Covid_19

Vassily Nebenzia, Russia’s ambassador to the UN, addressing the Security Council in its first physical meeting at New York City headquarters since March 12. It is unclear when the Council will meet again in the UN building. 
As the number of Covid-19 cases skyrockets globally — and the United States remains the epicenter with nearly 3.6 million confirmed cases — the United Nations Security Council met physically on July 14 for the first time since March 12.

A Saudi-led post-bombing scene in Hodeidah, Yemen. The US is the world’s largest exporter of explosive weapons, and Saudi Arabia is its biggest customer. DIETRICH KLOSE/FLICKR

Deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov of Russia, left, with Marshall Billingslea, US envoy for arms control, in a tweet posted on June 22 by the latter after the first round of nuclear-arms bilateral talks in Vienna. The essayists say that Washington’s arms controllers “seem stuck in the unipolar worldview of the 1990s.”

Kelley Currie, US ambassador-at-large for global women’s issues, has had the job since January. The Trump administration tried to eliminate the post at one point but the Senate made it permanent. Currie worked previously at the US mission to the UN, above, for Nikki Haley. ERIC BRIDIERS

President Trump boarding Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews, Md. July 10, 2020, en route to Miami. The administration notified the UN on July 6 that the US was withdrawing from the World Health Organization, effective exactly one year later. TIA DUFOUR/WHITE HOUSE
In a final straw to the current troubles between the World Health Organization and the United States, the Trump administration notified United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on July 6 of its withdrawal from the agency, effective July 6, 2021.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson holding a Covid-19 press briefing, London, June 16, 2020. Britain currently has the highest death rate from the virus in Europe, and the writer says that navigating the mishmash of lockdown rules in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland has been “greatly frustrating and confusing.” PIPPA FOWLES/NO. 10 DOWNING STREET

While the World Health Organization is stressing the need for global solidarity on researching Covid-19 therapies and drugs, the US recently did a drug-grab on remdesivir, which can help recovery from the virus but is not a cure. People waiting for relief aid in Dhaka, Bangladesh, above, disregarding social distance guidelines amid the pandemic. FAHAD ABDULLAH KAIZER/UN PHOTO

The Security Council virtual meeting on June 30, debating the status of the Iran nuclear deal’s arms embargo, which expires Oct. 18, 2020. US Secretary of State Pompeo attended briefly, above, to make his pitch to keep the ban. He met resistance, as expected, from members.

Secretary of State Pompeo leaving the Pearl Harbor-Hickam joint base in Honolulu, June 17, 2020, after meeting with Chinese officials. Amid rising Covid-19 cases and nationwide protests against racial injustices, President Trump has been golfing and tweeting white supremacist slogans. RON PRZYSUCHA/STATE DEPT.
Deep uncertainty and unease are descending across the United States just as Americans are preparing to celebrate their most important “political” holiday, Independence Day, on July 4.

President Trump and John Bolton, his national security adviser, at a meet-and-greet with US military stationed in Britain; Portsmouth, June 5, 2019. In Bolton’s new book, he offers plenty of “snide” comments about such people as Nikki Haley, a former US envoy to the UN, like Bolton. SHEALAH CRAIGHEAD/WHITE HOUSE PHOTO
I never thought I would ever feel sorry for Nikki Haley.