United Nations

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Darfur's Displaced Battle Hunger, Disease, Raids

Sudan's 2.5M refugees struggle to survive

(Newser) - "It is unsafe for me to go back home and it's not safe here," a resident of Abu Chok, a refugee camp in Darfur currently home to 54,000, tells the Guardian. Residents endure endemic malnutrition, malaria, and typhoid in hopes of security—the camp is 4 miles...

Burmese Junta Downplays Protest Death Toll: Report

Government 'lying,' rights group says

(Newser) - The quashing of pro-democracy demonstrations in September was significantly bloodier than the Burmese junta claims, says a Human Rights Watch report released today. Although the government acknowledges only 10 deaths during the suppression of the protests, 20 killings have been verified by eyewitnesses in Yangon alone, and the rights group...

UN Food Aid Restored in Somalia
UN Food Aid Restored in Somalia
Dec 5, 2007 6:56 AM CST

UN Food Aid Restored in Somalia

Mysterious obstacles disappear as help is allowed again to devastated region

(Newser) - United Nations food aid has been restored to Somalia today after it was suspended yesterday, when the government hiked road tolls to $500 a truck and prevented two ships from delivering food to the problem-plagued Lower Shabelle region. UN aid teams were given no explanation for the trouble. But a...

Climate Talks Move Forward, But Slowly

Bali participants take baby steps toward fighting global warming

(Newser) - Sniping among the 190 nations in attendance isn't keeping the climate talks in Bali from inching forward, Reuters reports. Participants have succeeded in putting together a "special group" to look at post-Kyoto Protocol options, but "the devil's in the detail," cautioned a top UN official. Meanwhile, environmentalists...

Sudan Making Peacekeeping 'Impossible'

Top UN official says Khartoum demands will make forces worthless

(Newser) - The UN's head of peacekeeping operations blasted the Sudanese government for intentionally restrictive demands that "would make it impossible for the mission to operate." Khartoum is refusing to admit non-African soldiers, withholding permission for night flights, and insisting on advance notice of all troop movements, the BBC reports....

Climate Time Bomb Ticking, UN Says
Climate Time Bomb Ticking, UN Says
Nov 27, 2007 5:42 PM CST

Climate Time Bomb Ticking, UN Says

Ecological doomsday looms within 10 years unless world acts

(Newser) - Global warming will wreak devastation on economies and living standards around the world within 10 years unless nations take steps now to curb carbon emissions, a UN report warns. The report, the latest in a series of dire warnings from international agencies, is intended to spur action at next month's...

UN: Iceland Best Place to Live
UN: Iceland Best Place to Live
Nov 27, 2007 1:21 PM CST

UN: Iceland Best Place to Live

Sub-Saharan Africa, it turns out, not so great

(Newser) - Iceland has inched out longtime champ Norway as the best place in the world to live, and sub-Saharan Africa is the worst. The UN list, out today, ranks countries by real per-capita GDP, education, and life expectancy. The US ranked 12th, down from 8th last year, as relatively low life...

UN Slashes AIDS Estimate
UN Slashes AIDS Estimate
Nov 20, 2007 9:12 AM CST

UN Slashes AIDS Estimate

Agency admits it seriously overestimated spread of epidemic

(Newser) - The United Nations will publish a report admitting that it has greatly overestimated the scale and the progress of the AIDS epidemic, writes the Washington Post. The UN's AIDS agency now believes that the disease has been slowing for a decade and that the worldwide toll of people living with...

UN Agreement May Boost US Spectrum Bids

Google, Yahoo, Apple all seen jumping into Jan. 700 Mhz auction

(Newser) - Thanks to an agreement at a month-long UN telecom conference in Geneva, the cost for rights to use new US wireless spectrum going on the block in January may have just increased. Google, Yahoo and Apple are among the companies expected to a battle for licenses to the 700 Mhz...

UN Warns of 'Abrupt' Warming
UN Warns of 'Abrupt' Warming
Nov 17, 2007 6:18 AM CST

UN Warns of 'Abrupt' Warming

Earth at 'tipping point' of irreversible catastrophe: UN chief Ban Ki-Moon

(Newser) - The last and most forceful of a series of UN reports on climate change unveiled today urges swift action to avoid "abrupt and irreversible" damage to the environment. Melting glaciers will cause a rapid rise in sea levels, wiping out vulnerable species and destroying water and food supplies for...

