United Nations

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UN Wants to Save Us From Asteroids

Former astronauts propose plan to deal with dangerous rocks

(Newser) - The next time an asteroid is on a collision course with Earth, the UN wants to make sure someone calls Bruce Willis. The General Assembly last week gave the green light to an asteroid defense plan drawn up by the former astronauts at the Association of Space Explorers, Scientific American...

Germany Wants the UN to Hamper NSA Spying

Merkel's government goes into overdrive to counter US efforts

(Newser) - Germany is not reacting kindly to revelations that the NSA may have tapped Angela Merkel's phone . Along with fellow outraged NSA target Brazil, it intends to introduce a new UN resolution that would explicitly extend the privacy protections in the International Covenant on Political and Civil Rights to communications...

Angry Over Syria, Saudis Back Away From US

Intelligence chief wants more aggressive approach against Assad

(Newser) - Following his country's decision to reject a UN Security Council seat , Saudi Arabia's intelligence chief is edging away from the US specifically: Prince Bandar bin Sultan al-Saud told European officials that his country will reduce its secret work with the CIA on training Syrian rebels, reports the Wall ...

Saudis on UN Council Seat: Thanks, but No Thanks

Cites poor response to Syria in turning down its newly won spot

(Newser) - Fresh off winning a rotating seat on the 15-member UN Security Council, Saudi Arabia has made the unexpected move of refusing it, citing the body's poor response to unrest in the Middle East, specifically in Syria. In a statement reported by the New York Times , the Saudi Foreign Ministry...

UN Elects 5 New Security Council Members

But human rights groups aren't happy with some choices

(Newser) - Saudi Arabia and Chad easily won coveted seats on the UN Security Council today, despite criticism from human rights groups that their rights records are abysmal. Nigeria, Lithuania, and Chile also won seats. The five candidates endorsed by regional groups faced no opposition because there were no contested races for...

UN Sued Over Haiti Cholera Outbreak

Victims claim peacekeepers spread disease through bad sewerage system

(Newser) - It's cholera in the time of litigation: Haitian victims of the disease are filing a lawsuit against the UN, claiming peacekeepers are responsible for the outbreak that has killed more than 8,300 and sickened some 650,000 there since 2010. The Boston-based Institute for Justice and Democracy in...

Destruction of Syria's Chemical Weapons Begins

Inspectors have 9 months to destroy 1K tons

(Newser) - And it's on: Disarmament experts have begun the massive undertaking that is dismantling and destroying Syria's estimated 1,000-ton stockpile of chemical weapons. The UN-endorsed inspectors have only nine months to get rid of the entire arsenal—the tightest deadlines the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons...

Netanyahu: Iran's Rouhani a 'Wolf in Sheep's Clothing'

Israeli leader blasts Iran, says it has nuclear weapons program

(Newser) - Benjamin Netanyahu took his turn at the UN General Assembly podium today, and used it to blast Iranian President Hasan Rouhani and his much-celebrated outreach efforts . "Now I know, Rouhani doesn't sound like Ahmadinejad," he said, according to CNN . But "the only difference between them is...

Syria's Assad: I'll Comply With UN Resolution

Says he's open to talks with opposition if they give up their arms

(Newser) - Bashar al-Assad is vowing to stand by the terms of the United Nations' resolution last week to destroy Syria's chemical weapons, reports the AP . "Of course we have to comply," he told Italian television in an interview today. "This is our history to comply with every...

Planet Has Used Up Half Its 'Carbon Budget': UN Panel

Climate-change panel says we're on track to hit limit around 2040

(Newser) - The UN's climate change panel for the first time charted the upper limit of acceptable global carbon emissions today—and we're already halfway to it. Based on an internationally agreed upon goal of keeping temperatures within 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit of their pre-industrial levels, humanity can only allow...

