US President Donald Trump launched a fresh attack Saturday on <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/london-mayor-sadiq-khan-named-uk-politician-of-the-year-202239">London Mayor Sadiq Khan</a>, backing a right-wing British columnist who has been widely accused of Islamophobia and once called migrants "cockroaches."

Trump attached his latest denunciation of the mayor to a retweet by Katie Hopkins about crime in "Khan's Londonistan" -- &nbsp;using a term widely perceived as a pejorative reference to the British capital's Muslim population and Khan's Pakistan ancestry.

"LONDON needs a new mayor ASAP. Khan is a disaster - will only get worse!" Trump wrote in response to Hopkins' tweet, later adding the mayor was "a national disgrace who is destroying" the city.

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LONDON needs a new mayor ASAP. Khan is a disaster - will only get worse! <a href="https://t.co/n7qKI3BbD2">https://t.co/n7qKI3BbD2</a>
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1139967706424369152?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 15, 2019</a></blockquote>
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Earlier this month the president's plane had not even touched down in London for the start of a state visit when he tweeted that Khan was a "<a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/london-mayor-sadiq-khan-a-stone-cold-loser-tweets-trump-after-arriving-in-uk-223840">stone-cold loser</a>."

Khan had criticised the red carpet treatment being given Trump for the visit.

Trump said the mayor should "focus on crime in London, not me," and made a derisive reference to Khan's height.

Khan, London's first Muslim mayor, had led the opposition to Trump's visit, writing a newspaper article in which he compared the US leader to European dictators from the 1930s and 1940s.

At that time, the mayor's spokesman called Trump's tweets "childish" and "beneath the president of the United States."

On a trip to London in July last year, Trump accused Khan of doing "a very bad job on terrorism," linking immigration to a deadly wave of crime in London.

The feud began when Khan, the son of a bus driver who emigrated from Pakistan in the 1960s, criticised Trump's travel ban on people from certain Muslim countries.

Hopkins, who wrote in support of Trump's election campaign during her time at the Daily Mail, has been dogged by numerous allegations of Islamophobia and hate speech during her career as a columnist.

Her description of migrants as "cockroaches" in 2015 prompted a rebuke by former UN High Commissioner for Refugees Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, who said Hopkins had used language similar to that employed by some Rwandan media outlets in the run-up to the 1994 genocide, and by the Nazis in the 1930s.

US President Donald Trump launched a fresh attack Saturday on London Mayor Sadiq Khan, backing a right-wing British columnist who has been widely accused of Islamophobia and once called migrants "cockroaches.

US President Donald Trump launched a fresh attack Saturday on London Mayor Sadiq Khan, backing a right-wing British columnist who has been widely accused of Islamophobia and once called migrants "cockroaches." Trump attached his latest denunciation of the mayor to a retweet by Katie Hopkins about crime in "Khan's Londonistan" -- using a term widely perceived as a pejorative reference to the British capital's Muslim population and Khan's Pakistan ancestry. "LONDON needs a new mayor ASAP. Khan is a disaster - will only get worse!" Trump wrote in response to Hopkins' tweet, later adding the mayor was "a national disgrace who is destroying" the city. LONDON needs a new mayor ASAP. Khan is a disaster - will only get worse! https://t.co/n7qKI3BbD2 — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 15, 2019 × Earlier this month the president's plane had not even touched down in London for the start of a state visit when he tweeted that Khan was a "stone-cold loser." Khan had criticised the red carpet treatment being given Trump for the visit. Trump said the mayor should "focus on crime in London, not me," and made a derisive reference to Khan's height. Khan, London's first Muslim mayor, had led the opposition to Trump's visit, writing a newspaper article in which he compared the US leader to European dictators from the 1930s and 1940s. At that time, the mayor's spokesman called Trump's tweets "childish" and "beneath the president of the United States." On a trip to London in July last year, Trump accused Khan of doing "a very bad job on terrorism," linking immigration to a deadly wave of crime in London. The feud began when Khan, the son of a bus driver who emigrated from Pakistan in the 1960s, criticised Trump's travel ban on people from certain Muslim countries. Hopkins, who wrote in support of Trump's election campaign during her time at the Daily Mail, has been dogged by numerous allegations of Islamophobia and hate speech during her career as a columnist. Her description of migrants as "cockroaches" in 2015 prompted a rebuke by former UN High Commissioner for Refugees Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, who said Hopkins had used language similar to that employed by some Rwandan media outlets in the run-up to the 1994 genocide, and by the Nazis in the 1930s.

