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- UN hosts Queen Elizabeth II
Queen Elizabeth II returns to the United Nations today for the first time since 1957 to address the General Assembly and meet with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. The British monarch will also visit the former site of the World Trade Center during her New York visit. The Independent (London) (7/6)        - Haiti's earthquake orphans find little help
Children orphaned as a result of the Jan. 12 earthquake face an uncertain future, living in orphanages struggling to maintain operations or adopted by relatives also struggling to recover from the disaster. Frades, a local grass-roots organization now caring for children, has battled unsuccessfully to obtain material and financial support to help care for orphans in a makeshift facility consisting of two tents. The New York Times (free registration) (7/5) - HIV/AIDS researchers ask African leaders to back abstinence campaign
African leaders should back a monthlong abstinence campaign in a bid to cut new HIV/AIDS infections by as much as 45%, British scientists say. Evidence demonstrates that newly infected individuals are most likely to transmit the virus during the first month after it enters their system, according to the scientists. Supporters of the idea say an abstinence campaign could provide a low-cost way to rapidly enhance countries' HIV/AIDS efforts. The Guardian (London) (7/4) - Dutch investigation backs IPCC efforts
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's disputed 2007 report contains no errors sufficient to cast doubt on its conclusions, but the IPCC should pursue more transparency in its operations, a Dutch investigation concludes. Critics questioned the IPCC report's projections on glacier melt, flooding and water-scarcity issues, leading to several investigations into the soundness of the effort. The IPCC will soon begin work on an updated assessment. BBC (7/5) - Gulf oil spill reaches Texas shores
With tar balls washing up northeast of Galveston along the Texas coast, the entire set of Gulf Coast states has now experienced environmental damage as the result of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. BP vowed to help affected Texans as cleanup crews headed for Texas to address the oil. The tar balls may have been spread to Texas by ships working to clean up oil in the water. The Independent (London)/The Associated Press (7/6)  | - Statelessness tops global-rights agenda
Nearly 12 million people around the world are considered stateless, a rising human rights issue in the eyes of the UN. The Soros Foundation's Open Society Institute is one of the organizations looking at how international political developments, such as the U.S. war against terrorism launched after 9/11, affect the plight of noncitizens or citizens rendered stateless by changing policies and borders. Impoverishment, lack of health care and lack of education flow with statelessness, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. The Christian Science Monitor (7/4) - Sri Lanka protests accompany UN-EU rights actions
European Union officials announced plans Monday to suspend Sri Lanka's trade concessions beginning Aug. 15 over the government's failure to provide written assurance it will take steps to improve its human rights record. UN investigations into abuses allegedly committed during the government's battle against the Tamil Tigers have sparked anger in Colombo, with protesters laying siege to UN offices and burning effigies of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Google/Agence France-Presse (7/5) , Google/The Associated Press (7/6) - Kurdish Iraq is a capital for genital mutilation
Some 90% of women living in the Sulaymaniyah district in Kurdish Iraq have experienced genital mutilation -- likely a greater number than in any other place in the Middle East. In this region and in others where genital mutilation persists, the people doing the act could not be considered midwives or surgeons and work in environments lacking facilities for proper hygienic care. Kurdish identity, religion, pressure from peers and an effort to curb women's sexuality are four factors driving the practice in Kurdistan, according to Human Rights Watch. The Guardian (London) (7/5) - Sanctions start to hit Iranian companies, jets
According to Iranian state media, chief Iranian nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili has requested clarification on several issues before stalled talks can resume with six world powers. That could be as early as Sept. 1. Iranian officials denied news reports that BP had stopped refueling Iranian jets and that Iranian jets had been refused fuel in Germany, Britain and the United Arab Emirates. Further, the UAE froze bank assets for two companies connected to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, in keeping with sanctions applied by the UN Security Council last month. Google/Agence France-Presse (7/6) , Reuters (7/6) , Bloomberg Businessweek (7/6) - Somalia's neighbors ask AU to increase troop presence
Somalia's East African neighbors have called on the African Union to add at least 2,000 troops to the current peacekeeping mission in Somalia. Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Sudan and Djibouti say more troops are needed to help the transitional government in its power struggles with militant groups. Bloomberg Businessweek (7/6) - Clinton assures Georgia that the U.S. has not abandoned it
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton worked to assure leaders of the former Soviet state of Georgia that the recent reset in U.S.-Russian relations did not constitute the U.S. abandoning its ally. In pointed language, Clinton rejected the Russian occupation of former sovereign Georgian territory. The Washington Post (7/6) - American banks are laundering billions for Mexican drug cartels
Mexican drug smugglers have successfully laundered hundreds of billions of dollars through U.S. banks including Bank of America and Wachovia, Bloomberg reports. Bank officials have said Wachovia failed to effectively monitor and report suspicious transactions. Critics charge the laundering enables cartel operations and makes the banks complicit in the deaths of more than 22,000 people killed in drug-related incidents in Mexico since 2006. Bloomberg (6/29) - Mexican midterms confirm status quo, despite drug war violence
Despite the violence that has gripped Mexico since Mexican President Felipe Calderón declared war on the nation's powerful drug cartels, voters still turned out to participate in state and local elections -- the meaning of which are disputed by the nation's leading political parties. Calderón's center-right National Action Party appeared to have stopped the Institutional Revolutionary Party from taking away many victories, though the PRI cinched gubernatorial elections in nine of the 12 states, seats it already controlled. Elections in Tamaulipas and Sinaloa were among the contests whose course has been greatly affected by the ongoing drug war. The Washington Post (7/6)
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