Highlights from UN meeting

NEW YORK • Here are some of the highlights from the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, as well as upcoming items on the agenda.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said that anyone found to have "acted beyond bounds" in his campaign against illegal drugs would be held accountable under national laws, while appearing to reject an International Criminal Court probe.

"Those found to have acted beyond bounds during operations shall be made accountable before our laws," he said.

In his speech, Mr Duterte also said the Philippines would welcome an unspecified number of Rohingya Muslim refugees who had fled violence in Buddhist-majority Myanmar.

South Korea President Moon Jae-in repeated a call for a declaration to formally end the 1950-1953 Korean War.

"I once again urge the community of nations to mobilise its strengths for the end-of-war declaration on the Korean peninsula," Mr Moon said. "I propose that three parties of the two Koreas and the US, or four parties of the two Koreas, the US and China, come together and declare that the war on the Korean peninsula is over."

Iran wants to resume nuclear talks with world powers that would lead to the removal of United States sanctions, said Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, as negotiations about reinstating a 2015 nuclear pact have stalled.

"The Islamic Republic considers the useful talks whose ultimate outcome is the lifting of all oppressive (US) sanctions," Mr Raisi said.

"The (US) policy of 'maximum oppression' is still on. We want nothing more than what is rightfully ours. We demand the implementation of international rules. All parties must stay true to the nuclear deal and the UN resolution in practice."

Britain was yesterday set to call for China and Russia to agree on a coordinated international approach to prevent Afghanistan from becoming a haven for militants, according to a statement from British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss at the UN.

"If we want to avoid Afghanistan becoming a haven for global terror, then the international community - including Russia and China - needs to act as one in its engagement with the Taliban," she said in a statement.

The Taliban's new Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi has asked to address world leaders at the General Assembly, a UN spokesman said.

Mr Ghulam Isaczai, the ambassador of the Afghan government ousted by the Taliban last month, has also requested to speak, with the UN yet to decide who will represent the country at the world body.

REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE