunday near Kfar Kila in southern Lebanon.

An Israeli drone flew over a UNIFIL patrol in what it described as “an aggressive manner,” prompting peacekeepers to take “necessary defensive countermeasures to neutralize the drone.”

Then, at about 5:45 p.m. local time, an Israeli drone flying close to a UNIFIL patrol in the same area dropped a grenade, followed by an Israeli tank firing toward the peacekeepers as well as UNIFIL assets, it said.

The Israel Defense Forces confirmed UNIFIL had shot down one of its drones, The Times of Israel reported, asserting the aerial posed no threat to the peacekeepers.

According to the report, the IDF said it flew a second drone in the area after UNIFIL shot down the first one, which had dropped the grenade prevent others from approaching the downed aerial.

The IDF also denied one of its tanks having fired toward UNIFIL, saying it had detected no gunfire in the area.

UNIFIL has twice previously this month accused Israel of dropping grenades near UNIFIL peacekeepers in southern Lebanon.

On Oct. 12, UNIFIL said a grenade exploded near a UNIFIL position in Kfar Kila. On Oct. 2, grenades were dropped near peacekeepers in Maroun al-Ras.

UNIFIL maintains about 10,500 peacekeepers from 50 countries to monitor the 2006 cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah and prevent a large conflict from spiraling.

It comes as the stages of fragile cease-fire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza are being implemented.

Oct. 22 (UPI) — The International Court of Justice said Wednesday that Israel must allow humanitarian aid to Gaza by the United Nations.

The opinion by the United Nations’ highest court is non-binding but has moral and diplomatic weight.

It also said that Israel has not proven its allegations that the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees had a significant number of employees that were members of Hamas. The United Nations denied those claims. There are 13,000 employees of the UNRWA in Gaza.

“The occupying power may never invoke reasons of security to justify the general suspension of all humanitarian activities in occupied territory,” Judge Iwasawa Yuji said while delivering the opinion. “After examining the evidence, the court finds that the local population in Gaza Strip has been inadequately supplied.”

The Israeli Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that the opinion was “entirely predictable from the outset regarding UNRWA.”

“This is yet another political attempt to impose political measures against Israel under the guise of ‘international law,'” it added. Israel said it will not cooperate with UNRWA.

Israel has alleged that UNRWA has more than 1,000 Hamas-affiliated employees and that they teach hatred of Israel in its schools.

In December, the U.N. General Assembly asked the ICJ to decide what legal obligations Israel had regarding U.N. relief agencies. This happened after Israel’s parliament passed a law banning any UNRWA activity in Israeli territory.

Sam Rose, UNRWA’s acting Gaza director, told the BBC that the opinion “underscores the obligations of Israel under international law.”

“The ruling of today says that Israel’s laws against UNRWA have gone against those obligations, as have its actions on the ground,” he said.

While the world recognized that there was famine and starvation in Gaza last summer, Israel continued to deny it, often blocking any aid to reach hungry Gazans.

“The IDF emphasizes that there is no starvation in Gaza,” an IDF post said in July. “This is a false campaign promoted by Hamas.”

Sept. 26 (UPI) — Chilean President Gabriel Boric has officially nominated former President Michelle Bachelet as a candidate for U.N. secretary-general, launching her bid to lead the organization in 2027.

“Michelle Bachelet is not only a widely known and respected figure on the global stage. She is a woman whose life story is deeply consistent with the values that inspire this organization. She has served twice as Chile’s president and was, of course, the first woman to do so,” Boric said In his address Tuesday to the General Assembly,

He added that in her roles as executive director of U.N. Women and U.N. high commissioner for human rights, Bachelet “has governed, negotiated, healed and listened.” Her career allows her, in “times of fragmentation and mistrust,” to be a figure capable of building bridges.

The term of U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres of Portugal ends in December 2026. Only Bolivian Vice President David Choquehuanca has also been nominated, and Argentina’s Rafael Grossi, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, has said he wants the position.

In July, a group of 36 former Latin American foreign ministers issued a statement stressing the urgent need to renew U.N. leadership, calling for stronger regional representation and for a woman to lead the organization.

Similarly, the former diplomats warned of “a clear gap in global representation,” noting that Latin America and the Caribbean have had only one U.N. secretary-general in eight decades — Peru’s Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, who served from 1982 to 1991 — and they called on member states “to support our region in taking on this responsibility in the next cycle.”

Several women have been mentioned as potential candidates for the U.N. leadership.

Costa Rican economist Rebeca Grynspan, 69, is secretary-general of the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development and a former vice president of Costa Rica. She is seen as a leading contender because of her long career and close ties within the U.N. system.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has endorsed biologist and diplomat Alicia Bárcena, Mexico’s environment secretary and former executive secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean.

Ecuadorian diplomat María Fernanda Espinosa has also been mentioned. She presided over the 73rd session of the U.N. General Assembly, becoming the first woman to hold that post. She has also served as foreign minister and ambassador to the United Nations.

Mia Amor Mottley, 60, is a Barbadian politician and attorney who has served as the eighth prime minister of Barbados since 2018 and as Leader of the Barbados Labour Party since 2008. Mottley is the first woman to hold either position.

“There are other very competent candidates, which is why a strong diplomatic effort and the presentation of a program for U.N. governance in difficult times will be key to standing out from the rest,” Heraldo Muñoz, former foreign minister of Chile, told UPI.

Muñoz also served as assistant secretary-general of the U.N. Development Program for Latin America and the Caribbean and as Chile’s ambassador to the United Nations.

He added that by announcing its candidate before the General Assembly, Chile “immediately positioned the former president’s bid before member states, the international press, commentators who follow world politics and civil society.”

He stressed that what comes next is hard work by Chile’s foreign ministry to deploy “its diplomatic resources to secure formal support from member states in different regions. They will have to be convinced by Michelle Bachelet’s experience in senior U.N. positions.”

Once candidates are officially nominated, the election of the next U.N. secretary-general has two stages.

All members of the Security Council must vote on a candidate. If any of the five permanent members veto the choice, that candidate is immediately out of the race. When a consensus emerges, the name is submitted to the General Assembly, which then votes to ratify or reject the appointment.

“It will be necessary to pay special attention to the 15 members of the Security Council, which proposes a name to the General Assembly. Priority work will be required with the five permanent members, who hold veto power over the candidacies,” Muñoz said.

René Jara, a political scientist and professor at the University of Santiago, said that “any alliance that can be made with other countries, particularly with the BRICS, is important.”

