United Nations

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UN Evacuates Afghan Staff
 UN Evacuates Afghan Staff  
Nov 5, 2009 4:33 AM CST

UN Evacuates Afghan Staff

Hundreds pulled out after deadly Kabul attack

(Newser) - The United Nations is pulling more than half of its 1,100 international staff in Afghanistan out of the country as the security situation deteriorates. Some of the 600 staffers would return after new security arrangements were made, while others will be permanently relocated, said a spokesman. Much of the...

UN Staffers Among Dozen Killed in Kabul Attacks

Taliban claims responsibility for attacks on guest houses

(Newser) - Six United Nations staffers and six others were killed today when militants armed with automatic weapons, grenades, and suicide vests stormed two guest houses in downtown Kabul where international workers were sleeping. One of the dead was American. The nationalities of the others was not immediately known. Rockets hit another...

Col. Sanders Impersonator Punks UN

Impersonator dupes security in publicity stunt

(Newser) - A Colonel Sanders lookalike got a diplomat’s welcome at the United Nations, somehow tricking the security guards into letting him in, UN officials sheepishly admitted. Once inside, the KFC mascot met with UN General Assembly President Ali Treki of Libya, even getting his picture snapped shaking hands beneath the...

Karzai's Rival May Boycott Runoff Vote

Abdullah demands overhaul of Afghan election commission

(Newser) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s strongest political challenger may boycott next month's planned runoff election if the country’s election commission is not completely purged of Karzai supporters. Abdullah Abdullah has consistently charged that without a commission overhaul the vote-rigging which marred the original election is bound to be repeated....

Clinton 'Hopeful' as Karzai Weighs Runoff, Deal

(Newser) - Hamid Karzai intends to announce tomorrow how he will "set the stage" for resolving the country's postelection political crisis, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said today. She wouldn't say whether the Afghan president has decided to accept the findings of a UN-backed fraud investigation that threw out nearly a...

Suicide Bomber Kills 5 at Pakistan UN Office

Terrorist infiltrated World Food Program headquarters

(Newser) - A suicide bomber disguised as a security officer infiltrated UN offices in the Pakistani capital today, killing five people and leaving several others critically injured. Witnesses said the blast at the UN World Food Program, in one of Islamabad's more exclusive neighborhoods, shattered windows and left victims lying in pools...

UN's Dance Dance Resolution: Protect the Tango

Cultural tradition placed on protected list, as with physical heritage sites

(Newser) - The tango is a cultural treasure worthy of the same kinds of protection as the Great Wall of China or the California redwoods, the United Nations declared today. The dance, submitted for such recognition by Uruguay and Argentina, “embodies and encourages diversity and cultural dialogue,” the UN Educational,...

US, Iran May Meet One-on-One on Nukes

Meeting tomorrow could be most direct engagement since the revolution

(Newser) - US diplomats will try to meet one-on-one with their Iranian counterparts during tomorrow’s multi-nation negotiations on Tehran’s nuclear program. It would be the most significant direct engagement between the two countries since the Iranian revolution. An anonymous official tells the Washington Post that the one-on-one talks would "...

Iran Allows Swiss Envoys Visit With Detained Hikers

Policy reversal may be gesture of goodwill ahead of nuclear talks

(Newser) - Iran has changed its policy on three detained US hikers, allowing Swiss diplomats—who represent American interests in Iran—to visit them. Officials have been denied access to the three Americans since they were detained in July after crossing the border from Iraqi Kurdistan into Iran. Tehran’s reversal may...

Israel Committed War Crimes in Gaza: UN Report

Fact-finding mission recommends world court prosecutor take action

(Newser) - Israel committed "actions amounting to war crimes, possibly crimes against humanity" during the three-week Gaza war, according to a UN special report that will be released today. The fact-finding mission, headed by the Jewish South African judge Richard Goldstone, also determined that Palestinian militants committed war crimes, but reserved...

