United Nations

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Lay Judges to Join Bench in Japan
Lay Judges
to Join Bench
in Japan
Aug 25, 2007 8:38 AM CDT

Lay Judges to Join Bench in Japan

Will citizens temper Japan's courts, where 99.9% are found guilty?

(Newser) - Japan will give citizens the gavel in an effort to counteract its judicial system’s prejudice for presuming guilt. Six citizens and three trained jurists will sit on criminal cases, and the majority will rule, Bloomberg reports. The new system follows a clamor of criticism about forced confessions, inhumane treatment...

African Union Rejects Asian Troops for Darfur

Claims African countries can supply all 26,000

(Newser) - Asian troops promised by the United Nations for a joint peacekeeping force in Darfur won't be needed, the leaders of the African Union said yesterday; African countries  will supply all 26,000 peacekeepers, the BBC reports. But critics doubt that enough trained African soldiers are available for an effective force,...

Maliki Calls Summit to Heal Iraqi Cabinet

PM threatens to replace Sunnis with "alternative" ministers

(Newser) - Iraq’s PM says he will try to salvage his disintegrating government by holding an emergency summit of cabinet members over the next couple of days. The BBC reports that Nouri al-Maliki is even warning Sunnis that he could refill his government with “alternative” ministers if they refuse to...

Danes Join Scramble for Arctic
Danes Join Scramble for Arctic
Aug 11, 2007 1:20 PM CDT

Danes Join Scramble for Arctic

Denmark to launch expedition to Arctic to defend territorial claims

(Newser) - A Danish expedition is set to head for the Arctic tomorrow, joining the scramble to claim polar territories. A team of 40 scientists and massive icebreakers are heading north to prove that a 2,000-kilometer underwater mountain range stretching to the pole is an extension of Greenland, and accordingly belongs...

UN to Increase Iraq Presence
UN to Increase Iraq Presence
Aug 10, 2007 1:20 PM CDT

UN to Increase Iraq Presence

US praises decision, but adds it too will continue to be involved

(Newser) - The UN will expand its role in Iraq and try to help quell the sectarian violence that has hobbled the country, after a Security Council vote today. Iraq's government says it'll help peacekeepers mediate disputes between the feuding sectarian groups and among Iraq’s neighbors in the region; the blue...

UN Offers to Boost Iraq Presence
UN Offers to Boost Iraq Presence
Aug 8, 2007 8:56 AM CDT

UN Offers to Boost Iraq Presence

New Baghdad compound and mediation aid also on the table

(Newser) - UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon has offered to increase personnel in Iraq for the first time in more than 3 years and is seeking $130 million to build a reinforced compound in Baghdad for the growing UN mission. Ban faces a backlash from member states afraid of inheriting a...

Seoul Pleads for Taliban Talks
Seoul Pleads for Taliban Talks
Aug 4, 2007 3:55 PM CDT

Seoul Pleads for Taliban Talks

Delegation arrives in Afghanistan while Afghans, Taliban search for venue

(Newser) - South Korean officials are in Afghanistan seeking direct talks with the Taliban, Reuters reports, as the terrorist group and the Afghan government bicker over a venue for their own negotiations to free the  21 remaining Korean hostages. Two male members of the church group have been killed by the kidnappers.

Bush, Brown Back UN Iraq Force
Bush, Brown Back UN Iraq Force
Aug 3, 2007 8:09 AM CDT

Bush, Brown Back UN Iraq Force

Security Council resolution could mark beginning of exit strategy

(Newser) - The US and UK have circulated a draft resolution to the UN Security Council that would greatly increase the UN's role in Iraq, writes the Times of London. The resolution follows Bush and Brown's meeting at Camp David and is seen as a step towards an exit strategy from Iraq...

UN OKs 26K Troops for Darfur
UN OKs 26K Troops for Darfur
Jul 31, 2007 6:21 PM CDT

UN OKs 26K Troops for Darfur

But force will have limited license

(Newser) - The Security Council voted today to send as many as 26,000 soldiers and police to Sudan, Reuters reports. But the combined UN-African Union peacekeeping troops will have permission to use force only to defend civilians and humanitarian workers, a watering-down of proposals that would have allowed troops to seize...

US Will Share Nuke Fuel, Technology With India

Civilian deal reverses US precedent

(Newser) - The United States unveiled a plan today to share nuclear fuel and technology with India, upending decades of American non-proliferation strictures, the AP reports. The deal allows only civilian uses, but critics are concerned nonetheless about the specter of an Asian  nuclear arms race.