Jara added that the election will pit two forces against each other: those who support U.S. foreign policy and “those who will be a counterweight to those policies.” In his view, “that will be the big battle.”

Sept. 26 (UPI) — Dozens of U.N. delegates walked out of the General Assembly Hall on Friday as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened to “finish the job” in Gaza in his speech at U.N. Headquarters in New York City.

According to Axios, nearly all delegates from predominantly Arab and Muslim countries, as well as some from African and European countries, appeared to leave the hall as Netanyahu entered to give his address during the annual general debate. The outlet said the walkouts represented the vast majority of delegates in attendance.

Netanyahu is facing growing opposition among world leaders as the war in Gaza nears its two-year anniversary. On the sidelines of the U.N. general debate this week, several countries, including Australia, Britain, Canada and France, formally announced their recognition of Palestine, showing their preference for a two-state solution to the war in Gaza.

Netanyahu has rejected the calls for a two-state solution, telling the leaders of these nations Friday that their recognition of Palestine tells Hamas that “murdering Jews pays off.”

“When the most savage terrorists on Earth are exclusively praising your decision, you didn’t do something right, you did something wrong, horribly wrong,” Netanyahu told those countries, apparently referring to Hamas.

“Your disgraceful decision will encourage terrorism against Jews and against innocent people everywhere. It will be a mark of shame on all of you.”

Netanyahu said Israel would carry on its war against Gaza, which was sparked by a Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Hamas took hundreds of hostages, some 50 of whom have yet to be returned.

“The final elements, the final remnants of Hamas, are holed up in Gaza City. They vow to repeat the atrocities of Oct. 7 again and again and again, no matter how diminished their forces,” Netanyahu said.

“That is why Israel must finish the job. That is why we want to do so as fast as possible.”

The prime minister said he had loudspeakers set up to broadcast his speech throughout Gaza. He said his government also took over cell phones in Gaza to also show his speech, but multiple Palestinians told CNN they never received any messages.

Bomb the United Nations headquarters. Or maybe gas it. Fox News host Jesse Watters had plenty of ideas about how to punish the U.N. after President Trump’s humiliating visit to the organization’s New York headquarters Tuesday.

Trump’s arrival at the General Assembly meeting with First Lady Melania Trump began with the pair stranded at the bottom of an escalator that stopped just as the couple stepped on. The hijinks continued when he stepped behind the lectern to speak and the teleprompter was not working. Trump decided to wing it, leaning into his impromptu-diatribe skills with threats, boasts, mentions of assorted global thingamabobs and something about ending seven wars.

The “from the heart” address did not appear to impress the gathering of world leaders, especially the part where he said, “Your countries are going to hell.” Here’s where I imagine Norway leaning over and whispering to Oman, “At least our escalators work.”

But one man’s technical glitch is another man’s conspiracy theory, as Watters showed Tuesday on Fox News’ talk show “The Five.” He asserted that Trump’s troubles were the result of sabotage and that those malfunctions were in fact “an insurrection.”

“What we need to do is either leave the U.N. or we need to bomb it,” Watters joked. Co-hosts Dana Perino and Greg Gutfeld groan-laughed, if there is such a thing.

Watters then said, “[The U.N. headquarters] is in New York, though, right? Could be some fallout there. Maybe gas it?”

“Let’s not do that,” Perino said.

Watters acquiesced, then said, “OK, but we need to destroy it. Maybe can we demolish the building? Have everybody leave and then we’ll demolish the building.”

He continued: “This is absolutely unacceptable, and I hope they get to the bottom of it, and I hope they really injure, emotionally, the people that did it.”

The comments did not come from a liberal late-night host, which probably explains why there were no Mafioso-style threats from FCC Chairman Brendan Carr calling for Fox and Watters to tone it down — or else.

Like Watters, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt smelled escalator sabotage and said as much in an X post: “If someone at the UN intentionally stopped the escalator as the President and First Lady were stepping on, they need to be fired and investigated immediately.” She shared a screenshot of a Sunday article from the Times of London with reporting that said U.N. staff members had “joked that they may turn off the escalators” and “tell him they ran out of money so he has to walk up the stairs.”

Then guess what everyone is now posting about? That would be former VP hopeful and current Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s response to Leavitt’s post: “Not only do they need to be fired, they need to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. It’s a miracle the President ever made it up the stairs.”

California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who on X has been mocking Trump’s social media approach for months, zeroed in on the 79-year-old president’s careful climb up the stationary set of stairs Tuesday. “DOZY DON WAS DEFEATED BY THE ESCALATOR, POOR GUY! THE ENTIRE WORLD IS LAUGHING AT THE LOW IQ ‘PRESIDENT.’ NEXT STOP: THE BEST ROOM AT MEMORY MEADOWS RETIREMENT RESORT. TYLENOL INCLUDED. ENJOY YOUR STAY, DON! — GCN.”

Leavitt said the U.S. Secret Service is among the agencies deployed to investigate the escalator whodunit.

But the escalator perpetrator may be closer to home than Trump’s inner circle and his supporters in the media imagined. According to a spokesperson for U.N. Secretary General António Guterres, Trump’s videographer may have been responsible for jamming the escalator when he ran ahead of the president, potentially triggering a safety mechanism.

As for the teleprompter, the Associated Press reported that the White House was responsible for operating the teleprompter for the president. And a person with knowledge of the situation revealed to the Daily Beast that delegations are allowed to bring their own laptops and teleprompter operators, and the U.N. was not running it for Trump’s speech. The source said that the White House had its own laptop and U.N. technicians were not in the booth for the president’s address. A separate anonymous source also told ABC News that the teleprompter was being operated by someone from the White House, not a member of the U.N. staff.

Watters’ “blow up the U.N.” joke was not funny, especially in our current climate of deadly attacks on political figures by troubled men with guns. But his dangerous strain of humor was soon overshadowed by what another TV personality had to say that evening.

In Jimmy Kimmel’s first opening monologue since his show was pulled last week by ABC, he asked that Americans fight censorship, not each other. The host’s long-running show was indefinitely pulled by the network a week ago after conservative outcry over his remark that “the MAGA gang [was] desperately trying to characterize this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them and doing everything they can to score political points from it.”

On Tuesday, Kimmel teared up when he spoke of Kirk’s death and said he never meant to make light of a young man’s killing. The host also reiterated that liking him or his show was not the point. “This show is not important. What is important is that we get to live in a country that allows us to have a show like this,” he said, emphasizing the value of free speech.

