United Nations

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Attacks on Aid Workers Hit Record in 2008

It's more dangerous to distribute aid than fight as a UN peacekeeper

(Newser) - A shocking number of fatal attacks on international aid workers made 2008 the most dangerous year yet to perform such work, Reuters reports. Last year, 260 workers were attacked on the job, 122 fatally; the majority were working in Somalia, Darfur, or Afghanistan. The Center on International Cooperation’s study...

UN Split Over Response to N. Korea Rocket

Russia, China resist as US, Japan call for punishment

(Newser) - The US and Japan have hit international resistance as they push for a firm response to yesterday’s North Korean rocket launch over Japan, the Guardian reports. As the second day of emergency UN talks begins today, China and Russia aren’t backing a proposed statement condemning the move from...

UN Picks Judge to Probe Israeli 'War Crimes'

Jewish South African will investigate allegations of abuses

(Newser) - The UN has named a Jewish judge from South Africa to lead a high-level mission to investigate alleged war crimes committed by Israel in the Gaza Strip, reports the AP. Richard Goldstone, the UN's former chief prosecutor for war crimes in Yugoslavia and Rwanda, will head the probe ordered by...

US to Join UN Human Rights Panel, Reversing Bush

(Newser) - In another reversal of Bush policy, the Obama administration said today it would seek to join the UN Human Rights Council. The US will participate in May elections for one of three open seats on the 3-year-old body, the Washington Post reports. Bushies declined to join, arguing that the council...

Khmer Rouge Hearings Begin
Khmer Rouge Hearings Begin
Mar 30, 2009 10:33 AM CDT

Khmer Rouge Hearings Begin

Head of Cambodian prison charged with war crimes, torture, premeditated murder

(Newser) - One of the most feared figures of Pol Pot's fanatical regime in Cambodia has begun to tell his story on the witness stand as hearings begin in his trial, reports the Los Angeles Times. The former head of a Khmer Rough prison, Kaing Khev Iev—known as Duch—is charged...

UN Meeting on Afghanistan Will Include Iran

Decision to attend may indicate US overtures to Tehran are working

(Newser) - Iran plans to attend a US-initiated UN conference on the situation in Afghanistan, Reuters reports. A foreign ministry rep said Tehran hasn't decided who to send; other attendees include Ban Ki-Moon and Hillary Clinton. “Iran will participate,” the spokesman said. “The level of participation is not clear....

N. Korea Readies Missile for Launch

UN sanctions will derail disarmament talks: Pyongyang

(Newser) - As the date of a promised “satellite launch” nears, North Korea has placed a long-range ballistic missile on the launch pad used for earlier test firings, Reuters reports. South Korea, Japan, and the US plan to seek UN sanctions if the nuclear power goes forward with what analysts believe...

UN Calls on Burma Junta to Release Suu Kyi

Rare critical report labels detention illegal under country's laws

(Newser) - Burma's continued detention of Aung San Suu Kyi violates both international law and the country's own criminal code, according to a UN report obtained by the AP. The pro-democracy leader has been under house arrest for 13 of last 19 years since her party won a landslide victory in the...

Galactica Lands at Frakkin' UN

(Newser) - You might have noticed something odd about the United Nations assembly room last night: Instead of a country, each of the 200-plus delegate seats bore a placard with the name of one of the 12 Colonies of Kobol. That’s right, the Sci-Fi Channel commandeered the frakking UN for a...

US to Sign UN Gay Rights Declaration

Decision to back global decriminalization reverses Bush policy

(Newser) - The Obama administration will endorse a UN declaration calling for the worldwide decriminalization of homosexuality that President Bush refused to sign, reports AP. The US was the only western government that refused to back the declaration last year, triggering stinging criticism of the Bush administration. Some 70 UN nations still...

Sea Levels Rising Faster Than Expected

(Newser) - Top climate scientists say sea levels are rising faster than expected, the Times of London reports. The world's oceans will rise about 3 feet by the end of the century, double the amount predicted in a 2007 estimate by the UN. The new figure, blamed on melting ice sheets, could...

Clinton Seeks World Meeting on Afghanistan

High-level conference would develop 'common way forward'

(Newser) - Hillary Clinton has proposed a high-level international conference on Afghanistan sponsored by the United Nations and attended by a wide range of countries including Pakistan and NATO allies. The secretary of State presented the proposal at a NATO meeting in Brussels, where she said the session could be held March...

Health Activists Jab Vatican in Needle Exchange Battle

Officials call UN needle swap program 'anti-life'

(Newser) - World health activists are blasting the Vatican for battling a UN statement that would support measures to protect the health of drug users, such as needle exchange programs, reports the Guardian. Vatican officials say the global push for such "harm reduction" policies leads to "liberalization of drug use,...

UN Acquits Serb Leader
 UN Acquits Serb Leader 
Feb 26, 2009 11:46 AM CST

UN Acquits Serb Leader

Five others convicted of roles in Kosovo violence

(Newser) - A UN tribunal acquitted former Serbian president Milan Milutinovic today of war crimes during the late-1990s conflict in Kosovo, the BBC reports. Milutinovic, the titular leader of Serbia in 1997-2002, did not have direct control of the Yugoslav army during the campaign of violence committed against Kosovar Albanians, the tribunal...

Tehran Has Enough Fuel for Nuclear Bomb

Iran has more uranium than thought, says UN agency

(Newser) - Here's news that won't cheer Washington as it figures out how to deal with Iran: A UN agency says the nation now has enough uranium to build a nuclear bomb. In order to do so, Tehran would have to refine it further and kick out inspectors. But it reached this...

Scandal! Heartbreak! Clooney Visits Darfur

(Newser) - George Clooney figures prominently in New York Times op-ed columnist Nicholas D. Kristof's latest report from Africa, which Kristof describes as "yet another hand-wringing column about Darfur." He offers to swap dirt on the Hollywood heartthrob for readers' interest—then offers a chilling tale of a "petty...

Taliban Declares Ceasefire in Pakistan Valley

Militants begin peace talks with government, warn of retaliation

(Newser) - The Taliban declared a 10-day ceasefire in a Pakistani valley and freed a Chinese hostage today after it began peace talks with the government, but an abducted American remains missing. The militants called the move a goodwill gesture, as its sympathizers and government officials discuss introducing elements of Islamic law...

World Court Issues Warrant for Sudan President

Bashir may be tried for genocide, war crimes

(Newser) - The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Sudan's president, a move that Arab and African nations warn could sink peace negotiations in Darfur. Omar al-Bashir is the first state leader that the 7-year-old court has tried to arrest, the New York Times reports. Prosecutors hope to try...

UN: Hamas Seized Food, Blankets

Hamas claims aid was going to opponents

(Newser) - Hamas police in Gaza seized thousands of blankets and food parcels meant for needy residents, the AP reports, threatening to fracture relations between the international agency that cares for most of Gaza's residents and the territory's militant rulers. A UN spokesman called the incident "absolutely unacceptable."

UN Official Kidnapped in Pakistan

No leads yet in refugee worker's abduction

(Newser) - An American working with a UN refugee agency in southwestern Pakistan was kidnapped today by gunmen who killed his driver, reports the Times of London. The attack occurred as the official from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, which aids Afghan refugees in the city of Quetta, headed to...

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