United Nations

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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....

Pope Warns Against Tyranny
 Pope Warns Against Tyranny 
Apr 18, 2008 11:45 AM CDT

Pope Warns Against Tyranny

Entire international community must promote human rights, pontiff tells UN

(Newser) - Pope Benedict addressed the UN for the first time today, calling human rights the solution to many of the world’s problems, the AP reports. Speaking in French, the pontiff praised the UN, stressing the importance of international cooperation. But he also warned, “Multilateral consensus continues to be in...

China Ships Arms to Mugabe
 China Ships Arms to Mugabe 
Apr 18, 2008 4:29 AM CDT

China Ships Arms to Mugabe

Union refusing to unload dangerous cargo destined for tense Zimbabwe

(Newser) - As tensions rise in Zimbabwe, a Chinese ship has arrived in a South African port with arms bound for Harare. The ship put to sea with AK-47 rifles, mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and millions of rounds of ammunition, apparently to fortify President Robert Mugabe, who's not relinquishing power despite his suspected...

On Pope's Heels, Brown Arrives in America

Overshadowed PM will talk global economy, seek closer US-UK ties

(Newser) - The pope might be commanding the headlines, but another world leader is in America this week—Gordon Brown arrived in New York yesterday for a three-day visit. In an op-ed for today's Wall Street Journal, the British PM announces a raft of initiatives designed to fortify the "special relationship,...

Haitian Senate Sacks Prime Minister

Food riots spark ouster of president's close ally

(Newser) - Amid skyrocketing food prices and deadly riots in Haiti, the country's senate has voted to oust Prime Minister Jacques-Edouard Alexis. President Rene Preval, who appointed his ally Alexis in 2006 to lead the country's coalition government, must now choose a new cabinet. The vote came in spite of a recently...

Israeli Gunfire Kills 5, Wounds 18 in Central Gaza

Two Hamas militants killed in air strike

(Newser) - Israeli gun and tank fire in Gaza today killed at least five Palestinians, including two boys, said officials at a Palestinian hospital. The wounded included 18 civilians and two fighters. Israeli officials said troops entered the area to quell terrorist activity and push Palestinians from a border fence when they...

Iran Promises West 'Bloody Nose' Over Nuke Program

'The nation will slap you in the mouth,' Ahmadinejad warns

(Newser) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad invoked some schoolyard rhetoric today, threatening the West with a "bloody nose" over ongoing criticism of Iran's uranium enrichment program, Reuters reports. "The Iranian nation will bloody the enemy's nose if they want to violate an iota of our rights" to nuclear technology, Ahmadinejad...

Google Tracking Refugees
 Google Tracking Refugees 
Apr 8, 2008 5:45 PM CDT

Google Tracking Refugees

UN info on displaced peoples now available through Earth mapping feature

(Newser) - A new feature allows Google Earth users to take a tour of the world’s refugee hotspots, with images of camps supplemented by information from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the AP reports. The search titan has greatly improved the available resolution in its satellite photos of refugee areas—...

Iran's Latest Nuclear Moves Raise Hackles

France proposes tougher sanctions after 6K centrifuges added

(Newser) - Iran began installation today of 6,000 high-capacity centrifuges at its Natanz uranium-enrichment facility, Reuters reports. To the chagrin of Western powers, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad marked Iran’s “National Day of Nuclear Technology” with the announcement. The US said Iran’s move showed it was determined to disobey the...

UN Official Defends His Comparison of Israelis to Nazis

Jerusalem considers barring successor

(Newser) - A UN investigator hasn't even begun his new job probing Israeli conduct in the Palestinian territories and he is already facing a firestorm of criticism. Richard Falk has been slammed for a comment he made last summer comparing Israel's actions in Gaza to Nazi policies. He defended the comments yesterday...

South Korea to Back UN on North Korea

Seoul shifts gears to join in criticism of human rights record

(Newser) - South Korea is set to vote in favor of a United Nations resolution that criticizes the "systematic, widespread, and grave violations" of human rights in North Korea, the AP reports. The South's new president, Lee Myung-bak, is changing a decade of precedent: earlier administrations have either abstained or been...

UN Pleads for $500M in Food Aid
 UN Pleads for $500M in Food Aid 
Mar 24, 2008 4:59 AM CDT

UN Pleads for $500M in Food Aid

May cut food shipments to 73M hungry

(Newser) - A United Nations food program has issued an extraordinary emergency plea for an extra $500 million in aid, warning that shipments to the world's hungry may be rationed if the money can't be raised over the next month, reports the Financial Times. The World Food Program feeds some 73 million...

UN Cop Killed in Kosovo Riots
 UN Cop Killed in Kosovo Riots 
Mar 18, 2008 6:51 AM CDT

UN Cop Killed in Kosovo Riots

More than 100 injured as Serbs battle UN, NATO with guns and grenades

(Newser) - A Ukrainian UN police officer has been killed and at least 40 UN or NATO personnel were injured as Serbs continued to exchange gunfire with NATO and UN forces, reports AFP. Some 70 Serbs were also wounded as yesterday's fighting in ethnically charged Mitrovica spilled over to today, including a...

UN Forces Withdraw From Kosovo Town

100 hurt in battle to retake courthouse

(Newser) - UN police trying to retake a courthouse were forced to withdraw from the Kosovo city of Mitrovica after clashes with ethnic Serbs, reports the BBC. NATO troops were left in charge of security after the worst violence since Kosovo declared independence; AFP reported at least 100 police and protesters were...

Glacial Melt Hit Record in '06
 Glacial Melt Hit Record in '06 
Mar 17, 2008 8:33 AM CDT

Glacial Melt Hit Record in '06

Study finds glaciers lost an average of 4.9 feet of ice

(Newser) - Glaciers shrank an alarming average of 4.9 feet in 2006, the UN Environment Program says—a dramatic difference from ice loss numbers in the ‘80s and ‘90s, when glaciers lost an average 11.8 inches a year. UNEP’s director pointed to "many canaries in the...

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