| |
- Ban finds replacement to head anti-corruption unit
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has selected a Canadian to replace departed anti-corruption chief Inga-Britt Ahlenius as head of the Office of Internal Oversight Services. Ahlenius said the as of yet unnamed Canadian will face significant operational challenges, such as a lack of personnel in the units' other senior posts. The office was created in 1995 as an independent body to investigate and address any corruption problems within the UN system. The Wall Street Journal (7/26)       - Ugandan president asks for UN aid to fight Somali terrorists
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has asked the UN to assist Somalia's neighbors in ridding Somalia of the militants who killed 76 people in Kampala in coordinated July bombings. Museveni says that there is no legitimate party to step into the vacuum, should al-Qaida-affiliated terrorists overthrow the government there, and that the UN Security Council must provide resources to East African countries prepared to fight the threat. The bombings have led other African countries to agree to support an international campaign in Somalia. Bloomberg (7/24)   | - Taxes, tariffs are barriers to malaria prevention
 Tanzanian President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni argue that governments outside Africa must remove taxes and tariffs on anti-malarial commodities -- including nets and drugs -- in order to boost the fight against malaria. The presidents say that the taxes and tariffs are regressive, hurting the poorest citizens, who must depend on publicly provided anti-malarial nets and other products. The Wall Street Journal (7/26) - Life expectancy figures rise, again, in Japan
Improvement in the treatment of heart conditions helped life expectancy to rise for the fourth straight year in Japan, with Japanese women continuing to hold the record for longest life expectancy -- 86.44 years -- of any population group in the world, the government said today. Japan is struggling to manage the rising welfare costs associated with longer lives and an aging population. AlertNet.org/Reuters (7/26) - British health care to get a makeover
Britain's new government is considering a radical overhaul of the country's health care system that would shift administration away from bureaucracy and into the hands of medical professionals. The plan aims to shave $30 billion off the health budget by 2014 and cost tens of thousands of jobs, according to government proposals. The New York Times (free registration) (7/24) Top five news stories selected by UN Wire readers in the past week. - Results based on number of times each story was clicked by readers.
- Amazon tribes seize hostages at power plant site
Hundreds of native Indians took 100 workers hostage at the site of a hydroelectric power plant in the Brazilian Amazon on Sunday in a bid to get the government's attention. Tribal leaders say the plant is being built partially on ancient burial grounds and is causing environmental damage to the region. They would like President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's government to help the tribes negotiate with the construction company. AlertNet.org/Reuters (7/25) , BBC (7/26) - UN tribunal convicts Duch on war crimes
UN war crimes tribunal convicted Kaing Guek Eav -- known as Duch -- on charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes. Kaing ran the secret Tuol Sleng prison in Cambodia during the years of the Khmer Rouge regime. In a sentence that shocked the family members of Duch's victims, he was handed 35 years in prison, which was reduced to 19 years for time already spent in detention. Only 14 prisoners are thought to have survived the Tuol Sleng prison, where 16,000 Cambodians were tortured and killed. The Guardian (London) (7/26) - AU struggles to craft ICC, al-Bashir resolution
African diplomats struggled this weekend to reach agreement on the text of an African Union resolution on the International Criminal Court's arrest warrants for Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on charges of war crimes and genocide. Several African leaders have expressed concerns the ICC seeks to prosecute only Africans, prompting serious disagreement over a request to create an ICC liaison office on the continent. AlertNet.org/Reuters (7/25) - France vows response to al-Qaida hostage killing
French officials have confirmed a claim that al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb executed 78-year-old hostage Michel Germaneau, after a failed rescue attempt that killed six militants. French President Nicolas Sarkozy vowed retaliation for the death of Germaneau, who was working with a humanitarian organization in Niger when he was abducted in April. CNN (7/25) , The New York Times (free registration) (7/26) - Mexican prisoners deployed as assassins
In a chilling incident, an unspecified number of inmates at a Mexican prison were reportedly supplied with weapons and allowed to leave incarceration in order to carry out an attack in a neighboring state -- where they killed 17 people at a birthday party. Los Angeles Times (7/25) - Kosovo, Serbia lobby to frame consequences of independence
After the UN's decision confirming Kosovo's independence, lobbyists for both Serbia and Kosovo are competing for influence among countries that have yet to make a decision about recognizing Kosovo. Serbia believes that its best chance to stop the UN from admitting Kosovo is by convincing China or Russia -- both of which have experience with ongoing conflicts in regions seeking independence -- to veto the bid. Google/The Associated Press (7/24)  | |  | | | | | | |  |  Director Civil Society (emphasis climate adaptation) | Institute for Sustainable Communities | Washington, DC | | MSH SEEKS STAFF FOR HEALTH PROJECT IN MALAWI | Management Sciences for Health | Lilongwe, Malawi | | Researcher, U.S. Immigration Policy/Criminal Justice | Human Rights Watch | New York, NY | | COUNTRY AND REGIONAL REPRESENTATIVES, FAMINE EARLY WARNING SYSTEMS | ARD, Inc. | Multiple Locations Worldwide, Guatemala | | Web Producer/Project Manager | United Nations Foundation (UNF)/Better World Fund (BWF) | Washington, DC | | Director, Corporate Relations | United Nations Foundation (UNF)/Better World Fund (BWF) | Washington , DC | | Director of Corporate Relations | United Nations Foundations | Washington DC, DC | | Executive Assistant, Energy Climate | United Nations Foundation (UNF) / Better World Fund (BWF) | Washington, DC | | | |  | |  | |
|
 | Key Sites
| | |
This SmartBrief was created for eleccion@yahoogroups.com
| | | About UN WIRE | | UN Wire is a free service sponsored by the United Nations Foundation which is dedicated to supporting the United Nations' efforts to address the most pressing humanitarian, socioeconomic and environmental challenges facing the world today. | | | | | | | | Recent UN Wire Issues: - Friday, July 23, 2010
- Thursday, July 22, 2010
- Wednesday, July 21, 2010
- Tuesday, July 20, 2010
- Monday, July 19, 2010
| | | Lead Editor: Adam Mazmanian
Contributing Editor: Juliette Terzieff | Kriston Dean Capps
Mailing Address:
SmartBrief, Inc.®, 1100 H ST NW, Suite 1000, Washington, DC 20005 | | | | | | © 1999-2010 SmartBrief, Inc.® Legal Information | | |
No comments:
Post a Comment