Press Conference by H.E. Dr. Michael Imran Kanu, Permanent Representative of Sierra Leone to the United Nations in New York, and President of the United Nations Security Council for the month of November 2025 on the programme of work of the Security Council during the month of November 2025.
The United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) has warned that unexploded ordnance continues to pose a serious threat in the Gaza Strip, with injuries reported among residents returning to devastated areas during the ceasefire.
Noon Briefing by Deputy Spokesperson of the Secretary-General, Farhan Haq.
Highlights:
-Secretary-General/Social Summit
-Secretary-General/C40 World Mayors Summit
-Occupied Palestinian Territory
-Sudan
-Tanzania
-Afghanistan
-Hurricane Melissa
-Haiti
-Ukraine
-Land Degradation
-Marathon
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SECRETARY-GENERAL/SOCIAL SUMMIT
The Secretary-General arrived in Doha a few hours ago; tomorrow, he will open the Second World Social Summit there.
Today, he met with Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs of the State of Qatar. During the meeting, the Secretary-General thanked Qatar for hosting this landmark event. The Secretary-General and the Prime Minister discussed several regional issues, including the situation in Gaza. He thanked the Prime Minister for his decisive engagement for personally facilitating the recent ceasefire and hostage release deal in Gaza. The Secretary-General underlined the need to establish a political horizon towards a negotiated two-State solution.
SECRETARY-GENERAL/C40 WORLD MAYORS SUMMIT
Also today, the Secretary-General addressed via a video message the C40 World Mayors Summit, which is taking place in Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil. He noted that ten years after Paris, a new clean energy economy has emerged.
The Secretary-General pointed out that continuing to invest in fossil fuels is a dead end, but the task before us remains immense. He stressed that COP30 must mark the start of a decade of acceleration, and deliver a clear plan to close the gaps on ambition, adaptation, and finance.
The Secretary-General stressed that local leadership will be the force that turns this plan to life. He noted that a decade ago, bold leadership gave us the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals. Today, he added, we must summon that same courage and solidarity – to make the clean energy revolution the engine of climate justice.
OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY
Turning to Gaza, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says that the ongoing scale-up of the aid response is already having a positive impact on people in all areas of the Strip. But much more is needed so that we can address the full scale of the needs and leave no one behind.
This Saturday, the UN and our partners collected nearly 200 truckloads of essential supplies from Israeli crossings along the perimeter fence that encircles Gaza. Among the supplies were nearly 1,900 metric tonnes of different food supplies and wheat flour and over 100 pallets of food boxes. The supplies also included over 1,000 pallets of mattresses, blankets, tents, tarpaulins and winter clothes. And they included nearly 300 pallets full of hygiene kits, buckets, water containers, and jerry cans; 50 pallets of fortified cereals; and some 200 pallets of dignity kits, menstrual health kits, and midwifery supplies.
On Sunday – based on initial data that’s still partial – our teams collected nearly 1,000 pallets of blankets, tents, hygiene kits, water tanks, mats, winter clothes, tarpaulins and jerry cans, alongside one truckload of animal fodder.
All of this data is preliminary, and it covers the UN and our partners but does not include bilateral donations and the commercial sector.
Inside Gaza, the UN and our partners are currently supporting 17 bakeries in Gaza – nine in the south and eight in the north, which produce 150,000 bread bundles every day. That’s as of Thursday. These bread bundles are distributed through more than 400 points across the Gaza Strip. We’re also supporting 180 kitchens serving nearly 1,160,000 meals every day. This is as of Saturday. And all of this is in addition to the distribution of food parcels.
On the nutrition front, we are currently supporting 133 treatment sites, including 20 in Gaza City, where famine was confirmed in August. We’re also improving services that prevent malnutrition, including by providing blanket supplementary feeding. On Saturday and Sunday, our teams also delivered 1,000 tarpaulins and 2,500 blankets to people in need.