The ousting of Kimmel, a longtime critic and target of the president, was the most high-profile test yet of protecting the 1st Amendment right to free speech in the face of an administration that has weaponized the FCC against its detractors. Upon his return Tuesday, the host was greeted with a standing ovation by his studio audience. Kimmel’s monologue then amassed 11 million YouTube views in its first 12 hours online and is now poised to set a record for being the host’s most-watched opening monologue ever.

Kimmel’s comeback was yet another unfortunate turn for Trump on the Worst Tuesday Ever, and it can’t be explained away as the act of a teleprompter terrorist. But the MAGA-verse is doing its best to make the case, or when it comes to Watters, joking about blowing up places that offend their leader, proving there’s more broken in America than just a U.N. escalator.

Sept. 23 (UPI) — U.S. President Donald Trump has said he plans to address “the good and the bad” across the globe as one of the first speakers when the U.N. General Assembly’s annual general debate opens Tuesday in New York City.

Specifically, he’s expected to speak about his own accomplishments handling conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine, White House press secretary Caroline Leavitt said ahead of his appearance.

Trump touted his role in negotiating peace across the globe Friday while making remarks on an executive order on H-1B visas.

“Nobody’s done a better job than I’ve done on world peace. Nobody’s settled so many wars as I have,” he said, claiming to have “settled” seven conflicts.

Trump spoke about the two ongoing wars in Gaza and Ukraine as well as his upcoming U.N. appearance to reporters Sunday.

“The hatred between [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky is very substantial,” Trump said, according to CBS News. “There’s a lot of bad blood.

“And, 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 is likely to touch on some of the bigger news coming out of meetings on the sidelines of the general debate — the recognition by several countries of an independent Palestinian state.

At an international peace summit hosted by France and Saudi Arabia on Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron formally recognized Palestine. His announcement was joined by the countries of Andorra, Belgium, Luxembourg, Malta and San Marino, and Australia, Britain and Canada made their own declarations Sunday.

“The time has come for Israel to live in peace and security,” Macron said, sharing his support for a two-state solution to the conflict. “The time has come to give justice to the Palestinian people and to recognize the state of Palestine.”

Sept. 22 (UPI) — The United Nations Security Council is to convene Monday to address Russia’s breach last week of Estonia airspace, according to the European union and NATO member.

Kremlin MiG-31 fighter jets flew through Estonian airspace for 12 minutes on Friday, the latest transgression of a foreign national’s airspace in recent weeks during Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Estonia announced the U.N. Security Council meeting on Sunday, describing its mission as to address Russia’s breach of Tallinn’s “territorial integrity” and its violation of a prohibition on the threat or use of force.

“This incursion into Estonian airspace is yet another dangerous act aimed at escalating regional and global tensions, as Russia — a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council — continues its war of aggression against Ukraine,” Tallinn’s foreign ministry said in a statement on X.

“Russia’s reckless and aggressive actions, and its repeated violations of international law and the principles of the U.N. Charter, require a strong and united international response.”

The Friday breach saw three MiG-31s travel within 12 1/2 miles of downtown Tallinn, where there are government buildings of NATO allies and EU member states, according to Jonatan Vseviov, secretary general of Estonia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

He called the breach a “pattern of unacceptable behavior” observed in recent weeks with repeated air and drone incidents in the region.

Last week, Romania summoned the Russian ambassador to Bucharest after Moscow’s drone incursion into its airspace on Sept. 13. It flew within Romanian airspace for 50 minutes.

Before that, Poland shot down at least three of 19 Russian drones that had breached its airspace overnight Sept. 9.

Vseviov chastised Russia over the Friday incursion, saying “it brought aircraft dangerously close to our capital.”

Estonian Defense Forces said NATO F-35s were scrambled in response.

It was Russia’s fourth violation of Estonia’s airspace this year, it said.

“By openly violating Estonian airspace, Russia undermines principles vital to the security of all U.N. member states. When such actions are committed by a permanent member of the Security Council, they must be addressed by that very body” Estonia Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said in a statement.

“Tomorrow’s U.N. Security Council meeting is essential.”

Sept. 4 (UPI) — The United Nations General Assembly voted to back a Palestinian government without Hamas as part of a compromise.

The declaration was circulated at a conference from July 28 to 30, and “sets out an action-oriented pathway towards a peaceful settlement of the Israel-Palestine conflict and the realization of the two-state solution — the vision of an independent state of Palestine living side by side with the state of Israel in peace and security, based on the pre-1967 borders.” the U.N. said in a statement.

The so-called New York declaration was written by France and Saudi Arabia, The Guardian reported.

The declaration condemned the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas and called for Hamas to release its hostages.

Israel, the United States, Hungary and Argentina were some of the countries that voted against it. Twelve countries abstained.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that Israel will never accept a Palestinian state. About three-quarters of the 193 UN member states recognize the Palestinian state proclaimed in 1988 by the exiled Palestinian leadership.

Germany and Italy still hold out against recognizing a Palestine state, although the Italian government is divided on the issue. Five European countries have now banned all imports from illegal Israeli settlements.

The declaration said Hamas must cease control of Gaza and hand over its weapons to the Palestinian Authority, “With the support and cooperation of the international community, in accordance with the objective of a sovereign and independent state of Palestine.”

It also mentioned deployment of a “temporary international stabilization mission” under a mandate from the U.N. Security Council to protect the population, support the strengthening of the capacities of the Palestinian state and give “security guarantees to Palestine and Israel.”

Hamas has said that it will not agree to disarm unless a sovereign Palestinian state is established.

The announcement came on Thursday as the U.N. security council condemned the bombing of Qatar, without naming Israel.

Aug. 31 (UPI) — At least 11 United Nations employees in Yemen were abducted by Houthi-controlled authorities Sunday after they raided World Food Program facilities in the capital Sanaa.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced and condemned the abduction in a statement that also demanded the “immediate and unconditional release” of those detained.

The U.N.’s WFP provides life-saving food assistance to children and mothers in a country considered one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises due to the nearly 12-year civil war between the Houthi militants and the internationally recognized Yemeni government.

The raid followed Israeli airstrikes on Houthi-controlled Sanaa on Friday, which killed its prime minister, Ahmed al-Rawai, along with several other ministers.

Sunday’s arrests increases the number of U.N. workers detained by the Houthis to 23, some whom have been in captivity since 2021 and 2023, Hans Grundberg, U.N. special envoy for Yemen, said in a separate statement.

“The work of U.N. personnel is designed and conducted under the principles of neutrality, impartiality, independence and humanity,” Grundberg said.

