UN: Demand to Shut Al Jazeera a Threat to Media Freedom

The United Nations has condemned a Saudi-led bloc’s demand for Qatar to close Al Jazeera, calling it “a major blow to media pluralism”.

The 51% - Outrage as Saudi Arabia Given UN Women's Rights Rôle

The UN has elected Saudi Arabia to the UN women's rights commission, but does the move contradict the aims of the commitee itself? Annette Young speaks to Adam Coogle in this edition of The 51%

Who Is Really Driving UN’s Anti-tobacco Agenda?

Faith Goldy of TheRebel.media's coverage of the UN tobacco regulation conference attracted attention from others who also felt their voices were being ignored.

Netanyahu: We Cannot And Will Not Accept Security Council Resolution On Settlement Building

Israel has suspended its multimillion dollar contribution to a number of United Nations bodies and is reevaluating its relationship with the organization, after the UN Security Council passed a resolution on Israeli settlement construction.

All Journalists Kicked Out of Delhi Nanny State Conference!

Faith Goldy of TheRebel.media reports from Delhi: All journalists have been banned from further reporting. She demanded answers.

Special Report: UN Censor Admits Real Reason He Banned Rebel Reporters from COP22

Ezra Levant lets UN censor Nick Nuttall explain, in his own words, why he refused press accreditation to TheRebel.media, to cover the climate conference in Marrakech.

Theresa May's UN Message On Refugees

World leaders are gathering at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, to discuss the refugee crisis. Our political editor Gary Gibbon travelled there with the Prime Minister Theresa May.

‘I Don't Give a Sh*t about Them’: Philippines President Threatens to Leave ‘Stupid’ UN

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has threatened that the country could leave the UN after the organization urged the Asian nation to stop executing and killing people linked to the drug business and threatened that “state actors” could be punished.

Syria Conflict Will Displace Another Million People, Says UN Official

THE GUARDIAN: Humanitarian chief in country says unless political action is taken to stop fighting, ‘human train’ will continue through winter

Another million Syrians will flee their homes before the end of the year if the war continues unabated, a senior UN official has said.

Yacoub el-Hillo, the humanitarian coordinator in Syria, said that unless urgent action was taken to resolve the escalating conflict, refugees would also continue to flow out of the region.

He said that more than a million people had already been displaced from their homes already in 2015, and called for greater international aid efforts to help Syrians survive the winter in their own country.

“Unless something big is done to resolve this conflict through political means, the human train that has started moving out of Syria and the neighbourhood will continue to be running for many months to come,” he said. » | Ruth McKee | Saturday, September 12, 2015

White House Plots New Snub to Bibi with UN Resolution to Force Peace Talks on Palestine

DAILY MAIL: Obama may end US opposition to a UN Security Council resolution designed to force Israel into a two-state solution with Palestinians / White House is upset that Benjamin Netanyahu was re-elected, especially on the U-turn promise that he wouldn't agree to a Palestinian state / Palestinian Authority threatened to file war crimes charges against Israel in the International Criminal Court, related to rocket attacks last summer / US Congress would cut $400 million in annual aid to the PA is it followed through / Obama's spokesman refused to characterize the president's reaction to Netanyahu's reelection on Thursday / He would only say that the Israeli PM's comments on Palestine had lead the president and his advisers to 'evaluate what our path is forward'

The White House is reportedly considering a new power play in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that would paint Benjamin Netanyahu into a corner just days after his stunning come-from-behind victory in his country's hotly contested elections.

In the final days of campaigning, Netanyahu vowed in an historic U-turn that his government would never agree to the creation of a Palestinian state. But now President Barack Obama is contemplating using the United Nations as a trump card to force the issue.

Under a plan outlined by Foreign Policy magazine, the U.S. State Department would ease away from decades of opposition to a Security Council resolution demanding peace talks and a final rapprochement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

The White House cautiously avoided commenting on its future plans on Thursday when it was bombarded with questions by reporters on the topic, saying only that it would 'evaluate what our path is forward' is in light of Netanyahu's comments. » | David Martosko, U.S Political Editor and Francesca Chambers for DailyMail.com | Thursday, March 19, 2015

UN: Unprecedented Number of Foreigners Joining Terror Groups

Oct. 31, 2014 - 2:43 - New report says foreign fighters from 80 countries are joining terror groups, suggesting that the threat of domestic terrorism is only on the rise

President Obama Addresses UN: Calls for the Dismantling of IS’ Network of Death’

Declaring the world at a crossroads between war and peace, President Barack Obama vowed at the U.N. on Wednesday to lead a coalition to dismantle an Islamic State "network of death".

Edward Snowden Should Not Face Trial, Says UN Human Rights Commissioner

THE GUARDIAN: Navi Pillay says of former NSA contractor: 'those who disclose human rights violations should be protected'

The United Nations's top human rights official has suggested that the United States should abandon its efforts to prosecute Edward Snowden, saying his revelations of massive state surveillance had been in the public interest.

The UN high commissioner for human rights, Navi Pillay, credited Snowden, a former US National Security Agency contractor, with opening a global debate that has led to calls for the curtailing of state powers to snoop on citizens online and store their data.

