World
Trump blasts UN for not helping U.S.-led peace efforts, but backs it 100%
After his speech, Trump met with U.N. Secretary-General Guterres for the first time since returning to office in January.
U.S. President Donald Trump slammed the United Nations on Tuesday for failing to support American-led peace efforts, but then reassured U.N. chief Antonio Guterres that the United States “100%” backs the world body, Reuters reported.
“I ended seven wars, dealt with the leaders of each and every one of these countries, and never even received a phone call from the United Nations offering to help,” Trump told the 193-member General Assembly, repeating disputed claims about his role as a global peacemaker. “The United Nations wasn’t there for us.”
Trump’s remarks reflect his long-standing wariness of multilateral institutions, particularly the United Nations. He has repeatedly questioned the effectiveness, cost and accountability of international bodies, arguing they often fail to serve U.S. interests.
“What is the purpose of the United Nations? The U.N. has such tremendous potential … but it’s not even coming close to living up to that potential,” Trump said in a nearly hour-long speech to the annual gathering of world leaders in New York.
“All they seem to do is write a really strongly worded letter and then never follow that letter up. It’s empty words, and empty words don’t solve war. The only thing that solves war and wars is action,” he said.
After his speech, Trump met with U.N. Secretary-General Guterres for the first time since returning to office in January, read the report.
“Our country is behind the United Nations 100%,” Trump told Guterres. “I may disagree with it sometimes, but I am so behind it, because I think the potential for peace with this institution is so great.”
Guterres told him the U.N. was “entirely at your disposal to be able to work together for a just peace.”
Guterres last week defended the U.N. as having “very strong efforts in peace mediation … but we have no carrots and no sticks.”
The U.N. Security Council is the only U.N. body that can impose sanctions, but it has been deadlocked on the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine because the U.S. and Russia are veto powers.
“The United States has carrots and sticks. So in some situations, if you are able to combine the two, I think we can have a very effective way to make sure that some peace process at least can lead to a successful result,” Guterres told reporters.
Trump wants to slash U.S. funding for the U.N., has stopped U.S. engagement with the U.N. Human Rights Council, extended a halt to funding for the Palestinian relief agency UNRWA and quit the U.N. cultural agency UNESCO. He has also announced plans to quit the Paris climate deal and the World Health Organization.
Guterres is seeking ways to as the world body turns 80 this year amid a cash crisis. Washington is the U.N.’s largest contributor – followed by China – accounting for 22% of the core U.N. budget and 27% of the peacekeeping budget. The U.N. has said the U.S. currently owes a total of $2.8 billion, of which $1.5 billion is for the regular budget. These payments are not voluntary.
In a moment of levity, Trump jokingly complained that a U.N. escalator had abruptly stopped as he and First Lady Melania Trump were halfway up and then the teleprompter in the General Assembly did not work, Reuters reported.
“I can only say that whoever’s operating this teleprompter is in big trouble,” he said. “These are the two things I got from the United Nations — a bad escalator and a bad teleprompter.”
However, a U.N. official said the White House had operated its own teleprompter. After Trump finished speaking, U.N. General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock said: “The U.N. teleprompters are working perfectly.”
World
Venezuela quakes leave over 4,300 dead and 16,740 injured
The official tally of injured remained unchanged at 16,740, while 6,462 people have been rescued and about 17,000 have been left homeless.
The death toll from the two earthquakes that struck Venezuela on June 24 has risen to 4,333, National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez told reporters on Saturday, announcing that the distribution of housing to those affected will begin next week, Reuters reported.
Meanwhile, 315 of the dead have not yet been identified, the official said.
The official tally of injured remained unchanged at 16,740, while 6,462 people have been rescued and about 17,000 have been left homeless.
Rodriguez said acting President Delcy Rodriguez will allocate the first 200 homes to those affected next week, but did not give any more details.
Rodriguez also said that 856 buildings were affected, of which 190 either collapsed completely or suffered structural collapse.
According to the government’s preliminary estimates, 25,000 homes are needed. Authorities have already identified around 40 plots of land, totaling about 584,000 square meters, for housing projects in Osma and Chuspa.
Rodriguez said search operations are continuing, saying, “As long as there is life, there is hope. We still have one or two sites where the situation remains uncertain, active sites where we are searching for survivors.”
World
Trump says missiles aimed at Iran if Tehran targets US president
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he had ordered the military to be prepared to launch strikes against Iran if the Iranian government carried out or attempted an assassination of the president.
“1000 Missiles are Locked and Loaded and aimed at the Islamic Republic of Iran, with thousands of more to immediately follow, should the Iranian Government act on its threat, pronounced in many corners of the Globe, to assassinate, or attempt to assassinate, the sitting President of the United States of America, in this case, ME!,” he said in a Truth Social post, Reuters reported.
“Orders have already been given, and the U.S. Military is ready, willing, and able, for a one year period of time, subject to extension, to completely decimate and destroy all areas of Iran.”
World
Russia denounces NATO summit decisions on aid for Ukraine, defence
NATO members at the summit pledged €70 billion ($80 billion) in military assistance to Ukraine for 2026.
Russia denounced NATO’s decisions at a summit in Turkey on Wednesday, saying they could have catastrophic consequences, after the alliance announced military aid to Ukraine and reaffirmed members’ commitment to collective defence, Reuters reported.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said NATO’s priorities remained unchanged: “the militarisation of the European continent, the focus on building up defence capabilities, preparation for an armed conflict with Russia, and, of course, aid to Ukraine”.
“It is a pity, because if NATO strategists had stopped and thought for a moment, they might not have made such irresponsible decisions that could lead to a catastrophe not just for the alliance, but for the whole world,” Zakharova said in a statement on her ministry’s website.
NATO members at the summit pledged €70 billion ($80 billion) in military assistance to Ukraine for 2026.
They reaffirmed their “ironclad commitment” to collective defence under the alliance’s Article 5 pact in a summit declaration and unveiled arms deals worth at least $50 billion.
In her comments, Zakharova said “cracks” between the United States and its NATO partners “have not gone anywhere”.
“Against this backdrop, the Americans do not hide their disappointment with the North Atlantic bloc,” she wrote.
“The issue with Greenland is not being resolved according to the American scenario. There is also resentment that alliance members, as Washington sees it, did not act in a supportive way when the United States needed their backing.”
NATO Secretary Genera Mark Rutte, in an interview with Reuters, said disputes between U.S. President Donald Trump and other NATO leaders showed the alliance’s democratic strength and should serve as a lesson for Russian President Vladimir Putin, read the report.
“I would say to Putin: You should have some more discussions yourself, out in the open,” Rutte told Reuters.
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