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Guterres Renews Call for Global Ceasefire to Tackle COVID-19 Pandemic

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. (AP)
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. (AP)
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Guterres Renews Call for Global Ceasefire to Tackle COVID-19 Pandemic

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. (AP)
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. (AP)

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called again on all parties to conflicts to respond to his call for a global cease-fire to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic.

He noted that more than 20,000 civilians were killed or injured in attacks in 10 countries last year and millions more forced from their homes.

In a report to the UN Security Council released Thursday he Guterres said that the pandemic is “the greatest test the world has faced” since the world body was established 75 years ago.

Guterres said that according to the United Nations, more than 20,000 civilians were killed last year in conflicts in 10 countries — Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Iraq, Libya, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria, Ukraine and Yemen.

“As the world confronts the monumental challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic, the need to silence the guns could not be more acute,” he stressed.

His new appeal focuses on the protection of civilians, stressing that the most effective way to protect them “is to prevent the outbreak, escalation, continuation and recurrence of armed conflicts,” The Associated Press (AP) reported.

Guterres said that figure is almost certainly an underestimate because it doesn’t include civilian casualties in Cameroon, Chad, Congo, Mali, Myanmar, Niger, Sudan’s western Darfur region and the Palestinian territories.

In Syria, Guterres said hostilities resulted in the deaths of at least 2,404 civilians, including 466 women and 688 children. In Yemen, 3,217 civilians were reported to have been killed or injured, with children accounting for 25%, And in South Sudan there were 1,405 civilian casualties, while in Somalia 1,459 died.

He added that the millions of civilians forced out of their homes in 2019 added to the 70.8 million people already displaced by conflict and violence. For example, he said, almost 1 million people were newly displaced in Congo, 455,553 in Afghanistan and 200,000 in Nigeria.

According to AP, he warned that the pandemic may create "incentives for some parties to conflict to press for an advantage, leading to an increase in violence, while others may see opportunities because the attention of governments and the international community is absorbed by the health crisis.”

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World

Britain Announces Largest Asylum Policy Overhaul in Modern Times

FILE PHOTO: Protesters hold the Union Jack and St George's flags outside the Bell Hotel in Essex after the British government challenged a court ruling requiring asylum seekers to be temporarily evicted from the hotel in Epping, Britain, August 29, 2025. REUTERS/Jack Taylor/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Protesters hold the Union Jack and St George's flags outside the Bell Hotel in Essex after the British government challenged a court ruling requiring asylum seekers to be temporarily evicted from the hotel in Epping, Britain, August 29, 2025. REUTERS/Jack Taylor/File Photo
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Britain Announces Largest Asylum Policy Overhaul in Modern Times

FILE PHOTO: Protesters hold the Union Jack and St George's flags outside the Bell Hotel in Essex after the British government challenged a court ruling requiring asylum seekers to be temporarily evicted from the hotel in Epping, Britain, August 29, 2025. REUTERS/Jack Taylor/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Protesters hold the Union Jack and St George's flags outside the Bell Hotel in Essex after the British government challenged a court ruling requiring asylum seekers to be temporarily evicted from the hotel in Epping, Britain, August 29, 2025. REUTERS/Jack Taylor/File Photo

Britain said on Saturday it would launch the largest overhaul of policy on asylum seekers in modern times, drawing inspiration from Denmark's approach, one of the toughest in Europe and widely criticized by rights groups.

The Labour government has been hardening its immigration policies, particularly on illegal small-boat crossings from France, as it seeks to stem the surging popularity of the populist Reform UK party, which has driven the immigration agenda and forced Labour to adopt a tougher line.

As part of the changes, the statutory duty to provide support to certain asylum seekers, including housing and weekly allowances, will be revoked, the Home Office (interior ministry) said in a statement.

The department, led by Shabana Mahmood, said the measures would apply to asylum seekers who can work but choose not to, and to those who break the law. It said that taxpayer-funded support would be prioritized for those contributing to the economy and local communities.

Mahmood is expected to provide further details on Monday about the measures, which the Home Office says are designed to make Britain less attractive to illegal migrants and make it easier to remove them, Reuters reported.

"This country has a proud tradition of welcoming those fleeing danger, but our generosity is drawing illegal migrants across the Channel," Mahmood said. "The pace and scale of migration is placing immense pressure on communities."

More than 100 British charities wrote to Mahmood urging her to "end the scapegoating of migrants and performative policies that only cause harm", saying such steps are fueling racism and violence.

Polls suggest immigration has overtaken the economy as voters' top concern. Some 109,343 people claimed asylum in the UK in the year ending March 2025, a 17% rise on the previous year and 6% above the 2002 peak of 103,081.

The Home Office said its reforms would be inspired not only by Denmark but other European countries, where refugee status is temporary, support is conditional and integration is expected.

"The UK will now match and in some areas exceed these standards," the department said.

Earlier this year, a delegation of senior Home Office officials visited Copenhagen to study Denmark's approach to asylum, where migrants are only granted temporary residence permits, usually for two years, and must reapply when these expire.

If the Social Democratic Danish government deems their home country safe, asylum seekers can be repatriated. The path to citizenship has also been lengthened and made more difficult, with stricter rules for family reunification.

Among other measures, 2016 legislation allows Danish authorities to seize asylum seekers' valuables to offset support costs.

Britain currently grants asylum to those who can prove they are unsafe at home, with refugee status given to those deemed to be at risk of persecution. The status lasts for five years, after which they can apply for permanent settlement if they meet certain criteria.