Donald Trump in new Twitter attack on London's mayor Sadiq Khan

The UN human rights chief warned today that possible acts of &quot;genocide and ethnic cleansing&quot; against Myanmar&#39;s Rohingya Muslim minority could fuel a religious-based conflict that spreads beyond the country&#39;s borders.

&quot;Myanmar faces a very serious crisis -- with a potentially severe impact on the security of the region,&quot; UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra&#39;ad Al Hussein said during a speech in Jakarta.

His remarks follow the publication of a report last week about mass graves of Rohingya in Myanmar&#39;s crisis-hit Rakhine state, where government troops have been accused of waging an ethnic cleansing campaign against the minority.

Nearly 700,000 Rohingya have fled to bordering Bangladesh since last August.

Myanmar denied the mass grave report and wider allegations of rights abuses, saying it launched a proportionate crackdown on Rohingya rebels.

But it has blocked reporters and UN investigators from independently accessing the conflict zone and investigating refugee claims about a genocide.

Zeid on Monday said Myanmar had enjoyed strong growth including a focus on socio-economic development in the Rakhine region, but that this could not mask &quot;institutionalised discrimination&quot; against the minority.

The UN rights chief is due to meet with Indonesian President Joko Widodo as well as top government officials and rights groups during his three-day visit.

Among the issues expected to be discussed is a crackdown on the LGBT community in Indonesia, the world&#39;s largest Muslim-majority country.

Parliament is set to pass a long-dormant bill to make sex outside marriage illegal. Gay marriage does not exist in Indonesia, meaning homosexual relations would be effectively outlawed.&nbsp;

'Myanmar faces a very serious crisis -- with a potentially severe impact on the security of the region,' said Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein

The UN human rights chief warned today that possible acts of "genocide and ethnic cleansing" against Myanmar's Rohingya Muslim minority could fuel a religious-based conflict that spreads beyond the country's borders. "Myanmar faces a very serious crisis -- with a potentially severe impact on the security of the region," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said during a speech in Jakarta. His remarks follow the publication of a report last week about mass graves of Rohingya in Myanmar's crisis-hit Rakhine state, where government troops have been accused of waging an ethnic cleansing campaign against the minority. Nearly 700,000 Rohingya have fled to bordering Bangladesh since last August. Myanmar denied the mass grave report and wider allegations of rights abuses, saying it launched a proportionate crackdown on Rohingya rebels. But it has blocked reporters and UN investigators from independently accessing the conflict zone and investigating refugee claims about a genocide. Zeid on Monday said Myanmar had enjoyed strong growth including a focus on socio-economic development in the Rakhine region, but that this could not mask "institutionalised discrimination" against the minority. The UN rights chief is due to meet with Indonesian President Joko Widodo as well as top government officials and rights groups during his three-day visit. Among the issues expected to be discussed is a crackdown on the LGBT community in Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim-majority country. Parliament is set to pass a long-dormant bill to make sex outside marriage illegal. Gay marriage does not exist in Indonesia, meaning homosexual relations would be effectively outlawed.

Rohingya abuses could spark regional conflict: UN rights chief

The UN rights chief told the Security Council on Monday that tough sanctions imposed on North Korea are complicating the delivery of desperately needed humanitarian aid and called for an assessment.

An estimated 18 million North Koreans, or 70 percent of the population, suffer from acute food shortages and aid agencies provide &quot;literally a lifeline&quot; for 13 million of them, said UN Human Rights Commissioner Zeid Ra&#39;ad Al Hussein.

&quot;But sanctions may be adversely affecting this essential help,&quot; he told a special Security Council meeting on human rights in North Korea.

Sanctions that have tightened controls over international bank transfers &quot;have caused a slowdown in UN ground operations, affecting the delivery of food rations, health kits and other humanitarian aid,&quot; he said.

The rights chief asked the council to conduct an assessment of the human rights impact of sanctions and urged them to take action to minimize consequences.

Over the past year, the council has adopted three rounds of sanctions aimed at choking off revenue to Pyongyang&#39;s military programs after Kim Jong-Un&#39;s regime carried out a sixth nuclear test and a series of advanced missile launches.

The council&#39;s sanctions committee on North Korea will meet later Monday to hear a briefing from a UN humanitarian official on the impact of recent punitive measures.

China fails to block rights meeting&nbsp;

The Security Council discussed the human rights crisis in North Korea despite objections from China, Pyongyang&#39;s ally.

