The UN General Assembly approved a two-year budget of US$4.17 billion on Saturday, with the US casting the only vote against the measure because it included financing for a conference the US felt would be prejudicial against Israel.
The vote, taken at 5:55am after days of round-the-clock negotiations, was 142-1.
The US said it was forced to oppose the measure because of the insistence of the Group of 77, a powerful assemblage of 130 developing countries, that the budget provide money for a proposed conference that would be a follow-up to the 2001 World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa.
The US walked out of the Durban meeting because it said it had become a forum for attacks on Israel.
Mark Wallace, the US ambassador for management, said the US objected to "revisiting an event that was noxious to my country and a disgrace in the international community."
He also said the US was protesting the inclusion in the budget of finances for a conference that was supposed to be paid for voluntarily.
However, in another dispute with the developing-world group, the US succeeded in gaining a last-minute restoration of full financing for an antifraud office that has exposed more than US$600 million in tainted UN contracts and is investigating an additional US$1 billion in suspect agreements.
The original budget proposal had called for shuttering the panel in six months, which its chief, Robert Appleton, said last week would have effectively ended its investigations.
In negotiations between 3am and 4am, Wallace persuaded the Group of 77 leaders to drop language closing down the taskforce on June 30.
Left in the proposal was a call for an audit of the two-year-old taskforce's activities in the past, a particular insistence of Singapore, which has repeatedly accused the antifraud panel of dealing unfairly with a UN official from its country who has been under investigation for two years.
Appleton said on Saturday that he was "honored and delighted" to have more time and that he was not bothered by the audit provision.
The overall budget was a slight reduction from the US$4.2 billion figure proposed by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon last month, which represented a substantial increase over the US$3.8 billion budget for last year and this year that Ban attributed to the growing demands on the organization.
A beauty queen who pulled out of the Miss South Africa competition when her nationality was questioned has said she wants to relocate to Nigeria, after coming second in the Miss Universe pageant while representing the West African country. Chidimma Adetshina, whose father is Nigerian, was crowned Miss Universe Africa and Oceania and was runner-up to Denmark’s Victoria Kjar Theilvig in Mexico on Saturday night. The 23-year-old law student withdrew from the Miss South Africa competition in August, saying that she needed to protect herself and her family after the government alleged that her mother had stolen the identity of a South
BELT-TIGHTENING: Chinese investments in Cambodia are projected to drop to US$35 million in 2026 from more than US$420 million in 2021 At a ceremony in August, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet knelt to receive blessings from saffron-robed monks as fireworks and balloons heralded the breaking of ground for a canal he hoped would transform his country’s economic fortunes. Addressing hundreds of people waving the Cambodian flag, Hun Manet said China would contribute 49 percent to the funding of the Funan Techo Canal that would link the Mekong River to the Gulf of Thailand and reduce Cambodia’s shipping reliance on Vietnam. Cambodia’s government estimates the strategic, if contentious, infrastructure project would cost US$1.7 billion, nearly 4 percent of the nation’s annual GDP. However, months later,
Texas’ education board on Friday voted to allow Bible-infused teachings in elementary schools, joining other Republican-led US states that pushed this year to give religion a larger presence in public classrooms. The curriculum adopted by the Texas State Board of Education, which is controlled by elected Republicans, is optional for schools to adopt, but they would receive additional funding if they do so. The materials could appear in classrooms as early as next school year. Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott has voiced support for the lesson plans, which were provided by the state’s education agency that oversees the more than
The Philippine Department of Justice yesterday labeled Vice President Sara Duterte the “mastermind” of a plot to assassinate the nation’s president, giving her five days to respond to a subpoena. Duterte is being asked to explain herself in the wake of a blistering weekend press conference where she said she had instructed that Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr be killed should an alleged plot to kill her succeed. “The government is taking action to protect our duly elected president,” Philippine Undersecretary of Justice Jesse Andres said at yesterday’s press briefing. “The premeditated plot to assassinate the president as declared by the self-confessed mastermind
RSS