United Nations

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Security Council Mulls 'Climate Peacekeepers'

Meeting today will discuss UN's response to climate conflicts

(Newser) - Is climate change a matter of global security? The UN Security Council thinks it might be, and will hold a special session today to discuss what role, if any, it should have in dealing with it, the Guardian reports. Island nations that stand to be swallowed by rising seas are...

Starving Somalia to Get Famine Designation

UN agencies poised to add 'humanitarian catastrophe' label

(Newser) - Drought and food shortages have gotten so bad in southern Somalia that the UN is almost certain to upgrade the situation from a “humanitarian emergency” to a “famine/humanitarian catastrophe,” sources tell the Telegraph . “It’s 99% certain that tomorrow we will have to declare a full...

UN Orders Thai, Cambodian Troops Out of Temple Area

Court tries to end clashes around the Preah Vihear temple

(Newser) - The UN's highest court created a demilitarized zone around a 1,000-year-old temple today on the disputed border between Cambodia and Thailand, and ordered the armed forces from both countries to withdraw. Both countries claimed they were satisfied with the ruling by the International Court of Justice, meant to...

UN: Burma Uses Convicts as Shields, Slaves

Human Rights Watch demands war crimes investigation

(Newser) - Human Rights Watch is out with harrowing accusations about Burma's army and potential war crimes abuses, reports Reuters . The UN group accuses the military of forcing inmates from the nation's jails to act as human "pack mules" for the army on long marches, without adequate food or...

Pope Chides Greedy Speculators on Food Prices

Profit-hungry markets have ignored human rights, he says

(Newser) - Pope Benedict XVI denounced speculation in commodities markets today and demanded a global response to high food prices based on solidarity, not profit. Benedict told delegates of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization that access to food is a basic human right that must be guaranteed. He said it's...

Iran Testing 'Nuke-Capable Missiles'

Mid-range missiles could carry atomic warheads to US targets

(Newser) - Iran has conducted secret tests of nuclear-capable missiles, but the country says the exercise was a "message of peace and friendship." Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards admit to launching 14 missiles—one capable of reaching Israel or US targets in the Gulf—from an underground silo. British Foreign...

Angelina Jolie Visits Refugees in Italy

Actress, UN ambassador talks with thousands from Libya, Tunisia

(Newser) - Angelina Jolie traveled to the tiny Italian island of Lampedusa yesterday to thank its residents for welcoming in the estimated 20,000 migrants who arrived after fleeing unrest in Tunisia and Libya. Jolie, a goodwill ambassador for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, toured a migrant holding center, chatted with...

UN Backs Gay Rights for First Time
UN Backs Gay Rights
for First Time
Jun 17, 2011 5:59 PM CDT

UN Backs Gay Rights for First Time

Human Rights Council orders report on discrimination

(Newser) - The United Nations endorsed the rights of gay, lesbian, and transgender people for the first time today, passing a resolution hailed as historic by the US and other backers and decried by some African and Muslim countries. The declaration was cautiously worded, expressing "grave concern" about abuses because of...

Qatar Deports Alleged Rape Victim Back to Libya

Iman al-Obeidy says they beat her and forced her onto plane

(Newser) - Qatar has sent Iman al-Obeidy back to Libya kicking and screaming, despite objections from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. Obeidy tells CNN that Qatari guards took her and her parents from their hotel in Doha; took their cell phones, laptops, and money; beat her and handcuffed her; and then...

UN AIDS Report: HIV Infections Plummeted 25% Over Decade
Since 2001, New HIV Infections Plummeted 25%
says UN report
Jun 3, 2011 10:15 AM CDT

Since 2001, New HIV Infections Plummeted 25%

Still, some 2.6M were infected in 2009

(Newser) - Good news in the fight against AIDS: The annual rate of new HIV infections dropped by almost a quarter between 2001 and 2009, AIDS-related deaths have fallen, and the world has seen “unprecedented advances” in prevention and treatment accessibility, the UN AIDS agency says. Still, the unevenly-spread advancements are...

