
The UN General Assembly condemned the nearly 60-year-old US embargo on Cuba on Thursday for the 28th year in a row, calling for an end to it by a vote of 187 to three. Only Israel and Brazil voted with the US against the resolution. Two other US allies -Ukraine and Colombia - abstained.

The United Nations may not have enough money for staff salaries next month if member states don't pay what they owe, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned on Tuesday. He told the 193-member U.N. General Assembly's budget committee that if he had not worked since January to cut spending then the we would not have had the liquidity to support the annual gathering of world leaders last month.

El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele, whose social media savvy helped win him power earlier this year, took a selfie before his maiden speech at the UN General Assembly, which he called obsolete and suggested scrapping.

China's top diplomat said on Friday that tariffs and trade disputes could plunge the world into recession and Beijing was committed to resolving them in a calm, rational and cooperative manner.

Twenty countries, including France, Britain, and India, signed an agreement at the UN on Thursday that aims to stop the spread of fake news online. The signatories, which also included South Africa and Canada, committed to promoting “independently reported, diverse and reliable” information on the internet, under an accord initiated by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), a press freedom watchdog.

Argentine President Mauricio Macri defended the trade agreement of Mercosur with the European Union, as part of his government's strategy to open Argentina to the world, demanded Iran cooperates with the judicial system to help clear the 1994 AMIA attack in Buenos Aires, condemned the Venezuelan dictatorship of president Nicolas Maduro and called on the United Kingdom for dialogue on the Falklands/Malvinas dispute, although reaffirming his country's “legitimate and imprescriptible sovereignty rights” over the South Atlantic Islands.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said he will not travel to New York for the annual meeting of the United Nations General Assembly later this month, but that two of his envoys would attend to denounce U.S. sanctions on the OPEC nation.

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said on Monday he was eager to speak about the Amazon fires that have drawn world attention at the next U.N. General Assembly in September, as the issue appeared to erode his support at home.

Family farmers have an important role in the global fight to end hunger and promote a healthy diet, according to the President of the United Nations General Assembly, María Fernanda Espinosa. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) states that, in a context in which almost one million plants and animal species are endangered by the impact of man, traditional agriculture can make a contribution essential to safeguard agricultural biodiversity.

United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly demanded on Wednesday that Britain give up control over the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean within six months, dealing a diplomatic blow to Britain and the United States.