United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks during an interview at the United Nations headquarters, Monday, Sept. 9, 2024 [Pamela Smith/AP] United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks during an interview at the United Nations headquarters, Monday, Sept. 9, 2024 [Pamela Smith/AP] Portugal's Prime Minister Antonio Guterres called President Bill Clinton from Lisbon on August 30 and September 8, 1999, to discuss the growing crisis in East Timor. The small Southeast Asian territory, which had endured a brutal Indonesian occupation since 1975, was again engulfed in violence after voters overwhelmingly chose independence in a referendum. Pro-Indonesian militias responded to the vote for independence by unleashing a so-called scorched-earth campaign, destroying infrastructure, displacing up to half a million people and killing thousands. The crisis resonated in Portugal, where linguistic, Catholic, and historical ties to its former colony helped fuel a solidarity movement. An estimated 10,000 demonstrators, dressed in white, formed human chains through Lisbon's city streets. Guterres had raised the issue before. At a 1996 summit in Bangkok, he met Indonesia's President Suharto and broached the politically sensitive topic of East Timor, offering to restore diplomatic relations (severed since the 1975 invasion) in exchange for the release of Timorese resistance leader Xanana Gusmao. The proposal was met with an awkward silence. This time, Guterres was asking the United States to support a UN mission in East Timor, but Washington was reluctant to confront Indonesia. Guterres recalled in his 2022 biography, "Honest Broker", that he warned Clinton during the second call that Portugal could reconsider its Balkan deployments if the international community failed to intervene. Portugal's contribution to NATO was small but politically well-placed, with its troops serving in the alliance's prominent post-Cold War missions in Bosnia and Kosovo. Guterres offered Clinton a choice: risk a public falling-out with a founding NATO ally, or use Washington's influence to make Indonesia accept an international force in East Timor. The next day, amid growing international pressure, the White House stated that Indonesia "must" allow international assistance.

To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Figure caption, Watch: Trump threatens to'annihilate' Iran if no deal reached US President Donald Trump returned to the stage at the United Nations on Tuesday, where he touted his administration's policies in front of world leaders and issued pointed threats to some of those gathered in the room. The lengthy speech was wide-ranging, covering the war in Iran, AI, Cuba and the role of America's military. The BBC's correspondents who covered the address have picked five key moments that stood out. The US president has no great respect for the United Nations - he accused it of imposing a far-left agenda - but he does relish the global platform it gives him.

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Is the war entering a new phase? US envoys meet Putin: What's behind latest diplomacy on Russia-Ukraine war? Share US envoys meet Putin: What's behind latest diplomacy on Russia-Ukraine war? on social media US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner have held talks with President Vladmir Putin in Moscow, in what appears to be new efforts by the Trump administration to end the Russia-Ukraine war. US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that the envoys were bringing "a proposal to end the war" - Europe's deadliest conflict since World War II - and a senior Russian official said it was an "important peacemaking visit". Both Moscow and Kyiv announced a three-day ceasefire to coincide with the latest trip.

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How the US left Ukraine exposed to Russia's winter war Will Europe use frozen Russian assets to fund war? How can Ukraine rebuild China ties? Three people were killed in a Russian drone attack on a civilian car in the city of Mykolaivka in the Kramatorsk district of Ukraine's Donetsk region, the state's emergency service said in a statement. The three people, as well as another person injured in the attack, were workers at the Sloviansk Thermal Power Station, the Kyiv Independent news outlet reported. A woman died after being injured in a Russian drone attack in Ukraine's Zaporizhia region, Governor Ivan Fedorov wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

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Weconsider Diplomacy,a7-player board game designed toaccentuate dilemmas resulting from many-agent interactions.