UN: Libyan Rebels Committed War Crimes, Too

But rebel offenses not as systematic, widespread as those of Gadhafi's forces

(Newser) - A UN investigation has found evidence that both sides of the Libyan conflict have committed war crimes—though the rebels had committed fewer than Moammar Gadhafi’s forces. The rebels were accused of torture and cruel treatment against migrant workers, “which would constitute war crimes,” the report said,...

Syria Tried Making Nuclear Weapons: UN

New report paves way for security council action

(Newser) - Syria “very likely” had a secret nuclear weapons program, according to an International Atomic Energy Agency report released yesterday, which concludes that the Dair Alzour site Israel bombed in 2007 was almost certainly an under-construction nuclear reactor. The allegations themselves are old news—US intelligence agencies presented evidence of...

UN Nuclear Experts: Iran Hacked Us
UN Nuclear Experts:
Iran Hacked Us
May 18, 2011 11:07 AM CDT

UN Nuclear Experts: Iran Hacked Us

IAEA investigating suspicions of tampering

(Newser) - Some of the International Atomic Energy Agency's top experts think Iranians hacked their cell phones and laptops, diplomats tell the AP. The incident is believed to have occurred earlier this year, when the diplomats left the equipment unattended during an inspection tour in Iran. The watchdog group became suspicious...

World Population Will Break 10B by 2100

UN fears 'serious implications' for poorest countries

(Newser) - The world’s population will hit 9.3 billion by 2050 and 10.1 billion by 2100, UN experts say. It’s set to reach 7 billion by the end of this year. The UN uses the figures, which depend on fertility expectations, to set up programs to address issues...

Gadhafi Troops Issued Viagra to Help Them Rape: US

Susan Rice makes claim at UN

(Newser) - Moammar Gadhafi’s forces have been issued Viagra, to help them better rape the people of Libya, US ambassador Susan Rice told several other UN diplomats at a closed-door Security Council meeting yesterday. “She spoke of Gadhafi’s soldiers targeting children, and other atrocities,” one diplomat tells Reuters...

Hundreds Quit Syria's Government

Even as UN fails to condemn the violence

(Newser) - More than 230 members of Syria’s ruling Ba’ath party resigned in protest today over the government’s violent crackdown on protests, even as the UN failed to condemn the massacre, the Guardian reports. The death toll from the crackdown has now reportedly climbed to at least 500. But...

UN Torture Watchdog: I Want to See Manning

Pentagon is blocking unmonitored visit, official complains

(Newser) - The United Nations' torture watchdog is accusing the US of stonewalling him in his attempts to visit suspected WikiLeaker Bradley Manning. "I am deeply disappointed and frustrated by the prevarication of the US government with regard to my attempts to visit Mr. Manning," said UN official Juan Mendez....

UN, French Attack Gbago Residence

Operation aims to destroy heavy weapons

(Newser) - UN and French helicopters today attacked sites near Ivory Coast military bases as well as the presidential residence and palace, the BBC reports. The aim of the operation is to destroy heavy weapons near Laurent Gbagbo's residence in Abidjan. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he requested the air strikes...

UN Plane Crash in Congo Kills 10
 UN Plane Crash 
 in Congo Kills 32 
UPDATED
Apr 4, 2011 11:43 PM CDT

UN Plane Crash in Congo Kills 32

Only one survivor from Kinshasa crash

(Newser) - More heartbreak for the UN : A small passenger plane carrying United Nations staffers crashed yesterday in the Congo and broke into pieces, killing 32 of 33 people onboard, UN officials have confirmed.The UN peacekeeping mission in New York described the craft as a small passenger plane and said it...

Ivory Coast: UN Fires on Gbagbo Troops as France Joins in
 UN Fires at Gbagbo Forces 
Apr 4, 2011 3:45 PM CDT

UN Fires at Gbagbo Forces

France gives military OK to take out his heavy weapons

(Newser) - The United Nations and France continued their crackdown in Ivory Coast today, with a UN helicopter firing on Laurent Gbagbo's forces and Nicolas Sarkozy giving his troops the OK to take out the entrenched strongman's heavy weapons, reports the AP . The UN said it acted to stop Gbagbo troops from...

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