US Scrambles for Support for Iran Sanctions

Hopes to build coalition even if Russia and China kill UN move

(Newser) - The US is rushing to assemble support for tougher economic sanctions against Iran ahead of talks scheduled for Thursday. With Russia and China looming as potential spoilers in the UN Security Council, the administration hopes to assemble a coalition that could independently enact sanctions. But the US’ European allies oppose...

Honduran Leaders Will Reopen Talks

Micheletti agrees to open dialogue with ousted president

(Newser) - The ousted president and acting president of Honduras have agreed to reopen dialogue after the recently returned Manuel Zelaya announced he would accept the results of a November election. Zelaya and Roberto Micheletti held separate meetings with four presidential candidates yesterday and may meet face to face soon, according to...

Gadhafi: Lockerbie Is Over, 'Legally, Politically, Financially'

'This problem has been solved to the satisfaction of all parties'

(Newser) - Moammar Gadhafi tried to leaven his image a bit after his 90-minute UN diatribe by sitting down with the Wall Street Journal yesterday. The Libyan strongman assured reporter Jay Solomon he could "comprehend" the anger of Americans who lost friends and relatives in the Lockerbie bombing. He denied orchestrating...

Sullivan: That's Not Weakness, It's Confidence

(Newser) - The "usual suspects" in the neoconservative camp are apoplectic at President Obama's behavior at the UN, writes Andrew Sullivan. After all, he had the nerve to "engage foreign powers as equals rather than as subordinates." Obama's critics, of course, see America as always in the right—even...

Chavez: Obama's 'Smell of Hope' Beats Bush's Sulfur

(Newser) - Hugo Chavez paid President Obama a high compliment at the UN today, asserting that he doesn't have the same satanic odor as George Bush. "I don't smell sulfur anymore," the Venezuelan leader told the General Assembly. "It's gone. Now it's the smell of something else—it's the...

Netanyahu Blasts UN for Ahmadinejad Speech

'Have you no shame?' cries Israeli PM

(Newser) - Benjamin Netanyahu didn’t hold back today when he took the stage at the United Nations. The Israeli PM went on a tirade, berating the UN for allowing Holocaust denier Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to speak. “Have you no shame? Have you no decency?” he demanded, after recounting the horrors of...

Obama-Led Security Council OKs Nuke Resolution

US-drafted measure strengthened by Obama appearance at meeting

(Newser) - The UN Security Council today adopted a US-drafted resolution that outlines much of President Obama’s plan to rid the world of nuclear weapons. The president’s attendance at the meeting of heads of state—just the fifth in UN history—underscores the centrality of the issue for his administration....

Obama Scores on Nuclear Proliferation at UN

Manages to get Russia and China to cooperate

(Newser) - Barack Obama scored two significant victories at the UN yesterday, cajoling Dmitry Medvedev into saying he would get behind tougher nuclear sanctions against Iran, and convincing both Russia and China to support a resolution strengthening the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. Publicly the administration wouldn’t acknowledge any quid-pro-quo, but several official...

Gadhafi Rant: Not All Nonsense
 Gadhafi Rant: Not All Nonsense 
OPINION
Sep 24, 2009 8:36 AM CDT

Gadhafi Rant: Not All Nonsense

Buried in 96-minute diatribe was a smart UN reform proposal

(Newser) - His swine flu conspiracy theories and who-shot-JFK musings may have got the headlines, but Moammar Gadhafi actually made a few good points during his 96-minute monologue at the UN General Assembly, blogs Gideon Rachman. The Libyan colonel is totally right that the Security Council is outdated and doesn't represent the...

Bolton: Obama's UN Address Naive, 'Post-American'

Ex-UN rep not impressed by president's focus on 'interests that unite us'

(Newser) - President Obama's address to the United Nations yesterday was long on uniting nations and short on looking out for American interests, complains Bush administration UN representative John Bolton. The "Wilsonian" address was "a post-American speech by our first post-American president," and was "very revealing of Obama’...

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