Yahoo! News: United Nations

United Nations

• UN Security Council discusses Syrian crisis (AP)

  AP - The Security Council began closed-door negotiations Friday on a new Arab-European draft resolution aimed at resolving the crisis in Syria, but Russia's envoy said he could not back the current language as it stands.

  
  

• Syria violence kills 37, U.N. Security Council to meet (Reuters)

  Reuters - Security forces killed 37 people in Syria on Friday, activists and residents said, as people in Homs mourned 14 members of a family they said were slain by militiamen in one of the worst sectarian attacks in a revolt against President Bashar al-Assad.

  
  

• Russia "disappointed" with UN Syria draft: envoys (Reuters)

  Reuters - Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told a closed-door meeting of the Security Council on Friday that he was "deeply disappointed" with a European-Arab draft resolution endorsing an Arab League plan for Syria, diplomats said.

• UNICEF says 384 children killed so far in Syria (Reuters)

  Reuters - At least 384 children have been killed during Syria's 10-month uprising and virtually the same number have been jailed, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said on Friday.

• One million children in Sahel at risk, UNICEF warns (Reuters)

  Reuters - More than 1 million children in the Sahel are at risk of severe malnutrition and urgent action is needed to avert starvation akin to that in Somalia, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) warned on Friday.

• Kidnapped Norwegian freed in Yemen (Reuters)

  Reuters - A Norwegian working for the United Nations was freed on Friday, nearly two weeks after being kidnapped in the Yemeni capital Sanaa, the Interior Ministry said.

• Senior NSC aide vetted for Pentagon assistant secretary post (The Envoy)

  The Envoy - The shuffle of top Pentagon officials that started last summer with the departure of Robert Gates continues in the senior policy ranks. Yahoo News has learned that Derek Chollet, the National Security Council's senior director for strategic planning, tops the short list and is currently being vetted to be nominated to succeed Alexander "Sandy" Vershbow [...]

• Russia says U.N. Syria draft unacceptable: Itar-Tass (Reuters)

  Reuters - A Western-Arab draft United Nations Security Council resolution on Syria is unacceptable for Russia in its current form because it does not take Moscow's position into account, Itar-Tass news agency quoted a senior Russian diplomat as saying on Friday.

• Israel says Iran 'drifting' toward nuke goal line (AP)

  AP - Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Friday the world must quickly stop Iran from reaching the point where even a "surgical" military strike could not block it from obtaining nuclear weapons.

  
  

• Police: 16 kilograms of cocaine seized at UN (AP)

  AP - A shipment containing 16 kilograms of cocaine was seized last week at the U.N.'s mail intake center, a New York Police Department spokesman said Thursday.

• Arms from Libya could reach Boko Haram, al Qaeda: U.N. (Reuters)

  Reuters - The Libyan civil war may have given militant groups in Africa's Sahel region like Boko Haram and al Qaeda access to large weapons caches, according to a U.N. report released on Thursday.

• Arab League chief, Qatar PM to go to U.N. over Syria (Reuters)

  Reuters - The Arab League chief and the Qatari prime minister will present an Arab peace plan for Syria to ambassadors in the U.N. Security Council in New York early next week, the council president said on Thursday.

• Nations try to oust Syria from UNESCO rights panel (AP)

  AP - A group of UNESCO member states is trying to remove Syria from a committee with a human rights mandate, a panel it quietly rejoined despite its deadly crackdown on protesters.

• Nations seeking action against Syria in UNESCO (Reuters)

  Reuters - A group of Western and Arab nations are seeking the expulsion of Syria from the U.N. cultural agency's human rights committee, diplomats said, the latest international effort to isolate Damascus over its violent crackdown on domestic unrest.

  
  

• U.N. says won't change judge for Cambodia war crimes court (Reuters)

  Reuters - The United Nations will send its investigating judge to resume work at the Khmer Rouge war crimes tribunal in Cambodia, despite moves by the government to have him replaced, a top envoy said Wednesday.

  
  

• U.S., Arab states press Russia on Syria (The Envoy)

  The Envoy - A top American Middle East diplomat visited Moscow Tuesday as part of an international effort to get Russia to support a UN Security Council resolution demanding an end to the violence in Syria, which has killed well over 5,000 people since last spring. Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs Jeff Feltman was in [...]

• UN's Ban to disarmament body: get to work (AP)

  AP - The United Nations' secretary-general is appealing to the world's main nuclear disarmament forum to get down to work after years of deadlock, warning it that it is "in danger of sinking."

• US ambassador to Yemen: Saleh's absence positive (AP)

  AP - The U.S. ambassador to Yemen said Tuesday that President Ali Abdullah Saleh's absence from the battered country will help its political transition.

  
  

• Rising wealth of Asians straining world fish stock (AP)

  AP - Rising wealth in Asia and fishing subsidies are among factors driving overexploitation of the world's fish resources, while fish habitat is being destroyed by pollution and climate change, U.N. marine experts said Tuesday.

  
  

• UN Somalia representative opens Mogadishu office (AP)

  AP - The U.N.'s special representative to Somalia is moving his office to Mogadishu for the first time in 17 years.