Canada, G7 urge 'all parties' to de-escalate in growing Mideast conflict
Canada called for "all parties" to de-escalate rising tensions in the Mideast following an apparent Israeli drone attack against Iran overnight.
Russia vetoed a UN resolution Friday that would have condemned its referendums in four Ukrainian regions as illegal, declared them invalid and urged all countries not to recognize any annexation of the territory claimed by Moscow.
The vote in the 15-member Security Council was 10-1 with China, India, Brazil and Gabon abstaining.
The resolution would also have demanded an immediate halt to Russia's "full-scale unlawful invasion of Ukraine" and the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of all its military forces from Ukraine.
U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said before the vote that in the event of a Russian veto, the U.S. and Albania who sponsored the resolution will take it to the 193-member General Assembly where there are no vetoes, "and show that the world is still on the side of sovereignty and protecting territorial integrity."
That is likely to happen next week.
Britain's UN ambassador, Barbara Woodward, echoed Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' statement that Russia's actions violate the UN Charter and must be condemned.
"The area Russia is claiming to annex is more than 90,000 square kilometres," she said. "This is the largest forcible annexation of territory since the Second World War. There is no middle ground on this."
The council vote came hours after a lavish Kremlin ceremony where President Vladimir Putin signed treaties to annex the Russian-occupied Ukrainian regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, saying they were now part of Russia and would be defended by Moscow.
Thomas-Greenfield said the results of the "sham" referendums on whether the regions wanted to join Russia were "pre-determined in Moscow, and everybody knows it." "They were held behind the barrel of Russian guns," she said.
Adding that "the sacred principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity" at the heart of the UN Charter must be defended, she said, "All of us understand the implications for our own borders, our own economies, and our own countries if these principles are tossed aside."
"Putin miscalculated the resolve of the Ukrainians," Thomas-Greenfield said. "The Ukrainian people have demonstrated loud and clear: They will never accept being subjugated to Russian rule."
Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia defended the referendums, claiming that more than 100 international observers from Italy, Germany, Venezuela and Latvia who observed the voting recognized the outcomes as legitimate.
"The results of the referendums speak for themselves. The residents of these regions do not want to return to Ukraine. They have made an informed and free choice in favour of our country," he said.
Nebenzia added: "There will be no turning back as today's draft resolution would try to impose."
He accused Western nations on the council of "openly hostile actions," saying they reached "a new low" by putting forward a resolution condemning a council member and forcing a Russian veto so they can "wax lyrical."
Under a resolution adopted earlier this year, Russia must defend its veto before the General Assembly in the coming weeks.
Chinese Ambassador Zhang Jun said that "the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries should be safeguarded." But China abstained, he said, because it believes the Security Council should be using trying to calm the crisis "rather than intensifying conflicts and exacerbating confrontation."
Brazil's ambassador, Ronaldo Costa Filho, said the referendums "cannot be perceived as legitimate" and his country stands by the principle of territorial integrity of sovereign states. But it abstained because the resolution didn't contribute to de-escalating tensions and finding "a solution for the conflict in Ukraine," he said.
Canada called for "all parties" to de-escalate rising tensions in the Mideast following an apparent Israeli drone attack against Iran overnight.
Hospital chaplain J.S. Park opens up about death, grief and hearing thousands of last words, and shares his advice for the living.
A woman who recently moved to Canada from India was searching for a job when she got caught in an online job scam and lost $15,000.
More money will land in the pockets of some Canadian families on Friday for the latest Canada Child Benefit installment.
The World Health Organization and around 500 experts have agreed for the first time on what it means for a disease to spread through the air, in a bid to avoid the confusion early in the COVID-19 pandemic that some scientists have said cost lives.
On Friday, the pop star released her 11th album and at 2 a.m. Eastern, she released "The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology," featuring 15 additional songs.
The United States told the Group of Seven foreign ministers on Friday that it received 'last minute' information from Israel about a drone action in Iran, but didn't participate in the apparent attack, officials said.
American millionaire Jonathan Lehrer, one of two men charged in the killings of a Canadian couple in Dominica, has been denied bail.
Group of Seven foreign ministers warned of new sanctions against Iran on Friday for its drone and missile attack on Israel, and urged both sides to avoid an escalation of the conflict.
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.
Molly Knight, a grade four student in Nova Scotia, noticed her school library did not have many books on female athletes, so she started her own book drive in hopes of changing that.
Almost 7,000 bars of pure gold were stolen from Pearson International Airport exactly one year ago during an elaborate heist, but so far only a tiny fraction of that stolen loot has been found.
When Les Robertson was walking home from the gym in North Vancouver's Lower Lonsdale neighbourhood three weeks ago, he did a double take. Standing near a burrow it had dug in a vacant lot near East 1st Street and St. Georges Avenue was a yellow-bellied marmot.
A moulting seal who was relocated after drawing daily crowds of onlookers in Greater Victoria has made a surprise return, after what officials described as an 'astonishing' six-day journey.
Just steps from Parliament Hill is a barber shop that for the last 100 years has catered to everyone from prime ministers to tourists.
A high score on a Foo Fighters pinball machine has Edmonton player Dave Formenti on a high.
A compound used to treat sour gas that's been linked to fertility issues in cattle has been found throughout groundwater in the Prairies, according to a new study.