“These arrests violate the fundamental obligation to respect and protect their safety, dignity and ability to carry out their essential work in Yemen.”

Both Guterres and Grundberg confirmed that U.N. property had been confiscated by the Houthis during their Sunday raid, though exactly what taken was not detailed.

Both officials also demanded that the Iran-backed Houthis unconditionally release all U.N. personnel and staff from national and international NGOs, civil society organizations and diplomatic missions who have been taken over the years.

“The personnel of the U.N. and its partners must never be targeted, arrested or detained while carrying out their duties for the U.N.,” Guterres said.

“The safety and security of U.N. personnel and property as well as the inviolability of U.N. premises must be guaranteed at all times.”

Aug. 29 (UPI) — U.S. officials revoked visas already issued to members of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority ahead of next month’s United Nations General Assembly, the State Department confirmed Friday.

The department is also denying outstanding visa requests to members of the PLO and PA for undermining efforts at achieving a cease-fire agreement between Hamas and Israel in Gaza.

Both directives are “in accordance with U.S. law,” and come directly from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the department said.

“The Trump Administration has been clear: 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 State Department said in the statement.

“Before the PLO and PA can be considered partners for peace, they must consistently repudiate terrorism — including the October 7 massacre — and end incitement to terrorism in education, as required by U.S. law and as promised by the PLO.”

In July, the State Department sanctioned Palestinian officials from both groups for not complying with their “commitments under the PLO Commitments Compliance Act of 1989 and the Middle East Peace Commitments Act of 2002.”

The U.N. General Assembly opens on September 9 at the agency’s headquarters in New York City.

Rubio’s department accused both the PLO and PA members of undermining peace talks in Gaza by going outside of formal negotiations. The secretary said both must end appeals to international bodies such as the International Criminal Court and International Court of Justice to “secure the unilateral recognition of a conjectural Palestinian state.”

“Both steps materially contributed to Hamas’s refusal to release its hostages, and to the breakdown of the Gaza ceasefire talks,” the department said in its statement.

Rubio said the United States remains open to negotiations and restoring the visas if the groups “meet their obligations and demonstrably take concrete steps to return to a constructive path of compromise and peaceful coexistence with the State of Israel.”

The news comes the same day officials in Britain banned Israeli government and military officials from attending an international defense and security event in London next month.

Israel’s war in Gaza is approaching the 700-day mark.

On Friday, the Israel Defense Forces said it was declaring the area around Gaza City a combat zone as it stepped up military operations on the ground in the northern part of the Palestinian enclave.

WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Marco Rubio has revoked the visas of a number of Palestinian Authority and Palestine Liberation Organization officials ahead of next month’s annual high-level meeting of the U.N. General Assembly, where the groups previously have been represented.

The State Department said in a statement Friday that Rubio also had ordered some new visa applications from Palestinian officials be denied.

The move is the latest in a series of steps the Trump administration has taken to target Palestinians with visa restrictions and comes as the Israeli military declared Gaza’s largest city a combat zone. The State Department also suspended a program that had allowed injured Palestinian children from Gaza to come to the U.S. for medical treatment after a social media outcry by some conservatives.

The State Department didn’t specify how many visas had been revoked or how many applications had been denied. The department did not immediately respond to a request for more specifics.

It wasn’t immediately clear if Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas would be affected.

The agency’s statement did say that representatives assigned to the Palestinian Authority mission at the United Nations would be granted waivers under the U.S. host country agreement with the U.N. so they can continue their New York-based operations.

“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. “Before the PLO and PA can be considered partners for peace, they must consistently repudiate terrorism — including the October 7 massacre — and end incitement to terrorism in education, as required by U.S. law and as promised by the PLO.”

The Palestinian ambassador to the U.N., Riyad Mansour, told reporters Friday that he had just learned of Rubio’s decision and was assessing its impact.

“We will see exactly what it means and how it applies to any of our delegation, and we will respond accordingly,” he said.

Mansour said Abbas was leading the delegation to next month’s U.N. meetings and was expected to address the General Assembly — as he has done for many years. He also was expected to attend a high-level meeting co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia on Sept. 22 about a two-state solution, which calls for Israel living side by side with an independent Palestine.

Lee writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.

Aug. 15 (UPI) — A sixth round of United Nations negotiations on ending plastic pollution broke up in Switzerland early Friday without a deal after disagreements with oil-producing nations pushing for recycling solutions over reducing plastic use.

Delegates from 184 countries worked into the early hours in Geneva to bridge division between more than 100 nations pressing for production limits and oil-rich states, led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, arguing that plastic was critical to their future economic health.

The final text did not place restrictions on plastic production but did address other issues like dangerous plastic chemicals, including forever chemicals, and making plastics easier to recycle — but left countries to implement changes as they saw best.

“We have missed a historic opportunity, but we have to keep going and act urgently. The planet and present and future generations need this treaty,” said the Cuban delegation.

Colombia blamed the collapse of what was supposed to be the final treaty negotiations, eight months after countries failed to conclude a deal in Busan, South Korea, on a small group of countries, which it said “simply don’t want an agreement.”

That claim was echoed by Greenpeace’s delegation, saying in a news release that the call was clear for a strong, legally binding treaty that ended plastic pollution from extraction to disposal, protected human health and provided financial help for the clean up

“The plastics crisis is accelerating, and the petrochemical industry is determined to bury us for short-term profits. Now is not the time to blink. Now is the time for courage, resolve and perseverance. And world leaders must listen. The future of our health and planet depends on it,” said the group’s delegation lead Graham Forbes.

The European Union, which along with Britain, had been pushing to cut plastic production and for global plastics standards to boost recycling, was less pessimistic about the outcome, saying it formed a strong basis for further negotiations.

“Plastic pollution is one of the defining crises of our age, and our responsibility to act is clear. While the latest text on the table does not yet meet all our ambitions, it is a step forward — and the perfect must not be the enemy of the good,” said EU Environment Commissioner Jessika Roswall.

“The European Union will continue to push for a stronger, binding agreement that safeguards public health, protects our environment, and builds a clean, competitive, and circular economy. We do this not only for ourselves, but for the generations yet to come,” Roswall said.

The effort looked set to drag into a fifth year, long beyond the 2024 deadline for a comprehensive agreement dealing with the “full life cycle of plastic” mandated in a resolution adopted by the U.N. Environment Assembly in March 2022.

WASHINGTON — Diplomacy may be soft power, but in President Trump’s administration, it’s also lately a soft landing.

