75TH U.N. ANNIVERSARY: SURPLUS OF MULTILATERAL CHALLENGES, DEFICIT OF

MULTILTERAL SOLUTIONS, SAYS GUTTERES

The United Nations marked its 75th anniversary Monday amid a global pandemic

and other serious challenges that the secretary-general said highlight the

urgency for stronger international cooperation.

"The COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare the world's fragilities. We can only

address them together," Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, referencing

the disease caused by the coronavirus. "Today, we have a surplus of

multilateral challenges and a deficit of multilateral solutions."

The anniversary commemoration kicks off the U.N.'s annual meeting of world

leaders. However, the pandemic has transformed the session into a mostly

virtual gathering.

"A Third World War - which so many had feared - has been avoided," Guterres

said. "Never in modern history have we gone so many years without a military

confrontation between the major powers. This is a great achievement of which

member states can be proud - and which we must all strive to preserve."

He noted other U.N. accomplishments, including reducing hunger and poverty,

assisting millions of victims of conflict and disaster, and the eradication

of diseases. But the list of work ahead is daunting.

"Twenty-five years since the Beijing Platform for Action, gender inequality

remains the greatest single challenge to human rights around the world,"

Guterres said. "Climate calamity looms. Biodiversity is collapsing. Poverty

is again rising. Hatred is spreading. Geopolitical tensions are escalating.

Nuclear weapons remain on hair-trigger alert. Transformative technologies

have opened up new opportunities but also exposed new threats."

Addressing the General Assemble, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on that

the original aim with which the United Nations was built still remains

incomplete as it needs 'reformed multilateralism' to address today's

challenges. "The declaration acknowledges the need for reform in the United

Nation itself. You cannot fight today's challenges with outdated

structures," the PM said.

The U.N. is using its anniversary year as a moment for reflection. More than

1 million people in 80 countries have provided feedback to a global survey

about the organization and its work.

DONALD TRUMP TO RUSH THROUGH RUTH BADER GINSBURG REPLACEMENT BEFORE ELECTION

President Donald Trump said Monday he expects to announce his pick for the

Supreme Court by week's end, before Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is buried,

launching a monumental Senate confirmation fight over objections from

Democrats who say it's too close to the November election.

Democrats, led by presidential nominee Joe Biden, are protesting the

Republicans' rush to replace Ginsburg, saying voters should speak first, on

Election Day, Nov. 3, and the winner of the White House should fill the

vacancy.

Trump dismissed those arguments, telling "Fox & Friends," "I think that

would be good for the Republican Party, and I think it would be good for

everybody to get it over with."

The mounting clash over the vacant seat - when to fill it and with whom -

injects new turbulence in the presidential campaign as the nation reels from

the coronavirus pandemic that has killed nearly 200,000 people, left

millions unemployed and heightened partisan tensions and anger.

Democrats point to hypocrisy in Republicans trying to rush through a pick so

close to the election after refusing to vote on a nominee of President

Barack Obama in February 2016, long before that year's election. Biden is

appealing to GOP senators to "uphold your constitutional duty, your

conscience" and wait until after the election.

Trump went so far as to disparage reports that Ginsburg had told her

granddaughter it was her wish that a replacement justice not be confirmed

until the inauguration of a new president. "It just sounds to me like it

would be somebody else" who said that, Trump said, providing no evidence and

pointing to political foes

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell vowed on Monday to have a vote "this

year" on Trump's nominee. With just over a month before the election, he

said the Senate has "more than sufficient time."

Announcing a nominee on Friday or Saturday would leave less than 40 days for

the Senate to hold a confirmation vote before the election.

Trump allowed that he would accept a vote in the lame duck period after

Election Day but made clear his preference would be that it occur by

November 3.

NO SUPPORT FOR REIMPOSING IRAN SANCTIONS NOW, SAYS UN CHIEF

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Sunday said the United Nations will

not support reimposing sanctions on Iran as the United States is demanding

until he gets a green light from the Security Council.

The U.N. chief said in a letter to the council president obtained Sunday by

The Associated Press that there would appear to be uncertainty on whether or

not U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo triggered the snapback mechanism in

the Security Council resolution that enshrined the 2015 nuclear deal between

Iran and six major powers.

They point to Security Council Resolution 2231, which endorsed the nuclear

agreement. It states that a JCPOA participant state can trigger the snapback

mechanism.

The U.S. insists that as an original participant it has the legal right,

even though it ceased participating.

Mr. Guterres noted in the letter that the Security Council has taken no

action subsequent to the receipt of the letter of the U.S. secretary of

state, neither have any of its members or its president.

He said the majority of council members have written to the council

president to the effect that the letter did not constitute a notification

that snapback" was triggered.

