United Nations

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Burma Confiscates Phones, Computers to Silence News

Authorities move to shut down last lines of communication to outside world

(Newser) - The Burmese government is cutting the last lines of communication with the outside world, confiscating satellite phones and computers that reporters and bloggers were using to spread news of the violent repression of pro-democracy protests. Officials even demanded to see permits for satellite phones at a United Nations office. Authorities...

US Targets Afghan Opium Crop
US Targets Afghan Opium Crop
Oct 8, 2007 9:15 AM CDT

US Targets Afghan Opium Crop

Karzai reluctant to allow spraying of heroin producing crop

(Newser) - The US is pressing the Afghan government to stem its booming poppy crop with mass spraying following the biggest opium harvests in its history—which accounts for 91% of the world's production. Therein lies much of the resurgent Taliban's revenue, the New York Times reports, but Karzai fears a Taliban-inspired...

Darfur Town Laid to Waste
Darfur Town Laid to Waste
Oct 7, 2007 7:13 PM CDT

Darfur Town Laid to Waste

Village is razed in apparent payback for strike against AU base

(Newser) - Only a school and mosque were left standing in a Darfur town after attackers recently torched and looted it, leaving 7,000 villagers homeless, the BBC reports. Rebels blame the government for the strike, saying it was payback for last week's bloody raid on an African Union base. The UN...

Junta Cremates Protesters
Junta Cremates Protesters
Oct 7, 2007 5:05 PM CDT

Junta Cremates Protesters

Crackdown carries on, as soldiers arrest more activists and the wounded are refused treatment

(Newser) - Burma's army is burning the bodies of activists in secret cremations, hiding their true death count forever, the Sunday Times reports. Locals near Rangoon report trucks are driving by a crematorium at night as smoke rises constantly from its chimneys. Rumors of victims burnt alive have swept the city, but...

World Pressure Bears Down on Burma
World Pressure Bears Down
on Burma
Oct 6, 2007 10:36 AM CDT

World Pressure Bears Down on Burma

Protesters around globe stage protests as US weighs sanctions

(Newser) - Protesters around the world staged a series of rallies today to protest Burma's crackdown on dissent and show support for the nation's monks. The protests began in New Zealand and were to continue in big cities throughout the world at noon local time, the BBC reported. The US and other...

Burma Offers Meeting With Democracy Leader

But only if she drops call for sanctions

(Newser) - Burma's army has offered to meet with pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi if she stops demanding economic sanctions, the Times reports. A general proposed the meeting this week to UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari, who has met with Ms. Suu Kyi on his 4-day trip. Gambari plans to tell the...

Oil-for-Food Tycoon Pleads Guilty
Oil-for-Food
Tycoon
Pleads Guilty
Oct 1, 2007 5:00 PM CDT

Oil-for-Food Tycoon Pleads Guilty

Octogenarian Wyatt faces 18 to 24 months, will return $11M

(Newser) - Oil magnate Oscar Wyatt pleaded guilty to conspiracy today, ending his trial on federal charges that he paid Saddam Hussein's government millions to secure oil supply deals in  the UN oil-for-food program scandal. The 83-year-old Wyatt will serve 18 to 24 months in prison and give up $11 million, Reuters...

Taiwan Flexing Missile Muscle
Taiwan Flexing Missile Muscle
Sep 30, 2007 11:29 AM CDT

Taiwan Flexing Missile Muscle

Govt. officials confirm plans for long-range cruise missile capable of hitting China

(Newser) - As China quietly stockpiles weapons aimed at Taiwan, the renegade island confirms it is developing its own cruise missiles capable of hitting the mainland, including Shanghai and many military bases. The controversial weapon, intended to "make China hesitate before launching any attack," is more likely to ramp up...

UN Burma Envoy Meets Activist Leader
UN Burma
Envoy Meets
Activist Leader
Sep 30, 2007 11:06 AM CDT

UN Burma Envoy Meets Activist Leader

Suu Kyi freed briefly from 12-year house arrest for key sitdown

(Newser) - The United Nations' envoy to Burma met briefly today with pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi to discuss the violent crackdown on anti-government demonstrations, reports AP. The UN representative first met with leaders of the military junta, which continued to lock down the nation's largest cities in the wake of ...

Iran Sanctions Delayed Until November

World powers put off taking action against nuclear program

(Newser) - Foreign ministers from the US, China, UK, Russia, Germany, and France agreed today to postpone a vote on sanctioning Iran for its nuclear program until at least the end of November. The date depends on reports from the UN nuclear watchdog and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solano, whom the...