National security adviser Mike Waltz was nominated as United Nations ambassador after he mistakenly added a journalist to a Signal chat discussing military plans. Trump tapped IRS Commissioner Billy Long to be his ambassador to Iceland after Long contradicted the administration’s messaging in his less than two months in the job.

And Trump last weekend named State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce as deputy representative to the U.N. after she struggled to gel with Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s close-knit team.

The new appointments can be viewed as consolation prizes for leaving a high-profile post in the Trump administration following rocky tenures. But they also reflect the degree to which Trump is trying to keep his loyalists close, even if their earlier placements in the administration were ill-fitting. Breaking with the reality TV show that helped make Trump a household name, the Republican president is not telling his top appointees “You’re fired!” but instead offering them another way to stay in his administration.

“It’s not like ‘The Apprentice,’” said John Bolton, another former Trump national security adviser, who has since become a Trump critic.

Trump’s first term featured more firings

During his first White House tenure, Trump was new to politics, made many staffing picks based on others’ recommendations and saw heavy staff turnover. Trump has stocked his second administration with proven boosters, which has meant fewer high-profile departures.

Still, those leaving often are the subject of effusive praise and kept in Trump’s political orbit, potentially preventing them from becoming critics who can criticize him on TV — something that didn’t happen to a long list of former first-term officials.

Ambassadors serve at the pleasure of the president, and Trump can nominate anyone he likes, though many ultimately require Senate confirmation. Typically, top ambassadorships are rewards for large donors.

“It is a tremendous honor to represent the United States as an ambassador — which is why these positions are highly coveted and reserved for the president’s most loyal supporters,” said White House spokesperson Anna Kelly. “Mike Waltz, Billy Long and Tammy Bruce are great patriots who believe strongly in the America First agenda, and the President trusts them fully to advance his foreign policy goals.”

From ‘glitch’ to a new job

Waltz’s days appeared numbered after The Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg revealed in March that Waltz had added him to a private text chain on an encrypted messaging app that was used to discuss planning for a military operation against Houthi militants in Yemen.

Trump initially expressed support for Waltz, downplaying the incident as “a glitch.” Roughly five weeks later, the president announced Waltz would be leaving — but not for good. He portrayed the job change as a cause for celebration.

“From his time in uniform on the battlefield, in Congress and, as my National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz has worked hard to put our Nation’s Interests first,” Trump posted in announcing Waltz’s move on May 1. “I know he will do the same in his new role.”

Vice President JD Vance also pushed back on insinuations that Waltz had been ousted.

“The media wants to frame this as a firing. Donald Trump has fired a lot of people,” Vance said in an interview with Bret Baier of Fox News Channel. “He doesn’t give them Senate-confirmed appointments afterwards.”

Bolton, who served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under President George W. Bush before becoming Trump’s national security adviser in 2018, called it “a promotion to go in the other direction” — but not the way Waltz went.

“The lesson is, sometimes you do more good for yourself looking nice,” Bolton said of Trump’s reassignments.

Bruce also picked for a U.N. post

Ironically, Bruce learned of Waltz’s ouster from a reporter’s question while she was conducting a press briefing.

A former Fox News Channel contributor, Bruce is friendly with Trump and was a forceful advocate for his foreign policy. Over the course of her roughly six months as spokesperson, she reduced the frequency of State Department briefings with reporters from four or five days a week to two.

But Bruce had also begun to frequently decline to respond to queries on the effectiveness, substantiveness or consistency of the administration’s approaches to the Middle East, Russia’s war in Ukraine and other global hotspots. She told reporters that special envoy Steve Witkoff “is heading to the region now — to the Gaza area” but then had to concede that she’d not been told exactly where in the Middle East he was going.

Trump nonetheless posted Saturday that Bruce did a “fantastic job” at the State Department and would “represent our Country brilliantly at the United Nations.”

Former U.S. deputy U.N. ambassador Robert Wood, who served as deputy State Department spokesman during President George W. Bush’s term and as acting spokesman during President Obama’s term, voiced skepticism that Bruce’s new position was a move up. Wood later became the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Conference on Disarmament through the rest of the Obama’s tenure and all of the first Trump administration.

“Given the disdain in MAGA world for anything U.N., it’s hard to imagine Tammy Bruce’s nomination as U.S. Deputy Representative to the U.N. being seen as a promotion,” referring to Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement.

During her final State Department briefing on Tuesday, Bruce said Trump’s announcing that he wanted her in a new role “was a surprise,” but called the decision “especially moving as it allows me to continue serving the State Department, to which I’m now quite attached.”

‘Exciting times ahead!’

Then there’s Long, a former Republican Missouri congressman, who was the shortest-tenured IRS commissioner confirmed by the Senate since the position was created in 1862. He contradicted administration messaging on several occasions.

Long said last month that the IRS’ Direct File program would be eliminated. An IRS spokesperson later indicated that it wouldn’t be, noting requirements in the tax and spending law Trump has championed. The Washington Post also reported that Long’s IRS disagreed with the White House about sharing taxpayer data with immigration officials to help locate people in the U.S. illegally.

After learning that Trump wanted him in Reykjavik, Long posted, “Exciting times ahead!”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt declined to say Tuesday why Long was removed as IRS chief and being deployed to Iceland. “The president loves Billy Long, and he thinks he can serve the administration well in this position,” she said.

‘These things usually don’t work out’

The soft landings aren’t always heralded by Trump.

Former television commentator Morgan Ortagus, who was a State Department spokesperson during Trump’s first term, is now a special adviser to the United Nations after serving as deputy envoy to the Middle East under Witkoff.

Trump foresaw that Ortagus might not be a good fit. He posted in January, while announcing her as Witkoff’s deputy, that “Morgan fought me for three years, but hopefully has learned her lesson.”

“These things usually don’t work out, but she has strong Republican support, and I’m not doing this for me, I’m doing it for them,” Trump added. “Let’s see what happens.”

Ortagus lasted less than six months in the role.

Weissert and Price write for the Associated Press. AP writers Matthew Lee and Fatima Hussein in Washington contributed to this report.

Aug. 10 (UPI) — Tammy Bruce, the former conservative radio host and Fox News contributor who now serves as the spokesperson for the U.S. State Department, has been nominated by President Donald Trump to serve as the next deputy representative to the United Nations.

“I am pleased to announce that I am nominating Tammy Bruce, a great patriot, television personality, and bestselling author, as our next deputy representative of the United States to the United Nations, with the rank of ambassador,” Trump said on Truth Social.