And he said the presidents of the council for August and September have

indicated that they were not in a position to take any action in regard to

this matter.

Therefore, Mr. Guterres said: It is not for the secretary-general to proceed

as if no such uncertainty exists.

Mr. Guterres said the U.N. won't take any action pending clarification by

the Security Council on whether or not sanctions that have been lifted

should be reimposed.

OPPOSITION PARTIES IN PAKISTAN LAUNCH ALLIANCE TO OUST PM IMRAN KHAN

Demanding Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's immediate resignation, the

country's major Opposition parties have launched an alliance to hold a

countrywide protest movement to oust his government.

A 26-point joint resolution was adopted on Sunday by the All Parties

Conference (APC), which was hosted by the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and

attended by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl

(JUI-F) and several other parties.

At a joint press conference after the end of the multi-party meeting, JUI-F

chief Mualana Fazl ur Rehman read out the resolution and said that the

Opposition parties have agreed to launch an alliance named Pakistan

Democratic Movement (PDM) to organise countrywide protests against the

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government from October.

The resolution alleged that the Khan government has been granted "fake

stability by the same establishment" that interfered with the elections to

bring the incumbent rulers to power.

In an obvious reference to the powerful Pakistan Army, the resolution

expressed "extreme concern" over the increasing interference of the

establishment in the internal affairs of the country and regarded it as a

"danger to the nation's stability and institutions".

According to the resolution, the protests would start in phases. In the

first phase, the Opposition parties will hold joint rallies in all four

provinces in October. The second phase will begin in December during which

the Opposition will hold huge rallies across the country.

TRUMP VOWS TO BLOCK ANY TIKTOK DEAL ALLOWING CHINESE CONTROL

President Donald Trump on Monday threw into doubt a deal to restructure

ownership of the popular video app TikTok, vowing to block any deal that

allows its Chinese parent firm to retain any control.

The comments raised fresh concerns over a weekend deal that appeared to

avert a US-ordered ban of TikTok, which the Trump administration has called

a national security risk.

The deal would make Silicon Valley giant Oracle the data partner for TikTok

with retail giant Walmart also taking a stake in a new entity to be called

TikTok Global.

But details of the plan remained unclear, amid differing accounts on the

American and Chinese shares of the new firm, and who would be in control of

the data and algorithms.

Trump on Monday told Fox News that TikTok's Chinese parent firm ByteDance

"will have nothing to do with it and if they do, then we just won't make the

deal."

He added Oracle and Walmart "are going to have total control over it.

They're going to own the controlling interest... If we find they don't have

total control, then we're not going to approve the deal."

SUPPORT FOR TAIWAN INDEPENDENCE DOOMED TO FAIL: CHINA

China ramped up its rhetoric over Taiwan on Monday, describing any support

for its independence as "doomed to fail", and threatened retaliation against

U.S. diplomatic visits to the island.

Taiwan has been ruled separately from China since the end of a civil war in

1949, but Beijing considers the island part of its territory awaiting

reunification.

The island is a flashpoint with Washington, which promises military support

to the elected government and has sent two envoys to Taipei in as many

months.

At a press briefing on Monday, the Foreign Ministry said that the envoys'

visits were a "political provocation" and threatened retaliation.

"China will take appropriate countermeasures, including targeting relevant

individuals," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin, without

elaborating.

He warned that the U.S. actions will "further damage the cooperation"

between the U.S. and China.

Mr. Wang added that any support for Taiwan's independence is "doomed to

fail".

CHINA AIR FORCE VIDEO APPEARS TO SHOW SIMULATED ATTACK ON US AIR BASE ON

GUAM

China's air force has released a video showing nuclear-capable H-6 bombers

carrying out a simulated attack on what appears to be Andersen Air Force

Base on the US Pacific island of Guam, as regional tensions continue to

rise.

The video, released on Saturday on People's Liberation Army Air Force Weibo

account, came as China carried out a second day of drills near

Chinese-claimed Taiwan, to express Beijing's anger at the visit of a senior

US State Department official to Taipei.

Guam is home to major US military facilities, including the air base, which

would be key to responding to any conflict in the Asia Pacific region.

The Chinese air force's two-minute and 15-second video, set to solemn,

dramatic music like a trailer for a Hollywood movie, shows H-6 bombers

taking off from a desert base. The video is called "The god of war H-6K goes

on the attack!" Halfway through, a pilot presses a button and looses off a

missile at an unnamed seaside runway.

The missile homes in on the runway, a satellite image of which is shown that

looks exactly like the layout of Andersen, though it is not named.

The music suddenly stops as images of the ground shaking appear, following

by aerial views of an explosion.

"We are the defenders of the motherland's aerial security; we have the

confidence and ability to always defend the security of the motherland's

skies," the PLAAF wrote in a brief description for the video.