United Nations

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UN Slams Our Cuba Embargo for 23rd Year in a Row

Resolution passes 188-2

(Newser) - The only thing different this year was Ebola: For the 23rd year in a row, the United Nations General Assembly passed a near-unanimous resolution condemning the long-standing American embargo against Cuba. The vote this year was identical to 2013, with 188 countries in support and only the US and Israel...

North Korea: Yes, We Have Labor Camps

But 'no prison, things like that,' UN envoy says

(Newser) - A North Korean official publicly acknowledged to the international community the existence of his country's "reform through labor" camps yesterday, a mention that appeared to come in response to a highly critical UN human rights report earlier this year. A North Korean foreign ministry official said at a...

N. Korea 'Now Ready' to Launch Another Rocket

Improved facility may be designed to launch long-range missiles, US institute says

(Newser) - North Korea has been busily working on its Sohae Satellite Launching Station for the past year, and a US think tank says that satellite images indicate construction is complete and the facility is likely ready to launch longer-range missiles with bigger payloads, the New York Times reports. "North Korea...

Obama's Salute With Coffee Cup Causes Outrage

Obama is getting heat over what some are calling 'unpresidential' gesture

(Newser) - Many of us have probably disembarked from a long flight clutching a cup of joe—but we're not all the president of the United States saluting members of our armed forces. President Obama is on the receiving end of criticism and coffee-themed jokes for stepping off the Marine One...

What Will Happen at Today's UN Climate Summit?

125 world leaders convene in NYC to rally for new climate initiatives

(Newser) - Today's UN climate summit in New York City will draw together 125 nations in a massive, one-day precursor to Paris talks next year aimed at an overarching agreement, and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is calling on world leaders to show up with "pledges of action," the BBC...

Emma Watson: Feminism Is Not 'Man-Hating'

Actress gives impassioned speech at UN headquarters

(Newser) - Emma Watson gave a passionate speech against gender inequality at UN headquarters Saturday as the actress, who was appointed a UN Women Goodwill Ambassador six months ago, launched the HeForShe campaign. The campaign aims to "mobilize men" to fight for gender equality, reports E! , which has a transcript of...

World 'Losing' Ebola Battle: Doctors Without Borders

Top doc tells UN world has done nothing to stem spread

(Newser) - The picture of Ebola in West Africa is apocalyptic: Infected bodies decompose in the street, 150 health workers have died, overflowing clinics turn away the sick, to say nothing of food shortages and riots. And the disease is spreading at an unprecedented rate , Doctors Without Borders President Joanne Liu told...

UN Backs $1.2M Inquiry Into Islamic State

Diplomats OK probe of alleged crimes in Syria, Iraq

(Newser) - The UN's top human rights body today overwhelmingly approved the Iraqi government's request for an investigation into alleged crimes against civilians committed by the Islamic State group in its rampage across northeastern Syria and parts of Iraq. Diplomats agreed by unanimous consent to approve a nearly $1.2...

UN Calls Crisis Meeting as Russia Tanks Roll in Ukraine

NATO official: 1K Russian troops crossed border, attacked

(Newser) - The UN Security Council is set to hold an emergency meeting this afternoon at the request of Lithuania to address what Ukraine is calling a Russian invasion across the border, reports the AP. At least 1,000 Russian troops were said to have entered Ukraine with "sophisticated equipment" and...

UN: We Could See 20K Ebola Cases

2nd Ebola strain found in Democratic Republic of Congo

(Newser) - Ebola cases in West Africa could multiply sixfold, affecting up to 20,000 as the virus "continues to accelerate," the World Health Organization said today, per Reuters . Some 1,552 people have now died out of the 3,069 cases reported—though the actual number of cases could...

Obama May Skirt Congress on Global Climate Deal

With Senate a dead end, he plans pact that needs no ratification: NYT

(Newser) - President Obama is employing some "legal and political magic" as one expert puts it so he can create an international climate change agreement without Congress, the New York Times reports. This fancy footwork is in preparation for a 2015 UN climate change summit in Paris. Knowing that he has...

Syria Likely Gassed Civilians 8 Times in April: UN

Independent commission also says country is plagued by 'crimes against humanity'

(Newser) - The Assad regime likely used chlorine gas eight times on its own people in northern Syria villages in April, according to a report released today by an independent UN commission, the AP reports. The report also indicates that the Syrian people have been besieged by crimes against humanity at the...

Israel Calls 4-Hour Ceasefire as 15 Die in School

Israeli shelling injures 90 refugees

(Newser) - Israel called a four-hour "humanitarian window" beginning this morning at 8am Eastern, just hours after tank shells slammed into a crowded UN school sheltering Gaza war refugees, killing 15 Palestinians and wounding 90, a health official and a spokesman for a UN aid agency say. The ceasefire comes with...

UN Makes Midnight Demand: 'Immediate' Gaza Ceasefire

Prods Israel, Hamas for 'immediate, unconditional' truce

(Newser) - The UN Security Council emerged from a rare midnight emergency meeting demanding that Israel and Hamas implement "an immediate and unconditional humanitarian ceasefire" in Gaza, reports the AP . The UN petition, which accompanied a relative lull at the start of Muslim holiday Eid al-Fitr, followed pleas for peace from...

UN Official: ISIS Demanding Female Genital Mutilation

Militant Sunni group issues fatwa, official says

(Newser) - A UN official in Iraq shared disturbing news with reporters today: ISIS militants have issued a religious edict declaring that all women in or around Mosul must undergo female genital mutilation, reports Reuters . The fatwa from the Sunni insurgents, who overtook the northern Iraqi city in June, applies to females...

North Korea Complains to UN About Seth Rogen Movie

It's 'undisguised sponsoring of terrorism,' says Pyongyang

(Newser) - North Korea continues to do a fine job of promoting an upcoming flick with Seth Rogen and James Franco. Pyongyang has taken its complaint about The Interview all the way to the United Nations, reports Reuters . In the movie, Rogen and Franco play a TV producer and host who land...

Experiencing the Least-Connected Country on Earth

Eritrea still hasn't reported Gadhafi's death: activist

(Newser) - Eritrea, the United Nations says, is the planet's least-connected country. Less than 1% of its people have landlines; just 5.6% have cell phones. As for the Internet, less than 1% use it, and connections are almost all dial-up. "Even after waiting half an hour, you might not...

There Haven't Been This Many Refugees Since WWII

More than 50M displaced by violence, says UN

(Newser) - For the first time since the World War II era, the number of people forced from their homes worldwide has surged past 50 million, the United Nations refugee agency says. Syrians fleeing the bloodletting at home and a fast-growing web of other crises across the world accounted for the spike...

300 Secret Cables Reveal Major Rwanda Missteps

US, UN pulled back, allowing genocide to unfold

(Newser) - Newly declassified cables from 1994 show that with Rwanda poised on the brink of genocide, world leaders were anxious to get UN peacekeeping forces out of the country as quickly as possible, reports the New York Times . They did so, and an estimated 800,000 people were massacred in 100...

UN Fact-Finders Attacked in Syria

Amid reports they were kidnapped, watchdog group says staffers safe

(Newser) - A group of UN and chemical weapons watchdog members came under attack in Syria, according to reports—but stories conflict regarding what happened next, France 24 notes. Syria's foreign ministry said 11 people were kidnapped, six of them UN fact-finders. Officials said opposition fighters were behind the attack, the...

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