“Since the beginning of my second term, Tammy has been serving with distinction as spokesperson of the State Department, where she did a fantastic job. Tammy Bruce will represent our country brilliantly at the United Nations. Congratulations Tammy!”

Bruce’s nomination will require confirmation by the U.S. Senate after its monthlong recess. It was not immediately clear who would replace her at the State Department.

Mike Walz, Trump’s former national security adviser, has been nominated to serve as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. He testified at his Senate confirmation hearing last month, but his confirmation has since stalled. It is the last cabinet-level position that has not been confirmed by the Senate.

Aug. 5 (UPI) — A special session of the U.N. Security Council was set to convene Tuesday morning at the request of Israel to discuss the dozens of its citizens being held in Gaza after Hamas released footage of starving hostages over the weekend.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar called for an urgent meeting of the 15-member council after shocking videos of hostages Evyatar David, 24, and Rom Braslavski, 21, in which they appear severely emaciated, were circulated by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

“The international community must make it not worthwhile for the terrorists. The world must put an end to the phenomenon of kidnapping civilians. It must be front and center on the world stage,” he said at a news conference Monday.

He thanked the United States and Panama for seconding his call for the special session meeting in New York.

The Israeli consulate in New York upped the pressure by uploading the video of David for all to see on a giant screen in Times Square in midtown Manhattan.

“Hamas kidnapped him. Hamas tortures him. Hamas is starving him. This is what real hunger looks like. This is what truth looks like. Evyatar David is being starved by a Nazi terrorist organization that dares, with the backing of parts of the media, to spread the blood libel that Israel is starving the people of Gaza,” Consul General Ofir Akunis said in a post on X.

“We will continue to expose, everywhere and at all times, the lies of these vile terrorists and their collaborators. Now his face is on Times Square — because the world can’t look away anymore.”

Hamas insisted that the same provisions were provided to the hostages as those available to its members and ordinary people in Gaza and that it did not purposely starve them, stressing that the enclave was in the depths of the hunger crisis.

World leaders joined in the condemnation of the images of the hostages released after Hamas said it would not lay down its arms until the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.

British Foreign Secretary David Lammy led the criticism, calling what he described as hostages being paraded for propaganda “sickening” and demanding their release without conditions.

French President Emmanuel Macron said Hamas stood for “abject cruelty,” while German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he was left shocked by the images and reiterated that no cease-fire could be reached without the hostages’ release.

Calling the videos “appalling,” the International Committee of the Red Cross said in a post on X that the images provided “stark evidence of the life-threatening conditions in which the hostages are being held,” and demanded it be allowed to visit them.

“We know families watching these videos are horrified and heartbroken by the conditions they see their loved ones held in. We reiterate that all hostages must be released immediately and unconditionally. This dire situation must come to an end now.”

Israel said David and Braslavski are among 22 hostages who remain alive out of 49 still being held captive.

In its latest update posted to social media Tuesday morning, the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said the number of malnutrition deaths recorded by hospitals in the Palestinian enclave in the past 24 hours had risen to 188 martyrs, including 94 children.

BEIRUT, Lebanon, July 24 (UPI) — The United Nations has warned that war-torn Lebanon is at “a turning point” and must undertake urgent and immediate recovery efforts to avoid prolonging its six-year multifaceted crisis that has been exacerbated by the recent Israel-Hezbollah war, according to a U.N. report released Thursday.

The report, prepared by the United Nations Development Program and United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, in collaboration with other U.N. agencies, highlighted the devastating impact of the Israel-Hezbollah conflict — that began Oct. 8, 2023, and escalated in September 2024 — by examining its effects on Lebanon’s economy, infrastructure and society.

More than 4,285 people, including 292 children and 861 women, have been killed and some 17,200 wounded as of Jan. 9. Since the Nov. 27 cease-fire agreement took effect on Feb. 18, an additional 200 people, including civilians and Hezbollah operatives, also have been killed.

The war, moreover, displaced over 1.2 million people, damaged or destroyed nearly 64,000 buildings and disrupted education for hundreds of thousands of students, according to the U.N. report.

It indicated that micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, which make up 90% of Lebanon’s economy, were hit especially hard: 15% shut down permanently, 75% suspended operations during the war and nearly 30% lost their entire workforce.

In the most heavily bombed areas, up to 70% of businesses were forced to close permanently.

Moreover, about 500,000 students experienced severe educational disruptions during the war, with 69% of children out of school until the cease-fire. Child nutrition also reached critical levels, particularly in the eastern Baalbek-Hermel and Bekaa governorates, where more than 51% and 45% of children under the age of 2, respectively, suffered from severe food shortages.

Some 1.6 million people are expected to face high levels of acute food insecurity, including 928,000 Lebanese citizens, the report warned.

The proportion of Lebanese citizens living below the poverty line more than tripled between 2012 and 2022 — rising to 33% from 11% — and that the 2024 war, particularly in eastern and southern Lebanon, further exacerbated poverty.

Moreover, the war significantly deepened Lebanon’s labor market crisis. During the conflict, employment among private sector workers declined by 25%. In the areas most heavily affected by bombardments, 36% of workers lost their jobs, compared to 17% in regions less impacted. Even after the cease-fire, 14% of workers remained unemployed.

The report explained that the economic impact has been profound, with Lebanon’s economy contracting by 38% between 2019 and 2024, while the country’s Human Development Index fell back to 2010 levels; marking a 14-year setback caused by the compounded effects of the crisis and war.

Key sectors of the economy have been severely affected, including tourism, agriculture, manufacturing, trade and finance. The tourism sector has taken a significant hit, with its contribution to the economy in 2024 expected to have declined to just 5.5%.

“Lebanon is at a turning point,” said Blerta Aliko, the resident representative of the U.N. Development Program in Lebanon, emphasizing the need for Lebanon to shape “a nationally led recovery plan.”

Aliko said it was imperative that “state institutions are strong and well-equipped” to drive a sustainable and inclusive recovery process.

The report indicated that a reform-driven recovery could help reverse the economic decline, with projections estimating GDP growth of 8.2% in 2026 and 7.1% in 2027. However, even with these necessary reforms, GDP would remain 8.4% below its pre-crisis 2017 peak of $51.2 billion. To sustain recovery, key sectors such as agriculture, construction, tourism and manufacturing must be prioritized, it said.

It recommends the Lebanese government to focus on four key areas for its recovery: rebuilding and strengthening state institutions; revitalizing the economy and generating employment; restoring basic services and expanding social protection; and rehabilitating damaged environmental ecosystems.