Full Highlights: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/noon-briefing-highlight?date=2025-11-03
Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) (video statements)
FBI Detroit issued a video update regarding the investigation into the September 28, 2025, attack at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Grand Blanc Township, Michigan.
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Source: United Kingdom UK Parliament (video statements)
MPs and Peers will explore the nature of the UK’s relationship with China amid fierce ongoing debate about the UK’s approach.
The Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy will explore how the government is balancing its desires to develop new dialogues with China on certain issues with strengthening resilience against the security challenges China poses to the UK.
Witnesses will include Chris Patten, former governor of Hong Kong, Lord Sumption, former Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, and Isabel Hilton OBE, Chair of the Great Britain China Centre.
Members are likely to ask how the UK’s stance fits into wider foreign policy goals, whether it is aligned with its partners, including in the G7, on China, and whether it can learn lessons from the approach taken by other countries.
Members are also likely to ask how effective UK legislation is at addressing threats posed by China such as espionage, interference, transnational repression and intellectual property theft.
This session is part of the Committee’s inquiry into the UK’s National Security Strategy and how adequately it addresses the challenges facing the UK, but it follows the Committee’s two recent sessions on government and ministerial decision-making in relation to espionage cases.
It also comes as the government delayed a planning decision on a controversial new Chinese embassy on the site of the former Royal Mint in London.
The Copernicus Sentinel-1 mission is about to get its fourth satellite, with Sentinel-1D now ready for liftoff. The launch will take place with an Ariane 6 rocket from Kourou, French Guiana and it will be streamed on Tuesday, 4 November, at 22:02 CET.
The Sentinel-1 mission delivers radar images of Earth’s surface, performing in all weathers, day-and-night. This service is vital for disaster response teams, environmental agencies, maritime authorities, climate scientists – and other users who depend on frequent updates of critical data.
The mission is part of the Copernicus family of Sentinel satellites, developed by the European Space Agency (ESA). Copernicus is the Earth observation component of the European Union’s Space Programme. It supports the EU in contributing to solutions to address common global challenges.
The data provided by the Sentinel missions form the basis of the operational Copernicus information services, helping to manage the environment, monitor and react to climate change and safeguard lives. The Copernicus data policy provides full, open and free-of-charge access to data and information.
Source: United Kingdom UK Parliament (video statements)
What checks did the Government undertake when appointing Peter Mandelson as UK Ambassador to the US?
In this session, Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service, Sir Chris Wormald, and Permanent Under-Secretary at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), Sir Oliver Robbins, will give evidence on the vetting and clearance of Lord Mandelson to the Foreign Affairs Committee.
Members will seek to understand the processes behind the clearance and vetting of Lord Mandelson and where these processes fell down. Questions are likely to cover whether due diligence should have uncovered the association between Lord Mandelson and Jeffrey Epstein.
The session is likely to explore the question of whether the Foreign Affairs Committee should routinely undertake pre-appointment hearings for political ambassadorial appointments.
Source: United Kingdom UK Parliament (video statements)
The Petitions Committee has scheduled a debate relating to consumer law and videogames.
Ben Goldsborough MP has been asked by the Committee to open the debate. The Government will send a Minister to respond.
Read the petition:
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/702074
Find petitions you agree with, and sign them: https://petition.parliament.uk/
What are petition debates?
Petition debates are ‘general’ debates which allow MPs from all parties to discuss the important issues raised by one or more petitions, and put their concerns to Government Ministers.
Petition debates don’t end with a vote to implement the request of a petition. This means that MPs will not vote on the issues raised in the petition at the end of the debate.
The Petitions Committee can only schedule debates on petitions to parliament started on petition.parliament.uk
Find out more about how petition debates work: https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/326/petitions-committee/content/194347/how-petitions-debates-work/
Stay up-to-date
Follow the Committee on Twitter for real-time updates on its work: https://www.twitter.com/hocpetitions