Sanctions on Iran 'Illegal': Ahmadinejad

Iran's prez blasts US policy and 'Zionist regime' at the UN

(Newser) - Today Ahmadinejad attacked "illegal" sanctions on Iran and said that its "peaceful and transparent" nuclear policy should be left to UN watchdog, Reuters reports. Speaking at the UN, he also slammed the "illegal Zionist regime" and blasted the US for occupying Iraq. "The occupiers ... do not...

US, EU Will Back Kosovo Secession
US, EU Will
Back Kosovo Secession
Sep 25, 2007 12:42 PM CDT

US, EU Will Back Kosovo Secession

Rice insists independence from Serbia is only option

(Newser) - The Bush administration and the EU will support an independent Kosovo with or without a UN-backed plan. Serbs and Kosovo Albanians will conduct a last round of negotiations on the breakaway country's status before a Dec. 10 deadline. If that deadline passes, Kosovo will declare independence and the US and...

VP Mulled Israeli Strike on Iran
VP Mulled Israeli Strike on Iran
Sep 23, 2007 6:31 PM CDT

VP Mulled Israeli Strike on Iran

Israel would have bombed nuke facilities —and still might

(Newser) - Dick Cheney considered encouraging Israel to launch an air strike on Iran, Reuters reports,  citing a Newsweek claim that Cheney saw the strike as drawing retailation that would, in turn, draw the US into a war. Cheney adviser David Wurmser is said to have disclosed the discussions.

UN Gears for Bigger Role in Iraq
UN Gears for Bigger Role in Iraq
Sep 23, 2007 6:22 AM CDT

UN Gears for Bigger Role in Iraq

New Baghdad office to open

(Newser) - The United Nations plans to increase its presence in Iraq, but has serious concerns about the "unstable" security situation, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said at a meeting in New York yesterday with Iraq's prime minister. The expanded UN mission would seek to stabilize Iraq by mediating sect rivalries, bolstering...

The Arctic Is Ours: Kremlin
The Arctic Is Ours: Kremlin
Sep 21, 2007 2:33 AM CDT

The Arctic Is Ours: Kremlin

Russia claims polar mineral wealth

(Newser) - In the latest audacious claim by Russia, the nation is insisting that rock samples taken 13,000 feet beneath the North Pole prove that a large part of the Arctic seabed is rightfully Russian territory. The US, Canada, Norway and Denmark also have territorial claims to the mineral-rich area that's...

Crocker: Speed Up Iraqi Refugee Policy

Ambassador says 10,000 expats could take 2 years to admit

(Newser) - Ambassador Ryan Crocker says the US needs to get moving on admitting Iraqi refugees. In a State Department memo titled "Iraqi Refugee Processing: Can We Speed It Up?", Crocker writes that thousands of desperate Iraqis are facing bottlenecks to their resettlement, and that at the present rate it would...

France Warns of War with Iran
France Warns of War with Iran
Sep 17, 2007 4:24 AM CDT

France Warns of War with Iran

World should 'prepare for the worst," says foreign minister

(Newser) - French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner yesterday threatened war with Iran to  halt its nuclear weapons program. France favors negotiations and sanctions but the world should prepare for military action if all else fails, he said in an interview on French TV. Iranian nuclear weapons would pose "a real danger...

11,000 People With No Place to Go... Yet

Global warming will put Polynesian island underwater in 50 years

(Newser) - Legal experts are debating what to do with the people of Tuvalu, a Polynesian island state which will be underwater in 50 years if the globe keeps warming. Many residents have found homes in New Zealand but others have met resistance in Australia, where immigration is an election issue. International...

Taiwanese Rally Renews Attempt to Join UN

Thousands march, but China's opposition likely dooms bid

(Newser) - Tens of thousands of Taiwanese took to the streets today to again seek a seat at the UN. The UN has rejected previous attempts to join under its official name, the Republic of China, so the island nation now tries to join as Taiwan. But the bid is certain to...

Sudan's Leader Meets Pope, Vows to Honor Ceasefire

In controversial Italy visit, Bashir pledges quiet during October peace talks

(Newser) - Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir, in a rare and controversial visit to Italy, promised today to observe a ceasefire in Darfur during October peace talks. Pope Benedict used a meeting with Bashir to stress the importance of human rights, while Italy’s PM voiced “strong concerns” over the four-year genocidal...

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