Tarik Alami, the economic and social commission cluster leader on governance and prevention, said Lebanon continues to face a “polycrisis” that was made worse by the recent devastating war.

“This critical juncture calls for the urgent and accelerated implementation of essential reforms; particularly within public administration, as well as across socio-economic and financial sectors,” Alami said.

He emphasized that “the root causes of recurring hostilities along Lebanon’s southern border must be addressed decisively and sustainably,” in full accordance with international law and relevant U.N. resolutions.

The U.N. report noted that Lebanon’s path to recovery requires urgent, coordinated action between the government, donors, U.N. agencies and non-governmental organizations, while substantial financing will be required from domestic resources, private sector investments, international development assistance and foreign direct investment.

“Without immediate intervention, economic rebound will take longer, poverty will deepen, state institutions will further weaken and Lebanon’s social stability will be at risk,” it warned.

Last March, the World Bank estimated that Lebanon would need $11 billion for its reconstruction and recovery needs after the Israel-Hezbollah war.

However, any international or Arab financial support remains unlikely unless Lebanon implements the necessary reforms and fully disarms Hezbollah — a condition Israel has set as a prerequisite for halting its ongoing attacks on the country.

July 15 (UPI) — U.N. ambassador nominee Mike Waltz denied any sensitive information was shared during a controversial mobile app chat in March while undergoing a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Tuesday.

The hearing was the first Congressional appearance by Waltz since his controversial participation in a Signal app chat that inadvertently included a journalist while discussing a pending military operation in March against Houthi targets in Yemen.

Waltz was the Trump administration’s national security adviser when the chat occurred, but no mention of the Signal chat occurred until past the hearing’s first hour.

Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., raised using the Signal app to discuss classified matters, which since has been dubbed “Signalgate.”

Waltz said no classified information was shared during the discussion that accidentally included The Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg.

“That engagement was driven by and recommended by the CyberSecurity Infrastructure Security Agency [and] by the Biden administration,” Waltz said, as reported by ABC News.

Waltz said Signal is an encrypted app that was authorized by the CSISA and recommended by the Biden administration.

“We followed the recommendation,” Waltz said. “But there was not classified information shared.”

Coons responded by saying he had hoped Waltz would express “some sense of regret” over the matter that he said included “very sensitive, timely information about a military strike on a commercially available app.”

Waltz told Coons they have a “fundamental disagreement” because no classified information was shared during the Signal chat.

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said the Defense Department’s inspector general and the Air Force have separate investigations ongoing in the matter and have not drawn any conclusions.

“There are two investigations going on at the Pentagon precisely to determine in an objective and independent way whether classified information was shared,” Kaine said.

Waltz declined to comment because the investigations are ongoing.

The U.N. ambassadorship is the last vacancy to be filled by the Trump administration, and Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, called Waltz one of the nation’s “most well-qualified” U.N. ambassador nominees when introducing him to the committee members, CBS News reported.

Lee said Waltz is skilled at negotiations and has a lot of policy experience to guide him while dealing with the United Nations and representatives of its member nations.

“With Waltz at the helm, the U.N. will have what I regard as what could and should be its last chance to demonstrate its actual value to the United States,” Lee told the committee.

UNITED NATIONS — The Trump administration announced Wednesday that it is issuing sanctions against an independent investigator tasked with probing human rights abuses in the Palestinian territories, the latest effort by the United States to punish critics of Israel’s 21-month war in Gaza.

The State Department’s decision to impose sanctions on Francesca Albanese, the U.N. special rapporteur for the West Bank and Gaza, follows an unsuccessful U.S. pressure campaign to force the international body to remove her from her post. It also comes as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is visiting Washington this week to meet with President Trump and other officials about the war in Gaza and more.

It’s unclear what the practical impact the sanctions will have and whether the independent investigator will be able to travel to the U.S. with diplomatic paperwork.

Albanese, an Italian human rights lawyer, has been vocal about what she has described as the “genocide” by Israel against Palestinians in Gaza. Both Israel and the U.S., which provides military support to its close ally, have strongly denied that accusation.

The U.S. had not previously addressed concerns with Albanese head-on because it has not participated in either of the two Human Rights Council sessions this year, including the summer session that ended Tuesday. This is because the Trump administration withdrew the U.S. earlier this year.

Albanese has urged countries to pressure Israel

In recent weeks, Albanese has issued a series of letters urging other countries to pressure Israel, including through sanctions, to end its deadly bombardment of the Gaza Strip.

She has also been a strong supporter of the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrants against Israeli officials, including Netanyahu, for allegations of war crimes. She most recently issued a report naming several large U.S. companies as among those aiding what she described as Israel’s occupation and war on Gaza.

“Albanese’s campaign of political and economic warfare against the United States and Israel will no longer be tolerated,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted on social media. “We will always stand by our partners in their right to self-defense.”

Liz Evenson, international justice director at Human Rights Watch, said the U.S. government’s decision to sanction Albanese for seeking justice through the ICC “is actually all about silencing a U.N. expert for doing her job — speaking truth about Israeli violations against Palestinians and calling on governments and corporations not to be complicit.”

“The United States is working to dismantle the norms and institutions on which survivors of grave abuses rely,” Evenson said in a statement. “U.N. and ICC member countries should strongly resist the U.S. government’s shameless efforts to block justice for the world’s worst crimes and condemn the outrageous sanctions on Albanese.”

Albanese’s July 1 report focuses on Western defense companies that have provided weapons used by Israel’s military, as well as manufacturers of earth-moving equipment that have bulldozed Palestinian homes and property.

It cites activities by companies in the shipping, real estate, technology, banking and finance and online travel industries, as well as academia.

“While life in Gaza is being obliterated and the West Bank is under escalating assault, this report shows why Israel’s genocide continues: because it is lucrative for many,” her report said.

A request for comment from the U.N.’s top human rights body was not immediately returned.

Israel strongly refutes Albanese’s allegations

Israel’s diplomatic mission in Geneva, where the 47-member Human Rights Council is based, called Albanese’s report “legally groundless, defamatory, and a flagrant abuse of her office” and having “whitewashed Hamas atrocities.”

Outside experts, such as Albanese, do not represent the United Nations and have no formal authority. However, they report to the council as a means of monitoring countries’ human rights records.

Albanese has faced criticism from pro-Israel officials and groups in the U.S. and in the Middle East. The U.S. mission to the U.N. issued a scathing statement last week, calling for her removal for “a years-long pattern of virulent anti-Semitism and unrelenting anti-Israel bias.”