Iran's Rouhani: Sanctions on Us Are 'Violent— Pure and Simple'

He also says Tehran is willing to enter talks on its nuclear program

(Newser) - An Iranian president addressed the UN General Assembly today, and for a change there was no talk of 9/11 conspiracies, Holocaust hoaxes, or the US delegation walking out . Instead, Hasan Rouhani—the more moderate successor of Mahmoud Ahmandinejad—said his nation wants to ease tensions with the US and take...

Obama: We Must Talk With Iran

President touches on Syria, Egypt, Israel/Palestine in wide-ranging UN speech

(Newser) - President Obama is directing John Kerry to pursue fresh negotiations with Iran, the commander in chief announced today in a wide-ranging UN speech that also dealt extensively with the US position on Syria and other parts of the Middle East. Obama said that statements from President Rouhani and Ayatollah Khamenei...

UN Details 'Unspeakable Atrocities' in North Korea

Inquiry chief urges world to take action against human rights abuses

(Newser) - With the world's attention currently focused on human rights abuses in Syria, the results of a UN inquiry is set to pull North Korea back into the spotlight, via a new report detailing the country's "systematic, widespread, and grave violations of human rights." The report is...

Assad Shelling Hospitals, Torturing Patients: UN

Says Syrian gov't forces using denial of healthcare as 'weapon of war'

(Newser) - A new UN reports says that government forces in Syria have been using denial of healthcare as a "weapon of war": shelling hospitals, refusing treatment to people from rebel-controlled areas, and detaining and torturing patients—sometimes to death. The report says anti-government rebels are also guilty of attacking hospitals...

US Won't Demand Use of Force in UN Resolution

But White House will keep open possibility of strike on its own

(Newser) - The New York Times reports that the White House is bowing to reality: Because Russia will never agree to any UN resolution that calls for the possibility of military action against Syria, the US won't insist on such a clause. (The Russians already have balked at a draft proposal...

In Asia, 1 in 4 Men Have Committed Rape
 In Asia, 1 in 4 Men 
 Have Committed Rape 
UN STUDY
Sep 10, 2013 9:27 AM CDT

In Asia, 1 in 4 Men Have Committed Rape

UN points to sexual entitlement, abuse as factors in 'ground-breaking' study

(Newser) - India rape cases may be making headlines, but they're only the tip of the iceberg, according to an "unprecedented and ground-breaking" UN study . The anonymous survey of 10,000 men and 3,000 women in Bangladesh, China, Cambodia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and Sri Lanka—home to...

Conflict Has Displaced 1 in 3 Syrians: UN

7M have been uprooted; 2M of those have fled country

(Newser) - Seven million Syrians, or nearly one-third of the population, have been displaced by the civil war that has ravaged the nation since 2011, but international aid has been a "drop in the sea" of humanitarian need, a top UN official said today. The funding gaps remain wide, with donor...

US Evidence of Syria's Guilt: 'Panicked' Phone Calls

White House set to release evidence of nerve gas attack

(Newser) - A US government report to be released as soon as tomorrow will provide one of the final pieces of groundwork ahead of an expected strike on Syria, reports the Washington Post . The report will set out the timeline of how Bashar al-Assad's regime used chemical weapons in last week'...

Snowden Files: NSA Bugged UN

'Special collection service' spied on 80 embassies

(Newser) - In what could prove to be the most damaging Snowden leak yet, the National Security Agency bugged the United Nations headquarters in New York, as well as at least 80 embassies and consulates around the globe, according to der Spiegel . The agency's experts cracked the code last year, with...

Iran Covered Suspected Nuke Site With Asphalt
 Iran Covered Suspected 
 Nuke Site With Asphalt 
satellite photos
Aug 23, 2013 4:00 AM CDT

Iran Covered Suspected Nuke Site With Asphalt

Parchin changes will make nuclear inspection difficult: study

(Newser) - UN nuclear inspectors have spent years trying to get the OK to visit a suspected nuke site in Iran; now, a new study of satellite imagery shows the country has covered much of Parchin with asphalt, the New York Times reports. The Institute for Science and International Security says the...

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