"Those who disclose human rights violations should be protected: we need them," Pillay told a news conference. Read on and comment » | Reuters in Geneva | Wesnesday, July 16, 2014

UN Committee 'Backs Argentina' Over Falkands Dispute

The ownership of the Falkland Islands has been
disputed for nearly 200 years

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Decolonisation Committee approves new resolution urging UK and Argentina to negotiate a solution, despite 99 per cent of residents voting to remain as they are

A UN committee has approved a new resolution calling on Britain and Argentina to negotiate a solution to their dispute over the Falkland Islands, essentially favoring Argentina's stance in the nearly 200-year-old feud.

The 24-nation Decolonisation Committee passed the resolution by consensus despite passionate speeches from a pair of Falkland Islands representatives arguing the most islanders want to keep things as they are. The decision showed that the committee members have been largely unmoved by a referendum in the Falkland Islands last year in which more than 99 percent of voters favored remaining a British Overseas Territory.

Britain has rebuffed Argentina's calls to negotiate the sovereignty of the wind-swept south Atlantic archipelago, saying it is up to the islands to decide.

Argentinian Foreign Minister Hector Timerman railed at Britain for ignoring dozens of UN resolutions urging the two countries to sit down and talk.

"It is imperative that the United Kingdom sits down again at the negotiating table," Mr Timerman said. » | Fiona Govan in Madrid | Thursday, June 26, 2014

US Doesn’t Object, So Iran Gets Seat On UN Women’s Rights Body

Read the Jihad Watch article here | Robert Spencer | Jihad Watch | Friday, April 25, 2014

Ukraine: UN Condemns Crimea Vote as IMF and US Back Loans

Russian forces seized Crimea's remaining military bases after
Ukrainian servicemen withdrew this week

BBC: The UN General Assembly has approved a resolution describing the Moscow-backed referendum that led to Russia's annexation of Crimea as illegal.

It comes after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreed to a loan deal with Ukraine worth $14-18bn.

The US Congress also passed legislation on Thursday backing a $1bn loan guarantee for Ukraine.

Tensions are high between Russia and the West after pro-Russian troops annexed Ukraine's southern peninsula.

The West has widely condemned the move, with US President Barack Obama warning on Wednesday of "deeper" EU and US sanctions against Russia if it carried out further incursions in Ukraine. » | Thursday, March 27, 2014

Assessment: North Korea

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Kim Jong-un out-spending extravagant father: UN report: North Korean leader raised $645 million for luxuries from ivory trade, underground sale of alcohol » | Julian Ryall, Tokyo | Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Kim Jong Un Warned He Could Face Prosecution for 'Crimes Against Humanity'

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The United Nations has warned Kim Jong Un that he could end up in an international criminal court for his regime's human rights abuses

North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Un, has been warned that he could face prosecution for crimes against humanity after a United Nations inquiry accused him of some of the worst human rights abuses since World War II.

In some of the harshest criticism ever unleashed by the international community against the Pyongyang regime, a UN panel branded it "a shock to the conscience of humanity".

Michael Kirby, a retired Australian judge who has spent nearly a year taking testimony from victims of the regime, said its behaviour was akin to some of the atrocities carried by the Nazi regime and of Pol Pot's in Cambodia.

In a bid to put pressure on Kim Jong Un, he has now written to the North Korean leader to warn him that he could face prosecution for the activities of his henchmen, whom the inquiry accused of killing, imprisoning and torturing with impunity. » | Colin Freeman | Monday, February 17, 2014

Ban Ki-moon Condemns Persecution of Gay People in Russia

THE GUARDIAN: Amid criticism of Russia's anti-gay laws, UN secretary-general urges 'speaking out against prejudice' in keynote speech to IOC

The United Nations secretary-general has used a speech ahead of the Winter Olympics in Sochi to condemn attacks on the LGBT community, amid growing criticism of Russia's so-called "gay propaganda" laws.

Ban Ki-moon, addressing the IOC before Friday's opening ceremony, highlighted the fact that the theme of the UN's human rights day last December was "sport comes out against homophobia".

"Many professional athletes, gay and straight, are speaking out against prejudice. We must all raise our voices against attacks on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or intersex people," he said. "We must oppose the arrests, imprisonments and discriminatory restrictions they face."

"The United Nations stands strongly behind our own 'free and equal' campaign, and I look forward to working with the IOC, governments and other partners around the world to build societies of equality and tolerance. Hatred of any kind must have no place in the 21st century." » | Owen Gibson and Shaun Walker | Thursday, February 06, 2014

THE GUARDIAN: Russian laws choking free speech must be repealed now » | The Guardian | Thursday, February 06, 2014

Michael Bloomberg Tapped to Be UN Envoy for Cities and Climate Change

THE GUARDIAN: Former mayor's new role gives billionaire philanthropist an international stage to push for action on climate change

Former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg was appointed Friday to be the United Nations special envoy for cities and climate change, a position that will give the billionaire businessman and philanthropist an international stage to press for action to combat global warming.

Secretary general Ban Ki-moon chose Bloomberg, who made combating climate change a major focus of his 12 years as mayor and was very outspoken on how cities should be run to cope with ever increasing populations without harming the environment.

UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said Bloomberg will assist the UN chief in his consultations with mayors and other key parties "to raise political will and mobilize action among cities as part of his longer-term strategy to advance efforts on climate change". » | Associated Press at the United Nations | Friday, January 31, 2014

My comment:

If Bloomberg pursues combatting climate change with the rigour he has pursued his anti-smoking agenda, then he'll have it sorted in no time! Trouble is, we'll have to put up with years more of this ideologue just when we thought we were rid of him. – © Mark

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