Bengali Cyclone Toll Hits 1,100
Bengali Cyclone Toll Hits 1,100
UPDATED
Nov 16, 2007 2:31 PM CST

Bengali Cyclone Toll Hits 1,100

Relief slowed as power, phones remain out

(Newser) - The death toll from yesterday’s cyclone in Bangladesh has risen to 1,100, and widespread power and telephone shortages are slowing relief work. The full devastation may not be known for days. Relief agencies have descended on the impoverished nation, but blocked roads and rivers make reaching the worst-hit...

UN Visitor Not Keeping Burma From Arrests

US official calls junta's progress 'demonstrably inadequate'

(Newser) - Burma's military junta has continued to detain protesters even as a UN human-rights investigator visits to probe September's crushed uprising, the Guardian reports. Three men distributing pro-democracy leaflets in a Rangoon market were arrested today; a leading female activist was detained yesterday as she posted fliers near the investigator's hotel—...

Pope to Shun Boston on US Visit
Pope to Shun Boston on US Visit
Nov 14, 2007 7:52 AM CST

Pope to Shun Boston on US Visit

Omission of city at center of church sex abuse scandal raises ire

(Newser) - For his much-anticipated inaugural trip to the US this spring Pope Benedict XVI plans to visit the White House, the United Nations, the site of the World Trade Center—but not Boston, where the Church sex abuse scandal first erupted. The omission of Boston from the papal tour has infuriated...

US Control Over Domain Names Is Focus of UN Internet Forum

Critics say agency limits non-English suffixes

(Newser) - US control over assigning Internet domain names was a focus of discussions at the second annual Internet Governance Forum today, the AP reports. "The Internet is transnational. It can't be under the authority of one country," said Brazil's culture minister. Many argue that US sway over the Internet...

UN Inspector Vows to Tally Burma's Dead

Demands 'full cooperation' from junta or 'I'll go out'

(Newser) - A UN inspector landed in Burma today to tally the junta's detained and dead protesters, the AP reports. And he vowed to leave if officials don't give him "full cooperation." So far, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro has met with officials and visited a town where the junta targeted monks...

Karzai Presses Taliban Talks
Karzai Presses Taliban Talks
Nov 9, 2007 11:58 AM CST

Karzai Presses Taliban Talks

Afghan president offers amnesty, roles in government

(Newser) - As bloodshed escalates in Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai is pressing for negotiations with senior members of the Taliban, writes the Los Angeles Times. Foreign diplomats and members of Karzai's own government now believe that peace cannot be achieved by military means, and the president is hoping to achieve some form of...

Darfur Boots UN Official
Darfur Boots UN Official
Nov 8, 2007 3:23 PM CST

Darfur Boots UN Official

Humanitarian-aid coordinator accused unspecified infractions

(Newser) - A UN official in charge of humanitarian efforts in Darfur has been ousted from the war-torn region of Sudan, the UN said yesterday. The state's governor accused the official, Wael al-Haj Ibrahim, of violating "the rules of humanitarian action." But both UN officials and members of Ibrahim's organization...

Burma Junta Nixes Talks With UN, Dissident

Suu Kyi must drop sanction support; UN not making progress

(Newser) - The junta ruling Myanmar—formerly Burma—today rejected a UN proposal for three-way talks that would have included detained leader Aung San Suu Kyi, Agence France-Presse reports. It is the latest disappointment to mar the visit of UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari, in which he has been denied an audience with...

So Many Men, So Much Frustration
So Many Men, So Much Frustration
Nov 2, 2007 8:48 PM CDT

So Many Men, So Much Frustration

Asian gender gap will see millions without mates, stall economies

(Newser) - A growing gender gap spells trouble for Asian markets, where scholars predict that a glut of men without partners—Chinese and Indian men will outnumber women by more than 20 million each in 2030—will have a cascade of unintended consequences, economic as well as social.  Sexual violence and...

US Sets 2-Week Deadline for Iran Sanctions

Vows to push UN for tougher nuke stance, faults Russia, China

(Newser) - The US vowed today to fight for new UN sanctions on Iran if its Mideast rival doesn’t stop nuclear activity within two weeks, Reuters reports. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns blamed Russia and China for delaying a third round of economic sanctions; those nations hold veto power on the...

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