Peace with the Palestinians “may take decades” and involve “exchanges of populated territory”, Israel’s Foreign Minister Avigdor Liebermann told the UN General Assembly 28 September. His remarks came as Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu is engaging Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas in peace talks. They have committed to signing a peace deal within a year. Lieberman is [...]
Swiss Deiss to preside over UN during Millennium Goals review
June 14, 2010 by
(GenevaLunch) – Swiss Joseph Deiss was elected president of the UN General Assembly in New York Friday 11 June. He takes up the role 14 September and will preside over the summit on the Millennium Goals 20-22 September. Deiss served as president of Switzerland in 2004 and as the country’s foreign minister, where he led [...]
Merz blames Geneva newspaper photos for Libya debacle
November 20, 2009 by
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Swiss President Hans-Rudolf Merz has no regrets about his actions in the on-going disputes the country has with Libya, he says in a lengthy interview with 20Minuten, the German edition of the daily free newspaper. “I would do everything exactly the same way again.” Switzerland has been trying to obtain the [...]
Other world news in brief
November 6, 2009 by
The UN General Assembly has approved 114 to 18, with 44 abstentions, the controversial Goldstone report into atrocities in the Gaza war in the winter of 2008/09, and recommended that the Security Council act if both Israel and the Palestinians had not conducted their own investigations within three months. CNN, New York Times Honduras‘ former [...]
IOC receives observer status at UN
October 20, 2009 by
Lausanne, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The International Olympic Committee was bestowed observer status at the UN General Assembly in New York, USA Monday, 19 October, in recognition of the IOC’s efforts to promote the UN’s Millenium Development Goals and the importance of sports in promoting development and peace. Observer status is a privilege given to non-member [...]
News ekes out of Qadaffi’s translator’s collapse during leader’s speech
September 25, 2009 by
Many listeners appear to have had a hard time of it with Muammar Qadaffi’s rambling and lengthy speech to the United Nations General Assembly, but apparently none found it as tough as the translator he brought from Libya, who collapsed 20 minutes before the end of the speech, reports Britain’s The Times, calling into the [...]
Merz tells UN the G20 “lacks legitimacy” in busy Swiss political week
September 25, 2009 by
Bern, Switzerland / New York, NY, USA (GenevaLunch) – Swiss President Hans-Rudolf Merz capped off a busy political week for Switzerland with an address to the United Nations General Assembly where he argued that because “the G-20 lacks legitimacy” exchanges between the UN and the G20 group of nations “must be strengthened. The G-20 has [...]
Medvedev criticizes US ahead of UN General Assembly meeting
September 15, 2009 by
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev strongly criticized, but did not name, the US for its domestic policies which tipped the world to the brink of financial melt-down, in a speech 14 September. “Last year, we witnessed how one country’s ill-conceived financial policies became the reason for a global financial crisis, whose effects every country. . . [...]
