Political controversies

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged world leaders on Thursday to increase support for the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), which he says has no alternative in the world that provides essential services to nearly 6 million people.

An independent review group on the U.N. agency for Palestinians noted Israel had yet to provide evidence for incendiary allegations that staff were members of terrorist organizations.

United Nations chief Antonio Guterres on Monday defended the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees as a "lifeline of hope and dignity" and called for a surge of aid into Gaza.

During a visit to Jordan's Wihdat refugee camp in the capital Amman, Guterres said it would be "cruel and incomprehensible" to halt UNRWA's vital services to Palestinian refugees across the region.

United Nations chief Antonio Guterres announced Monday the creation of an independent panel to assess UNRWA, its embattled agency tasked with helping Palestinian refugees.

UNRWA is under fire over accusations by Israel that 12 staff members were involved in the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7.

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell warned on Sunday that moves to suspend the funding of U.N. Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA were extremely ill-advised.

"Defunding UNRWA would be both disproportionate and dangerous," Borrell said of the agency which is embroiled in controversy over the alleged involvement of employees in the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on Israel.

The Turkish Food, Agriculture, and Livestock Ministry has denied recent reports that beef imported from Poland during 2011-2012 contained bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), commonly known as mad cow disease.

The United Kingdom's Embassy in Tehran is to reopen after a three-year pause, the British Foreign Secretary William Hague has announced.

Britain's Embassy will be open again "as soon as practical arrangements are made", the BBC quotes Hague as saying in a written statement.