China requested a procedural vote to block the meeting, but failed to garner enough support.&nbsp;

Ten countries voted to allow the meeting to go ahead, three opposed -- China, Russia and Bolivia -- while Egypt and Ethiopia abstained.

At least nine countries must back a contested agenda item for it to be discussed at the council and the veto does not apply.

Chinese Deputy Ambassador Wu Haitao said the council&#39;s discussion of rights abuses in North Korea was &quot;counterproductive&quot; at a time when tensions are running high on the Korean peninsula.

US Ambassador Nikki Haley said human rights should be discussed more often by the top UN body as a way to bolster conflict prevention.

&quot;Any country that does not take care of its people ends up in conflict,&quot; said Haley.

The United States, Britain, France, Sweden, Italy, Japan, Senegal, Ukraine and Uruguay had requested the meeting, the fourth to be held since 2014.

China has sought every year to block the special meeting, arguing that the Human Rights Council in Geneva was the forum to address concerns about North Korea&#39;s rights record, and not the Security Council.

Pyongyang is accused by a UN commission of inquiry of running a vast network of prison camps, resorting to torture, arbitrary detentions among other widespread abuses.&nbsp;

The rights chief told the council that &quot;the context of military tensions seems to have deepened the extremely serious human rights violations&quot; endured by the country&#39;s 25 million citizens.

The UN&#39;s political affairs chief, Jeffrey Feltman, returned at the weekend from a visit to Pyongyang, the first by a high-ranking UN diplomat since 2010.

Feltman will report to the council during a closed-door session on his visit on Tuesday ahead of a ministerial-level meeting on North Korea on Friday.

The council's sanctions committee on North Korea will meet later Monday to hear a briefing from a UN humanitarian official on the impact of recent punitive measures

The UN rights chief told the Security Council on Monday that tough sanctions imposed on North Korea are complicating the delivery of desperately needed humanitarian aid and called for an assessment. An estimated 18 million North Koreans, or 70 percent of the population, suffer from acute food shortages and aid agencies provide "literally a lifeline" for 13 million of them, said UN Human Rights Commissioner Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein. "But sanctions may be adversely affecting this essential help," he told a special Security Council meeting on human rights in North Korea. Sanctions that have tightened controls over international bank transfers "have caused a slowdown in UN ground operations, affecting the delivery of food rations, health kits and other humanitarian aid," he said. The rights chief asked the council to conduct an assessment of the human rights impact of sanctions and urged them to take action to minimize consequences. Over the past year, the council has adopted three rounds of sanctions aimed at choking off revenue to Pyongyang's military programs after Kim Jong-Un's regime carried out a sixth nuclear test and a series of advanced missile launches. The council's sanctions committee on North Korea will meet later Monday to hear a briefing from a UN humanitarian official on the impact of recent punitive measures. China fails to block rights meeting The Security Council discussed the human rights crisis in North Korea despite objections from China, Pyongyang's ally. China requested a procedural vote to block the meeting, but failed to garner enough support. Ten countries voted to allow the meeting to go ahead, three opposed -- China, Russia and Bolivia -- while Egypt and Ethiopia abstained. At least nine countries must back a contested agenda item for it to be discussed at the council and the veto does not apply. Chinese Deputy Ambassador Wu Haitao said the council's discussion of rights abuses in North Korea was "counterproductive" at a time when tensions are running high on the Korean peninsula. US Ambassador Nikki Haley said human rights should be discussed more often by the top UN body as a way to bolster conflict prevention. "Any country that does not take care of its people ends up in conflict," said Haley. The United States, Britain, France, Sweden, Italy, Japan, Senegal, Ukraine and Uruguay had requested the meeting, the fourth to be held since 2014. China has sought every year to block the special meeting, arguing that the Human Rights Council in Geneva was the forum to address concerns about North Korea's rights record, and not the Security Council. Pyongyang is accused by a UN commission of inquiry of running a vast network of prison camps, resorting to torture, arbitrary detentions among other widespread abuses. The rights chief told the council that "the context of military tensions seems to have deepened the extremely serious human rights violations" endured by the country's 25 million citizens. The UN's political affairs chief, Jeffrey Feltman, returned at the weekend from a visit to Pyongyang, the first by a high-ranking UN diplomat since 2010. Feltman will report to the council during a closed-door session on his visit on Tuesday ahead of a ministerial-level meeting on North Korea on Friday.

UN sanctions affecting aid in North Korea: Rights chief