United Nations

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Main Rebel Groups to Skip Darfur Talks

Boycott of tomorrow's summit dims peace prospects for Sudan

(Newser) - Two of Darfur's main rebel groups said today they will not attend peace talks scheduled to start in Libya tomorrow, dealing a significant blow to hopes for a quick end to the nation's civil war, Reuters reports. The UN-sponsored talks are still expected to go on with several other rebel...

UN Report Paints Grim Portrait of Planet's Future

Environmental decline spurs poverty, disease

(Newser) - A major UN report says the health and wealth of millions of people around the world are at risk because of worsening environmental problems, BBC reports. The UN report cited deforestation, overfishing, shortages of drinking water, and rising greenhouse gas levels among the biggest problems. And it criticized a "...

Supporters Rally for Suu Kyi
Supporters Rally for Suu Kyi
Oct 24, 2007 6:59 AM CDT

Supporters Rally for Suu Kyi

Protests in 12 cities to mark 12th anniversary of her imprisonment

(Newser) - Protests are in progress in front of 12 Chinese embassies around the world today to mark the 12th anniversary of the incarceration of Burmese political prisoner and Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi. Six fellow female laureates also have written an open letter, published in today's Guardian, asking...

Sudan to Call Darfur Ceasefire Ahead of Talks

Government to meet rebels this weekend; peace prospects dim

(Newser) - Sudan will declare yet another ceasefire in Darfur this weekend, the Guardian reports, as the government sits down with the region’s rebel factions to try to hammer out a peace accord. Government officials called it a “confidence-building measure” designed to “give negotiators a chance to get out...

WiMax Gets Green Light from UN
WiMax Gets Green Light from UN
Oct 20, 2007 2:55 PM CDT

WiMax Gets Green Light from UN

Upstart wireless tech included in next generation standards

(Newser) - In a huge victory for Intel, the UN’s telecommunications agency yesterday gave WiMax a thumbs up, opening the way for member nations to devote public radio space to the upstart wireless internet technology. Intel lobbied hard for the WiMax, which can sling data 40 miles at up to 70...

UK Probes Charges That CIA Used Brit Prison for Torture

(Newser) - British officials will investigate persistent claims that the CIA secretly interrogated terrorism suspects at a UK prison in the Indian Ocean, the Guardian reports. Authorities have repeatedly questioned American officials, who deny the reports. But an organization representing detainees insists the claims are true, adding that the British may be...

Bush: Iran Risks 'World War III'
 Bush: Iran Risks 'World War III'
Oct 17, 2007 10:41 PM CDT

Bush: Iran Risks 'World War III'

Outspoken response to a warning from Russia

(Newser) - In a cantankerous press conference today, President Bush warned that Iran risks starting World War III if it develops nuclear weapons. His remarks came as reporters sought his reaction to Vladimir Putin's comments, after meeting with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad yesterday, that the West should not only rule out military action against...

Council Upbraids Myanmar Junta
Council Upbraids Myanmar Junta
Oct 11, 2007 4:50 PM CDT

Council Upbraids Myanmar Junta

China doesn't block UN panel's stance

(Newser) - The UN Security Council unanimously condemned the Myanmar junta's violent suppression of pro-democracy protests in an official policy statement today, demanding the prompt release of all political prisoners and serious negotiations with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The council's first official action on Myanmar highlights a shift by China,...

Shipping Tops Flying as Polluter
Shipping Tops Flying as Polluter
Oct 10, 2007 3:33 PM CDT

Shipping Tops Flying as Polluter

New figures prove that shipping produces more emissions than aviation

(Newser) - For armchair environmentalists, aviation seems the ultimate evil, but research from climatologists finds the shipping industry a "far more damaging" polluter. Maritime transportation emits twice the greenhouses gases of airplanes, the Independent writes, and the sector is growing so fast that earlier research underestimated its damage by at least...

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...

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