United Nations

Stories 741 - 760 | << Prev   Next >>

Junta Leader Visits Nargis Victims as UN Envoy Arrives

General meets survivors for first time since cyclone hit

(Newser) - The head of Burma's junta emerged today for the first time since cyclone Nargis struck two weeks ago to meet with survivors, CNN reports. Gen. Than Shwe visited a refugee camp 200 miles south of Yangon, touching the faces of infant survivors. The visit came as the UN's humanitarian secretary...

133K Dead, Missing: Junta
 133K Dead, Missing: Junta 
May 16, 2008 5:05 PM CDT

133K Dead, Missing: Junta

Military admits full impact of storm

(Newser) - Nearly 78,000 are confirmed dead and another 56,000 missing in the wake of Cyclone Nargis, Reuters reports. Torrential rains continued to pound Burma today, complicating rescue efforts. The EU’s chief aid official met with military leaders to press for increasing foreign rescue workers' involvement, but he met...

Thailand, UN Seek Aid Route as New Burma Storm Builds

Latest tropical storm likely to become a cylcone

(Newser) - Thailand and the United Nations are working to open a land route from northern Thailand into Burma to get desperately needed help to cyclone survivors, reports the Wall Street Journal. The frantic efforts to deliver aid quickly have been stepped up as the UN's weather center is warning that another...

Rain Lashes Cyclone Survivors, UN Lashes Junta

UN chief 'immensely frustrated' by Burmese junta's lack of swift action

(Newser) - Two more American relief planes were scheduled to take off for Burma today, but the nation's military junta came in for another UN pounding for refusing to allow more desperately needed supplies to cyclone-stricken regions. "We are at a critical point. Unless more aid gets into the country very...

Analysts Urge Washington to Invade Burma

Others advise against forcing aid on devastated country

(Newser) - Analysts and aid workers appalled by Burma’s attitude to foreign aid are urging Washington to invade, Time reports. One observer has called for the US to airlift food regardless of the junta’s restrictions; a retired general wants China to pacify Burma about US aid, or Thailand to paint...

Irate UN Cuts Burma Off After Junta Seizes Aid

No reason given after goods confiscated

(Newser) - An enraged UN has shut off all further cyclone aid to Burma after its military junta seized two planes carrying a massive food shipment, CNN reports. “This is another example of them actively getting in the way of relief getting to the victims,” said the UN's Asia World...

Burmese Junta Still Blocking Cyclone Aid

'Second disaster' looms if aid is not allowed in

(Newser) - Emergency supplies for some 1.5 million Burmese desperately in need of help are ready to be flown into the cyclone-stricken regions—but the military junta is still blocking delivery. Only two UN planes have been allowed to land in Burma. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon tried unsuccessfully to telephone Burma's...

UN, US Again Blast Burma's Reluctance With Help

Insular state disappoints would-be donors; 1.5M could be affected

(Newser) - Officials the world over are expressing dismay at Burma's apparent disinterest in swift international aid to victims of the devastating cyclone that has 1 million homeless and perhaps more than 100,000 dead, Reuters reports. The US ambassador to the UN said today he was “outraged by the slowness...

First Major Aid Finally Reaches Cyclone Survivors

But some planes grounded as officials dicker with junta to get help to villagers

(Newser) - A single United Nations plane laden with relief supplies has finally landed in Burma's Irrawaddy Delta region—six days after a pulverizing cyclone killed an estimated 100,000 people, AP is reporting. Three other UN planes are expected to land later today, but flights operated jointly by the US and...

Up to 10,000 Dead in Burma Cyclone
 Up to 10,000 Dead
 in Burma Cyclone 
Updated
May 5, 2008 1:24 PM CDT

Up to 10,000 Dead in Burma Cyclone

Toll continues to rise as relief officials gain access to hard-hit areas

(Newser) - As many as 10,000 might have died in the cyclone that struck Burma on Saturday, a government official told foreign diplomats today, and that number could rise yet higher as aid workers pick through the rubble. The death toll, originally estimated at 351, had already been raised to 4,...