Denmark has been known for its tough immigration policies for over a decade, which the Home Office says have reduced asylum claims to a 40-year low and resulted in the removal of 95% of rejected applicants.

Britain's Refugee Council said on X that refugees do not compare asylum systems while fleeing danger, and that they come to the UK because of family ties, some knowledge of English, or existing connections that help them start anew safely.

Anti-immigration sentiment has been growing in the UK, with protests taking place this summer outside hotels sheltering asylum seekers with state funding.

World

Maduro Decries US-Trinidad and Tobago Military Exercises as 'Irresponsible'

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro speaks during an event in Caracas, Venezuela, 15 November 2025. EPA/MIGUEL GUTIERREZ
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro speaks during an event in Caracas, Venezuela, 15 November 2025. EPA/MIGUEL GUTIERREZ
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Maduro Decries US-Trinidad and Tobago Military Exercises as 'Irresponsible'

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro speaks during an event in Caracas, Venezuela, 15 November 2025. EPA/MIGUEL GUTIERREZ
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro speaks during an event in Caracas, Venezuela, 15 November 2025. EPA/MIGUEL GUTIERREZ

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Saturday slammed new joint military exercises by the United States and its ally Trinidad and Tobago as "irresponsible," with Washington increasing its armed presence in the Caribbean.

Caracas claims recent US military activity in the region -- which Washington says is directed against drug gangs -- is really a ploy to overthrow leftist leader Maduro.

This is the second joint training exercise carried out by the United States and Trinidad and Tobago in less than a month.

In October, a US guided missile destroyer docked at Trinidad for four days for another round of practice drills -- within firing range of Venezuela, whose government called it a "provocation."

"The government of Trinidad and Tobago has once again announced irresponsible exercises, lending its waters off the coast of Sucre state for military exercises that are intended to be threatening to a republic like Venezuela, which does not allow itself to be threatened by anyone," AFP quoted Maduro as saying during an event in Caracas on Saturday.

Maduro called on his supporters in the eastern states of the country to hold "a vigil and a permanent march in the streets" during the military maneuvers, scheduled for November 16-21.

The United States has deployed warships, fighter jets and thousands of soldiers to Latin America in recent weeks and launched strikes on 21 alleged drug-smuggling boats, killing at least 80 people.

Washington has provided no evidence those targeted were traffickers, and rights observer groups say the strikes are illegal regardless.

On Tuesday, a US aircraft carrier strike group also arrived in the region, prompting Caracas to announce a "massive" retaliatory deployment.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday announced a military operation aimed at "narco-terrorists from our Hemisphere," but it was unclear how it might differ from the existing US military deployment.

World

Ukraine Says Russian Oil Refinery Near Moscow Attacked

This photo taken Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2025, and provided by Ukraine's 93rd Kholodnyi Yar Separate Mechanized Brigade press service, shows ruins of what was the town of Kostyantynivka, the site of heavy battles with the Russian troops in the Donetsk region, Ukraine. (Iryna Rybakova/Ukraine's 93rd Mechanized Brigade via AP)
This photo taken Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2025, and provided by Ukraine's 93rd Kholodnyi Yar Separate Mechanized Brigade press service, shows ruins of what was the town of Kostyantynivka, the site of heavy battles with the Russian troops in the Donetsk region, Ukraine. (Iryna Rybakova/Ukraine's 93rd Mechanized Brigade via AP)
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Ukraine Says Russian Oil Refinery Near Moscow Attacked

This photo taken Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2025, and provided by Ukraine's 93rd Kholodnyi Yar Separate Mechanized Brigade press service, shows ruins of what was the town of Kostyantynivka, the site of heavy battles with the Russian troops in the Donetsk region, Ukraine. (Iryna Rybakova/Ukraine's 93rd Mechanized Brigade via AP)
This photo taken Wednesday, Nov. 12, 2025, and provided by Ukraine's 93rd Kholodnyi Yar Separate Mechanized Brigade press service, shows ruins of what was the town of Kostyantynivka, the site of heavy battles with the Russian troops in the Donetsk region, Ukraine. (Iryna Rybakova/Ukraine's 93rd Mechanized Brigade via AP)

Ukraine said Saturday it had attacked a Russian oil refinery in a region near Moscow, a day after deadly Russian attacks on its capital Kyiv.

The Ukrainian army said on social media it had hit a refinery in the Ryazan region near Moscow as "part of efforts to reduce the enemy's ability to launch missile and bomb strikes".

Ukraine has regularly staged missile and drone attacks inside Russia throughout the Kremlin's invasion since 2022.

Ryazan governor Pavel Malkov said Russian air defenses shot down 25 Ukrainian drones over the region during the night.

"Falling debris caused a fire on the premises of one enterprise," Malkov said on Telegram but there had been no casualties.

The attack came a day after Russia struck apartment blocks across Ukraine's capital Kyiv that left seven dead, according to the latest toll.

"It has been reported that an elderly woman who was wounded during the shelling on November 14 died in hospital this morning," Tymur Tkachenko of Kyiv's city administration, said on social media.

Other victims included a couple in their 70s and a 62-year-old.

Officials in the central Dnipropetrovsk region said a Russian drone on Saturday wounded five people, one seriously, in the city of Nikopol.

Nikopol lies on the Dnipro River that forms the frontline with Russian forces.

On the opposite occupied bank of the river, Moscow-installed official Yevgeny Balitsky said a Ukrainian drone had hit power lines, causing outages for some 44,000 subscribers.