United Nations

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Why the US Is Withdrawing From UNESCO

State Department sees anti-Israel bias, also wants to keep back-dues bill from mounting

(Newser) - The US has long had dicey relations with the UN cultural organization UNESCO, and those relations have just taken another sour turn. The State Department announced Thursday that the US is pulling out of the organization at the end of next year, citing what it sees as an anti-Israel bias,... More »

How North Korea Sells Illegal Arms, Despite Sanctions

Capture of weapons cache in Egypt highlights how Pyongyang flouts UN

(Newser) - A major delivery of North Korean arms to Egypt last year was dashed only after American spies got wind of the illegal cache and, alerting officials in Cairo, essentially forced the US ally to seize the rickety ship. The dashed deal reveals the difficulty of stopping the illegal arms trade... More »

Eyes Turn to US Over UN Chief's 1961 Death

US, UK archives could hold crucial evidence in Dag Hammarskjold case: UN report

(Newser) - Conspiracy theories claiming the 1961 plane crash that killed UN chief Dag Hammarskjold was orchestrated by the US government and its allies have been circulating for years—and may have just gained some weight. A fresh investigation into the Swedish diplomat's death has uncovered a "significant amount of... More »

World Reacts to Trump's UN Address

Cuba calls speech 'unacceptable'

(Newser) - President Trump's extraordinary speech to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday has met with strong reactions from other countries—especially the ones he singled out for criticism. Cuba's Foreign Ministry says the country's UN delegation has "voiced a strong protest" against Trump's "disrespectful,... More »

Trump's UN Speech 'Borders on Threat of ... War Crime'

Reactions to the president's 1st speech to UN General Assembly

(Newser) - On Tuesday, in his first speech in front of the UN General Assembly, President Trump threatened to "totally destroy" North Korea and its "rocket man" Kim Jong Un. That, understandably, got people talking. The Hill reports ABC's chief foreign correspondent accused Trump of using "WWE rhetoric"... More »

Trump Plugs His Tower in UN Debut

Plus calls for reform

(Newser) - President Trump's big speech to the full United Nations assembly is on Tuesday, but he also spoke Monday at the opening session of the annual General Assembly meetings in New York, his UN debut. He called out the UN for "mismanagement" and other problems causing it to fail... More »

What to Expect at Trump's First UN Summit

President's big speech is Tuesday, but his week is packed with smaller meetings

(Newser) - President Trump attends his first session of the UN General Assembly this week, with his big speech scheduled for Tuesday. In addition to that, however, he's got a packed week of meetings with fellow world leaders, a format that one analyst compares to "speed dating from hell,"... More »

UN Imposes Toughest-Ever Sanctions on North Korea

Though they aren't as tough as the US was hoping for

(Newser) - In response to North Korea testing a thermonuclear weapon last week, the UN Security Council voted Monday to impose its toughest-ever sanctions on the country, the Washington Post reports. Under the terms of the resolution, the country's oil imports will be capped at 8.5 million barrels a year,... More »

Elon Musk, AI Experts Warn of 'Pandora's Box' of Weapons

Open letter asks for ban of autonomous 'killer robots'

(Newser) - Elon Musk's wariness on artificial intelligence is well documented, and he just stepped up his anti-robot efforts with a note to the United Nations. The Guardian reports that the Tesla CEO and Alphabet's Mustafa Suleyman, along with nearly 120 robotics and AI specialists from more than two dozen... More »

China Warns North Korea on Missile Tests: Be 'Smart'

Beijing's warning comes a day after the UN imposed new sanctions on North Korea

(Newser) - China appeared to give a boost to US efforts to curtail North Korea's nuclear program on Sunday, one day after the United Nations voted to impose new sanctions on the country. After meeting North Korea's top diplomat, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi urged North Korea to make the... More »

UN Security Council Passes New Sanctions on North Korea

They could cut North Korea's yearly export revenue by a third

(Newser) - The UN Security Council unanimously approved new sanctions against North Korea on Saturday in response to recent ballistic missile tests, CNN reports. According to Reuters , the new sanctions ban North Korean exports of coal, iron, lead, seafood, and more. It also bans countries from bringing in more North Korean laborers... More »

UN Ineffective? Not According to New Study

Researchers finds UN successfully reduces chance of war breaking out

(Newser) - There are some that would accuse the United Nations of being ineffective or—as researcher Scott Pauls puts it—simply "a witness of changing policy preferences" in the world. But that's far from the case, according to a study of 65 years of UN voting records published in... More »

For First Time, World Has Treaty to Ban Nukes

But the nations that already have them boycotted

(Newser) - Those who want to rid the world of nuclear weapons can celebrate a milestone at the UN Friday—122 nations backed the first global treaty to ban them. The big caveat? The nine nations known to have a nuclear arsenal, including the US, boycotted the negotiations, reports the Guardian . So... More »

Secret UN Holocaust Files Contain 'New Evidence'

UN War Crimes Commission archive will be made public

(Newser) - In late 1944, the UN War Crimes Commission indicted Adolf Hitler in secret, and it's far from the only clandestine thing related to the commission, which was commissioned before the actual United Nations was in 1945. As the Guardian reports, the secret material held in the UNWCC's archive... More »

US: No More Funding for UN Population Fund

Group's supposed support of 'coercive abortion' in China cost it: State Dept.

(Newser) - Just days after he took office in January, President Trump put back in place the "Mexico City policy" that keeps federal funds from being funneled to international aid organizations that provide abortions, or even info about them. Now the United States has officially yanked US donations from the United... More »

Subway's 'Penis Seat' Is Getting Some Attention

Mexico City takes on sexual harassment with eye-popping commuter prop

(Newser) - Shaking heads. Disgusted looks. Giggles. These are all reactions you'll spot in a YouTube video documenting a Mexico City subway experiment that definitely caught commuters' attention. In what's described as an empathy-building campaign, the city's government teamed up with UN Women to create the #NoEsDeHombres campaign (per... More »

2 UN Experts Who Vanished in Congo Found in Grave

Michael Sharp, Zaida Catalan went missing on March 12

(Newser) - Since 2004, the UN has named six experts to compose the UN Group of Experts on Congo; on Monday, the bodies of two of them were discovered in a shallow grave. American Michael Sharp and Zaida Catalan, a Swede, went missing March 12 while in the central Kasai province, where... More »

As the World Starts Talks on Banning Nukes, US Boycotts

And it's not alone

(Newser) - Monday saw the start of UN talks focused on a noble goal: banning nuclear weapons across our planet. It was the result of a 2016 vote that saw more than 100 countries in favor of a UN General Assembly resolution to kick off such talks, which are aimed at ultimately... More »

American Abducted in Democratic Republic of Congo

Michael Sharp was working for the UN when he was taken Sunday

(Newser) - A 34-year-old American UN worker was abducted Sunday in the Democratic Republic of Congo and is currently missing, Al Jazeera reports. According to NBC News , Michael Sharp was traveling through the African nation on motorcycle with a group that included another UN worker, three local drivers, and a translator. All... More »

UN: North Korea Tried to Sell Nuclear Weapon Material

State-owned corporation offered lithium-6 online

(Newser) - Another alarming North Korea development: The country tried to sell a key material for fueling nuclear weapons to unidentified international buyers last year, according to a United Nations report. UN investigators say the material a state-owned company tried to sell online was lithium-6, which experts say can be used to... More »

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