TheRepublic.com - United Nations News

Canada: Qatar gives up bid to relocate UN agency

Fri, 24 May 2013 18:57:42 -0400

TORONTO - Qatar has abandoned its bid to relocate the United Nations civil aviation agency from Canada to the tiny emirate, ending a bitter fight between the two nations, both countries said Friday.

Syria targeted Israeli jeep going to rebel village

Fri, 24 May 2013 13:56:13 -0400

UNITED NATIONS - UNITED NATIONS - Syria said it targeted an Israeli vehicle that crossed a ceasefire line into its territory earlier this week because it was heading toward a village with a large rebel presence.

Cyr: In Syria, poison-gas accusations raise stakes

Fri, 24 May 2013 13:50:45 -0400

By ARTHUR I. CYR - The brutal continuing civil war in Syria now includes allegations that the Assad regime has used poison gas. Gas employed in war presents an especially horrifying specter, which in turn risks raising the stakes for both sides.

UN chief challenges African leaders over Congo

Fri, 24 May 2013 11:25:39 -0400

KAMPALA, Uganda - United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Friday urged African leaders to implement a peace plan that the U.N. hopes will stabilize eastern Congo, a region long plagued by violence and which now is back on edge.

Austria wants EU arms embargo to Syria extended

Fri, 24 May 2013 10:35:19 -0400

VIENNA - The European Union's arms embargo to Syria should be extended while a political solution is sought in its civil war and to maintain the safety of U.N. peacekeepers in the Golan Heights, Austria's foreign minister said Friday.

UN nuke agency's Iran probe driven by US-led intel

Fri, 24 May 2013 08:30:02 -0400

VIENNA - The U.N. nuclear agency responsible for probing whether Iran has worked on a nuclear bomb depends on the United States and its allies for most of its intelligence, complicating the agency's efforts to produce findings that can be widely accepted by the international community.

WHO: Scientific red tape mars efforts vs. virus

Thu, 23 May 2013 17:48:08 -0400

GENEVA - International efforts to combat a new pneumonia-like virus that has now killed 22 people are being slowed by unclear rules and competition for the potentially profitable rights to disease samples, the head of the World Health Organization warned Thursday.

IAEA report: Iran expands nuclear technology

Wed, 22 May 2013 17:28:36 -0400

VIENNA - The U.N. atomic agency on Wednesday detailed rapid Iranian progress in two programs that the West fears are geared toward making nuclear weapons, saying Tehran has upgraded its uranium enrichment facilities and advanced in building a plutonium-producing reactor.

Polio cases found in Kenya and Somalia, WHO says

Wed, 22 May 2013 11:46:14 -0400

NAIROBI, Kenya - The World Health Organization says the Horn of Africa is experiencing an outbreak of polio with cases confirmed in Kenya and Somalia.

UN: Poaching threatens central Africa peace

Tue, 21 May 2013 19:42:19 -0400

UNITED NATIONS - The illegal trade in elephant ivory may constitute an important source of funding for armed groups, including the Lord's Resistance Army, threatening peace and security in central Africa, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a report to the Security Council.

Tunisia announces 3 cases of coronavirus, 1 death

Tue, 21 May 2013 09:59:17 -0400

RABAT, Morocco - A 66-year-old Tunisian man has died from the new coronavirus following a visit to Saudi Arabia and two of his adult children were infected with it, the Tunisian Health Ministry reported.

Rights group criticizes Sri Lanka's rights record

Mon, 20 May 2013 08:01:07 -0400

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - An international human rights group said Monday that respect for basic rights and liberties has declined in Sri Lanka in the four years since the government defeated separatist Tamil rebels to end a civil war.

Ivory Coast army arrests militia leader

Sat, 18 May 2013 13:34:12 -0400

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast - A militia leader accused of grave crimes during Ivory Coast's 2010-11 postelection violence was taken into custody Saturday not far from the national park where his forces had been illegally occupying in the country's volatile western region, officials said.

Myanmar leader, Obama to meet while reforms stall

Sat, 18 May 2013 11:56:55 -0400

WASHINGTON - Myanmar President Thein Sein's historic White House visit next week is the culmination of U.S. outreach to a former pariah regime. That's been based on a principle of taking "action for action" by deepening ties in response to democratic reforms.

UN panel: Sanctions delaying NKorea nuke program

Fri, 17 May 2013 22:23:56 -0400

UNITED NATIONS - North Korea is still trying to import and export nuclear and ballistic missile-related items but financial and trade sanctions are slowing progress on development of their prohibited weapons, U.N. experts say in a new report.

WHO says single yellow fever shot is enough

Fri, 17 May 2013 05:11:22 -0400

GENEVA - The World Health Organization says a yellow fever booster vaccination given 10 years after the initial shot isn't necessary.

UN: 3 peacekeepers abducted between Israel-Syria

Thu, 16 May 2013 20:41:31 -0400

UNITED NATIONS - Armed men broke into a U.N. outpost in a buffer zone separating Israel and Syria and abducted three U.N military observers, the U.N. peacekeeping chief said Thursday.

Murdock: Big government's new legacy of scandal

Thu, 16 May 2013 18:32:02 -0400

NEW YORK - By DEROY MURDOCK

UN: 14 Iranian exiles moved from Iraq to Albania

Thu, 16 May 2013 14:56:29 -0400

BAGHDAD - The first exiles from an Iranian opposition group have moved to Albania from a camp near Baghdad as part of a relocation process, the United Nations said Thursday, a step toward defusing an explosive dispute left over from the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s and the U.S.-led ousting of the regime of Saddam Hussein.

Watch: Scandals will mire progress on bigger issues

Thu, 16 May 2013 11:47:06 -0400

WASHINGTON - By ANN McFEATTERS

UN assembly expected to approve Syria resolution

Wed, 15 May 2013 03:11:30 -0400

UNITED NATIONS - Diplomats say the U.N. General Assembly is expected to approve an Arab-backed resolution calling for a political transition in Syria and strongly condemning President Bashar Assad's regime for escalating the use of heavy weapons.

Brazil's Azevedo to head World Trade Organization

Tue, 14 May 2013 19:53:09 -0400

UNITED NATIONS - Brazilian Ambassador Roberto Azevedo won approval Tuesday as the next director-general of the U.N. World Trade Organization and will become the first Latin American to hold the top trade post when he takes over on Sept. 1.

War crimes prosecutor receives Israel complaint

Tue, 14 May 2013 17:13:30 -0400

AMSTERDAM - The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court - the permanent war crimes court in The Hague, Netherlands - says she has received a complaint about Israel's 2010 raid on a humanitarian aid flotilla bound for Gaza, and she will open a preliminary investigation.

US, Russia and Iran work to save Olympic wrestling

Tue, 14 May 2013 16:21:08 -0400

UNITED NATIONS - In Iran, Olympic wrestling champion Jordan Burroughs felt like Justin Bieber, LeBron James and Tom Brady all rolled into one.

Correction: Congo-Tanzanian Troops story

Tue, 14 May 2013 06:55:25 -0400

GOMA, Congo - In a story May 11 about the arrival of Tanzanian troops in eastern Congo, The Associated Press erroneously cited United Nations mission spokesman Col. Felix Basse. The information should have been attributed to Alexandre Essome, press information officer for the U.N. peacekeeping mission in the eastern province of North Kivu.