Burma Cyclone Toll Leaps to 4,000

Another 3,000 missing, hundreds of thousands homeless

(Newser) - The death toll in yesterday's Burmese hurricane has skyrocketed to 4,000, CNN reports, up from initial estimates of 350. State-run media issued a revised estimate this morning, along with the government's emergency plea for help. Another 3,000 are thought to be missing. Major relief work has already begun,...

S. Africa Blocks Sending UN Envoy to Zimbabwe

Security Council hits stalemate

(Newser) - A closed-door session of the Security Council failed to make progress on Zimbabwe after South Africa led a successful effort to block a plan to send a UN envoy to Harare. The US, Britain, and France pushed for dispatching an observer—and for a moratorium on arms sales. UN Secretary-General...

UN Ready to Tackle Hunger
UN Ready to Tackle Hunger
Apr 29, 2008 10:52 AM CDT

UN Ready to Tackle Hunger

Ban plans task force, calls on donors to deliver on sorely underfunded pledges

(Newser) - United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is putting together a task force to deal with an "unprecedented" world crisis that's left 100 million without enough food, the BBC reports. Ban also called on donors to follow through on pledges for the World Food Program, saying only 62% of the...

UN Troops Traded Guns for Gold

Pakistani, Indian troops armed rebels in Congo, BBC finds

(Newser) - UN peacekeeping troops sold weapons to guerrilla fighters in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a BBC investigation claims, charging that the UN suppressed the story for political reasons. Pakistani and Indian troops, part of the UN's largest peacekeeping force of 17,000, are said to have traded munitions for gold....

Rice Is the New Oil
 Rice Is the New Oil 
Apr 27, 2008 3:31 PM CDT

Rice Is the New Oil

Rising food prices threaten a more serious global crisis

(Newser) - Even as the burgeoning price of oil slaps consumers at the pump, a darker global market crisis looms as rising commodities prices compound the pressures of poverty worldwide. The UN has said that spiking food prices have started "a silent tsunami threatening to plunge more than 100 million people...

End Malaria Deaths by 2010: UN
 End Malaria Deaths by 2010: UN 
Apr 25, 2008 12:43 PM CDT

End Malaria Deaths by 2010: UN

Providing Africa with nets, spray could save 1M lives a year

(Newser) - The world must take action now to end malaria deaths—currently at 1 million per year—by 2010, UN chief Ban Ki Moon said today. "We have the resources and the know-how, but we have less than 1,000 days" to meet the goal, said Ban on the first...

UN Aid to Gaza Blocked by Israeli Embargo

Negotiations fall apart after Libyan compares Strip to Nazi camp

(Newser) - The United Nations announced today that it will have to suspend its humanitarian aid program in the Gaza Strip because of the Israeli fuel blockade. The UN can't distribute food or collect sewage in the Hamas-controlled territory now that its fuel supply has run out. A Security Council meeting was...

300,000 Dead in Darfur: UN
 300,000 Dead in Darfur: UN 
Apr 23, 2008 6:27 AM CDT

300,000 Dead in Darfur: UN

Security Council told that situation is worsening

(Newser) - The UN's humanitarian chief has painted a grim picture of the situation in Darfur, estimating that disease, war, and famine have claimed 300,000 lives in the region since conflict broke out in 2003—100,000 of them since 2006. People are continuing to die as efforts to solve the...

Food Crisis Is 'Mass Murder': UN Envoy

Official blames multinationals for surging food prices

(Newser) - A UN envoy called the world's food crisis "silent mass murder" today and blamed multinationals for "monopolizing the riches of the Earth," Reuters reports. Jean Ziegler, UN food rapporteur, chalked up surging food prices in poorer nations to biofuels, commodities markets, and EU subsidies—meaning the West...

UN May Cut Food Rations for Schoolkids

Soaring food prices raise 'world's misery index,' group says

(Newser) - Food rations for hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren may be cut because of surging crop prices that have widened the World Food Program’s funding gap to $750 million, Reuters says. The UN food aid agency also blamed the situation on high fuel prices and reductions in new crop plantings....

Stories 741 - 760 | << Prev   Next >>