United Nations

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Irate UN Cuts Burma Off After Junta Seizes Aid

No reason given after goods confiscated

(Newser) - An enraged UN has shut off all further cyclone aid to Burma after its military junta seized two planes carrying a massive food shipment, CNN reports. “This is another example of them actively getting in the way of relief getting to the victims,” said the UN's Asia World...

Burmese Junta Still Blocking Cyclone Aid

'Second disaster' looms if aid is not allowed in

(Newser) - Emergency supplies for some 1.5 million Burmese desperately in need of help are ready to be flown into the cyclone-stricken regions—but the military junta is still blocking delivery. Only two UN planes have been allowed to land in Burma. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon tried unsuccessfully to telephone Burma's...

UN, US Again Blast Burma's Reluctance With Help

Insular state disappoints would-be donors; 1.5M could be affected

(Newser) - Officials the world over are expressing dismay at Burma's apparent disinterest in swift international aid to victims of the devastating cyclone that has 1 million homeless and perhaps more than 100,000 dead, Reuters reports. The US ambassador to the UN said today he was “outraged by the slowness...

First Major Aid Finally Reaches Cyclone Survivors

But some planes grounded as officials dicker with junta to get help to villagers

(Newser) - A single United Nations plane laden with relief supplies has finally landed in Burma's Irrawaddy Delta region—six days after a pulverizing cyclone killed an estimated 100,000 people, AP is reporting. Three other UN planes are expected to land later today, but flights operated jointly by the US and...

Up to 10,000 Dead in Burma Cyclone
 Up to 10,000 Dead
 in Burma Cyclone 
Updated

Up to 10,000 Dead in Burma Cyclone

Toll continues to rise as relief officials gain access to hard-hit areas

(Newser) - As many as 10,000 might have died in the cyclone that struck Burma on Saturday, a government official told foreign diplomats today, and that number could rise yet higher as aid workers pick through the rubble. The death toll, originally estimated at 351, had already been raised to 4,...

Burma Cyclone Toll Leaps to 4,000

Another 3,000 missing, hundreds of thousands homeless

(Newser) - The death toll in yesterday's Burmese hurricane has skyrocketed to 4,000, CNN reports, up from initial estimates of 350. State-run media issued a revised estimate this morning, along with the government's emergency plea for help. Another 3,000 are thought to be missing. Major relief work has already begun,...

S. Africa Blocks Sending UN Envoy to Zimbabwe

Security Council hits stalemate

(Newser) - A closed-door session of the Security Council failed to make progress on Zimbabwe after South Africa led a successful effort to block a plan to send a UN envoy to Harare. The US, Britain, and France pushed for dispatching an observer—and for a moratorium on arms sales. UN Secretary-General...

UN Ready to Tackle Hunger
UN Ready to Tackle Hunger

UN Ready to Tackle Hunger

Ban plans task force, calls on donors to deliver on sorely underfunded pledges

(Newser) - United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is putting together a task force to deal with an "unprecedented" world crisis that's left 100 million without enough food, the BBC reports. Ban also called on donors to follow through on pledges for the World Food Program, saying only 62% of the...

UN Troops Traded Guns for Gold

Pakistani, Indian troops armed rebels in Congo, BBC finds

(Newser) - UN peacekeeping troops sold weapons to guerrilla fighters in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a BBC investigation claims, charging that the UN suppressed the story for political reasons. Pakistani and Indian troops, part of the UN's largest peacekeeping force of 17,000, are said to have traded munitions for gold....

Rice Is the New Oil
 Rice Is the New Oil 

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 

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 

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 

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 

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...

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