The statement said Albanese’s allegations of Israel committing genocide or apartheid are “false and offensive.”

Israel’s ambassador to the U.N., Danny Danon, celebrated the U.S. action, saying in a statement Wednesday that Albanese’s “relentless and biased campaign against Israel and the United States has long crossed the line from human rights advocacy into political warfare.”

Trump administration’s campaign to quiet criticism of Israel

It is a culmination of a nearly six-month campaign by the Trump administration to quell criticism of Israel’s handling of the war in Gaza. Earlier this year, the administration began arresting and trying to deport faculty and students of U.S. universities who participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations and other political activities.

The war between Israel and Hamas began Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel and killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 251 people captive. Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed over 57,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which says women and children make up most of the dead but does not specify how many were fighters or civilians.

Nearly 21 months into the conflict that displaced the vast majority of Gaza’s 2.3 million people, it is nearly impossible for the critically wounded to get the care they need, doctors and aid workers say.

“We must stop this genocide, whose short-term goal is completing the ethnic cleansing of Palestine, while also profiteering from the killing machine devised to perform it,” Albanese said in a recent post on X. “No one is safe until everyone is safe.”

Amiri writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Jamey Keaten in Geneva contributed to this report.

WASHINGTON — The government of El Salvador has acknowledged to United Nations investigators that the Trump administration maintains control of the Venezuelan men who were deported from the U.S. to a notorious Salvadoran prison, contradicting public statements by officials in both countries.

The revelation was contained in court filings Monday by lawyers for more than 100 migrants who are seeking to challenge their deportations to El Salvador’s mega-prison known as the Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT.

The case is among several challenging President Trump’s immigration crackdown.

“In this context, the jurisdiction and legal responsibility for these persons lie exclusively with the competent foreign authorities,” Salvadoran officials wrote in response to queries from the unit of the U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. The U.N. group has been looking into the fate of the men who were sent to El Salvador from the United States in mid-March, even after a U.S. judge had ordered the planes that were carrying them to be turned around.

The Trump administration has argued that it is powerless to return the men, noting that they are beyond the reach of U.S. courts and no longer have access to due process rights or other U.S. constitutional guarantees.

But lawyers for the migrants said the U.N. report shows otherwise.

“El Salvador has confirmed what we and everyone else understood: it is the United States that controls what happens to the Venezuelans languishing at CECOT. Remarkably the U.S. government didn’t provide this information to us or the court,” American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Lee Gelerent said in an email.

Skye Perryman, chief executive and president of Democracy Forward, said the documents show “that the administration has not been honest with the court or the American people.” The ACLU and Democracy Forward are both representing the migrants.

Administration officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The administration in March agreed to pay $6 million for El Salvador to house 300 migrants. The deal sparked immediate controversy when Trump invoked an 18th century wartime law, the Alien Enemies Act, to quickly remove men it has accused of being members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.

In a related case, the administration mistakenly sent Kilmar Abrego Garcia to the same prison, despite a judge’s order prohibiting the Maryland man from being sent to El Salvador.

The administration initially resisted court orders to bring him back to the U.S., saying he was no longer in American custody. Eventually, Abrego Garcia was returned to the U.S., where he now faces criminal charges of human smuggling while legal battles continue.

Last month, a coalition of immigrant rights groups sued to invalidate the prison deal with El Salvador, arguing that the arrangement to move migrant detainees outside the reach of U.S. courts violates the Constitution.

Sherman writes for the Associated Press.

July 4 (UPI) — U.N. nuclear inspectors on Friday departed from Iran two days after the Middle Eastern nation suspended cooperation with the program and weeks after the United States and Israel bombed nuclear sites.

Rafael Grossi, the inspector general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, had aimed to assess the uranium-enrichment facilities and see whether alleged nuclear bomb efforts had been set back.

IAEA hasn’t reported the inspectors findings.

They remained in the capital, Tehran, during the conflict between Israel and Iran.

“An IAEA team of inspectors today safely departed from Iran to return to the Agency headquarters in Vienna, after staying in Tehran throughout the recent military conflict,” the U.N. agency posted Friday on X.

“IAEA Director General rafaelmgrossi reiterated the crucial importance of the IAEA discussing with Iran modalities for resuming its indispensable monitoring and verification activities in Iran as soon as possible.”

On Wednesday, Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian signed legislation that halts cooperation with the agency, blocking oversight of Iran’s nuclear program.

Inspectors will not be allowed to visit nuclear sites without approval from Iran’s Supreme National Security Council.

Iranian lawmakers gave two conditions for resuming cooperation, according to state media. The safety of its nuclear program and scientists is secured, and an acknowledgment about its right under international law to enrich uranium.

The spokesperson for U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the Iranian law was “obviously concerning.”

“I think the secretary-general has been very consistent in his call for Iran to cooperate with the IAEA, and, frankly, for all countries to work closely with the IAEA on nuclear issues,” Stephane Dujarric told reporters.

Iran has been critical of a resolution on June 12 by the IAEA that accused Iran of non-compliance with its nuclear obligations.

This was one day before Israel attacked.

Iran and the United States had been engaged in talks for a nuclear deal. The U.S. used B-2 bombers to send missiles deep underground.

“We are for diplomacy,” Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Majid Takht-Ravanchi, told NBC News on Thursday, adding the U.S. government needs “to convince us that they are not going to use military force while we are negotiating. That is an essential element for our leadership to be in a position to decide about the future round of talks.”

President Donald Trump, who doesn’t want Iran to be enriching uranium, said that the U.S. bombing of three Iranian nuclear sites “obliterated” the program.

Grossi earlier said that Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium remains unaccounted for, and the program may have been delayed only a few months, and not years.

“It can be, you know, described in different ways, but it’s clear that what happened in particular in Fordo, Natanz, Isfahan, where Iran used to have and still has, to some degree, capabilities in terms of treatment, conversion and enrichment of uranium have been destroyed to an important degree,” Grossi said in a CBS News interview on Saturday. “Some is still standing. So there is, of course, an important setback in terms of those of those capabilities.”

Iran has contended its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes but the agency reported in May that Iran stockpiled about 900 pounds of uranium enriched to 60% purity, enough to build nine bomb. That’s up 50% since February.

In December, the IAEA said Iran was rapidly moving closer to the 90% threshold needed for weapons-grade material.

In 2018, Trump unilaterally exited the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action and reimposed harsh sanctions during his first term in office.

In 2015, Iran reached a deal with the United States, Britain, Germany, France, Russia, China and the European Union.