United Nations - Page 73

The much-heralded “cessation of hostilities” in Syria does not seem to be holding up very well, as the Syrian opposition claims at least 15 violations so far.

The Times of Israel reports: The family Israeli man Avraham Mengistu who went missing in 2014 after crossing into the Gaza Strip appealed Monday to the international community to help bring him home. Avraham Mengistu, a 29-year-old Israeli of Ethiopian

Anti-death-penalty activists have been asking the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to cut some $20 million in funding for Iran’s anti-drug campaign, because Iran executes too many people. The latest evidence against Iran is an astounding report that every adult male in a certain village was executed for drug offenses.

Actress Emma Watson recently announced she’d be taking a year off from acting to learn more about feminism — but that’s not all she’s learning about, apparently.

The Korean War never actually ended — both North Korea and the United States are in their seventh decade of a temporary armistice — but over the weekend it surfaced that the North Koreans quietly reached out to the U.S. for a permanent peace treaty last fall, only to change their minds and abandon the effort after their illegal nuclear weapons test on January 6.

At least 46 people were killed in twin car bomb blasts that hit Syria’s Homs on Sunday in one of the deadliest such attacks in the city in five years of civil war, a monitoring group said, and state media

Boutros Boutros-Ghali, the former United Nations secretary general who died earlier this week at age 93, left behind a mixed legacy, comprised of praise and criticism.

CNN offers a man-on-the-street view of the Syrian civil war, showing residents of the mostly Shiite town of Nubl, close to the Turkish border, celebrating the ejection of rebel forces by dictator Bashar Assad’s troops. Citizens displayed photos and banners of Assad, as well as photos of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei of Iran.

South Korea stepped up its criticism of North Korea’s nuclear plans this week, with U.N. Ambassador Oh Joon calling for “extraordinary” measures against the North’s “nuclear blackmail.” South Korean President Park Geun-hye warned that Pyongyang faces “regime collapse” if they continue spinning up nuclear weapons production.

Muslim prayers on Fridays at the United Nations headquarters in New York have begun taking up a large area next to the General Assembly Hall, shunning a designated ecumenical prayer area.

A Vatican Radio message on the fourth day of Pope Francis’ trip to Mexico, acknowledges the “escalating number of ‘desparacidos’” in the country but does not mention their manner of death, and the network of ovens operated in the state of Coahuila.

United Nations (AP) — The U.N. Security Council has announced the death of former U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali. Venezuela’s U.N. Ambassador Rafael Ramirez, the current council president, made the announcement at the start of a meeting on Yemen’s humanitarian crisis

After a few failed attempts, it appears Libya’s feuding factions have finally agreed upon a U.N.-backed proposal to form a unity government. Unfortunately, support for the plan is not universal, and it remains to be seen if the framework will evolve into a fully-functional, enduring national government.

Facing accusations that their own brutal air campaign has inflicted heavy civilian casualties around the embattled Syrian city of Aleppo, creating a new stream of refugees en route to Turkey and Europe, the Russians blamed American warplanes for bombing civilian areas in Aleppo on Wednesday.

On Friday, the United States, Russia, and other world powers announced a “cessation of hostilities” to begin next week in Syria, even as Syrian dictator Bashar Assad vowed to continue “fighting terrorism” and “retake” the entire country.

GAZA CITY (AP) — A United Nations official says the Islamic militant group Hamas has prevented a senior employee of the international organization from leaving the Gaza Strip. The official said Mahmoud Daher, the Palestinian head of the World Health

A nominally Catholic abortion lobby group called Catholics for Choice has appealed to Pope Francis to permit Church members to procure abortions in good conscience as a means of eliminating the possibility of having children with birth defects caused by

The Peruvian Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani, archbishop of Lima, has blasted the United Nations for encouraging Latin American governments affected by the Zika virus to allow abortion, comparing the organization to a modern-day King Herod, who ordered the slaughter of babies at the time of Jesus’ birth.

LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister David Cameron has told Parliament that a United Nation panel’s finding that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been wrongfully detained is “ridiculous.” Assange responded quickly by accusing Cameron of libel. Cameron told Parliament on

Ynet news reports: It’s not every day that two senior ambassadors debate on one of the world’s most popular social networks. But that’s exactly what happened this week when the French ambassador to Washington, Gerard Araud and his Israeli counterpart

The White House has asked Congress for $1.8 billion in emergency funding to combat the spread of Zika, funding programs to study the virus and control the mosquitoes that spread it, both at home and abroad.

Recently released satellite images of Iran’s top-secret military complex suggest that the Islamic Republic was engaged in efforts to hide its atomic program-related work from the past while nuclear deal negotiations were ongoing.

International Planned Parenthood Federation in the Western Hemisphere region (IPPF/WHR) is seemingly taking advantage of the Zika outbreak in the Americas, the hardest hit region by the mosquito-borne virus, to ask for donations to expand access to abortions and birth control.

Health officials of the United States and United Nations are complaining that Brazil is not providing enough data and fresh samples to help them combat the Zika viral outbreak.

The UN has demanded Latin American countries give women access to abortions and birth control due to the ongoing Zika virus outbreak in the region.

Brazilian health officials are warning pregnant women to seriously consider who they kiss and to use condoms if they have been in countries were the Zika virus is present. “The flurry of recommendations began in Brazil, where a top health

Peacekeepers in the Central African Republic are under fire as multiple children have come out saying they were victims of rape an abuse. The scandal is rocking the peacekeeping organization and threatens to tarnish the reputation of the group worldwide,

North Korea has notified the International Maritime Organization of the United Nations that it plans to launch a satellite sometime between February 8 and February 25. The announcement was not well-received, as it is widely suspected the “satellite launch” will actually be cover for long-range ballistic missile testing.

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain pledged on Thursday to spend an additional 1.2 billion pounds ($1.75 billion) on aid for Syrians by 2020, seeking to build momentum for a donor conference that the United Nations hopes will raise more than $7

The Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) claimed it orchestrated Sunday’s triple suicide bombing that killed more than 70 people and injured at least 100 others in a Damascus suburb amid the United Nations-brokered peace talks to end Syria’s brutal civil war, which has been raging since March 2011.

In Tobruk, which is the current seat of the internationally recognized Libyan government, a member of parliament has been kidnapped, in the midst of a United Nations effort to negotiate a unified government.

U.S. officials believe North Korea might launch a rocket soon due to increased activity at the missile site Sohae Satellite Launching Station.

The Algemeiner reports – U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday stood by his criticism of what he called Israel’s “stifling occupation” of the Palestinian people, rejecting remarks by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he was “encouraging terrorism.” On Tuesday, Ban said the

China’s state-run Xinhua news agency reports that Foreign Minister Wang Yi has agreed to a new United Nations resolution against North Korean nuclear testing.

The parliament of Libya’s internationally-recognized government, which controls less than half the country, rejected a painstakingly-negotiated United Nations proposal for a unified Libyan government on Monday.

Syrian peace talks brokered by the United Nations were scheduled to begin on Monday, but opposition groups indicated that they would only attend if the Bashar al-Assad regime and its Russian allies stop bombing their territory and lift sieges on towns that are being starved.