Spain Has a Taste for Immortality
Spain Has a Taste for Immortality
Jul 22, 2007 4:16 PM CDT

Spain Has a Taste for Immortality

Mediterranean food may be bound for exclusive UN status

(Newser) - The Great Barrier Reef and the Taj Mahal may have to make room on the UN's World Heritage list for ... sangria. Spain's culture minister wants Mediterranean cuisine added to UNESCO's list of humankind's treasures, and he may get his way, Der Spiegel reports—Portugal, which currently holds the EU presidency,...

North Korea Seeks Military Talks With US

US parries request, stands firm on push to end nuclear programs

(Newser) - On the eve of the arrival of UN observers monitoring the shutdown of its main nuclear plant, North Korea today appealed for direct military talks with the US. But Washington insists that the elimination of Pyongyang's nuclear-weapons program takes precedence, the Voice of America reports, and a South Korean expert...

North Korea Agrees to Fold Nuke Factories

Wins political concessions, economic aid for shutdown

(Newser) - North Korea reached a promising accord with the UN today, pledging to shut its main nuclear reactor in exchange for economic aid and political compromise from the US and its allies. IAEA inspectors returned today from the Yongbyon nuclear complex—the first visit since monitors were expelled in 2002—and...

Russia Stakes Claim to Oil-Rich Arctic Territory

Kremlin claims underwater shelf links huge chunk to Russia

(Newser) - Russia has claimed a massive, oil-rich chunk of the Arctic, despite international laws that block ownership of the territory. The Kremlin based its move on scientists' insistence that an underwater shelf links Russia to 460,000 square miles of the North Pole, which contains 10 billion tons of oil and...

China Raises Profile in Africa
China Raises Profile in Africa
Jun 27, 2007 9:28 AM CDT

China Raises Profile in Africa

UN peacekeepers, volunteers, economic efforts reflect Beijing's new commitment

(Newser) - China is increasing the number of UN peackekeepers it sends to Africa and raising its profile on the continent, creating a kind of "peace corps" to address problems from job shortages to health care, the Christian Science Monitor reports. China, itself a developing nation, appears determined to both do...

Sudan OKs Darfur Peace Talks
Sudan OKs Darfur Peace Talks
Jun 18, 2007 9:51 AM CDT

Sudan OKs Darfur Peace Talks

Foreign minister backs UN-AU initiative

(Newser) - Months of negotiations over the crisis in Darfur have culminated in agreements by the Sudanese government to participate in peace talks and to admit a joint UN-African union peacekeeping force to the region. Security Council reps visited Khartoum yesterday and nailed down details that addressed the government's concerns, Reuters reports—...

Ex-UN Head Waldheim Dead at 88
Ex-UN Head Waldheim
Dead at 88
Jun 15, 2007 6:50 AM CDT

Ex-UN Head Waldheim Dead at 88

Military service under Nazis shadowed Austrian president

(Newser) - Haunted by his World War II German army service to the end, former UN secretary-general Kurt Waldheim died yesterday at 88. Reports that he served in a German army unit that committed atrocities during the war emerged in 1985, during his successful campaign for the Austrian presidency; at his death,...

Lebanese Mourn MP Slain by Bomb
Lebanese Mourn MP Slain by Bomb
Jun 14, 2007 7:09 AM CDT

Lebanese Mourn MP Slain by Bomb

Unrest builds; White House condemns assassinations of anti-Syrian politicians

(Newser) - Lebanon observed a national day of mourning today as a prominent anti-Syrian MP was buried in Beirut. The assassination yesterday of Walid Eido further destabilized the shaky situation in the country. President Bush condemned the "clear pattern of assassinations" of prominent Lebanese critics of Syria; Eido was the sixth...

UN Memo Rips US on Mideast
UN Memo Rips US on Mideast
Jun 13, 2007 5:36 AM CDT

UN Memo Rips US on Mideast

Palestinian boycott exacts 'devastating consequences'

(Newser) - The UN's former Mideast envoy condemns US policy toward Israel in a secret report that rips America for having "pummeled the UN into submission," rendering it powerless as a negotiator on Mideast matters. The report, leaked to the Guardian, also labels the boycott of the Palestinian government a...

UN Will Try Accused Assassins of Ex-Lebanese PM

Divided Security Council OKs tribunal

(Newser) - A UN tribunal will try suspects in the 2005 assassination of the ex-PM of Lebanon, raising fears of worsening unrest in the unstable country. Five members abstained from yesterday's Security Council vote, signaling a serious rift. And Syria, which has been implicated in the suicide truck-bomb attack that killed Rafik...

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