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| - UN tribunal's inquiry into Hariri assassination is at risk
 Financing is dwindling for the ongoing UN Special Tribunal into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, as well as 21 others, creating "cash-flow issues" for an inquiry that concurrently is being undercut by Hezbollah, the Shiite movement implicated in the deaths. Because Hezbollah now leads the Lebanese government, any arrests arising from the investigation are unlikely there. CBC.ca (Canada) (2/22)       - Women soon to play greater role in UN peacekeeping
The United Nations is expected to increase its number of all-female peacekeeping forces from some 3% today to 20% by 2014. "We are already in Bangladesh and India as specifically women forces, but we need to expand that capacity because we believe that's important; female forces can reach women in a better way," said Undersecretary-General Michelle Bachelet, executive director of UN Women. AllAfrica Global Media (2/22) - UN warns of surge in refugees fleeing Libya violence
Countries in Europe and North Africa should not turn away a potentially "significant exodus" of those fleeing the violence in Libya, according the UN refugee agency. "If there were an outflow from Libya, we could anticipate that a high proportion are fleeing for their lives, fleeing direct persecution," said a spokeswoman, who added that the UN High Commissioner for Refugees was preparing to send emergency staff and supplies to the neighboring countries of Egypt and Tunisia. AlertNet/Reuters (2/22) - New Zealand earthquake rescue efforts continue
Rescuers continue to sift through rubble in Christchurch, New Zealand, searching for survivors of a strong earthquake that has killed at least 75 people and left hundreds missing. Rescue and recovery teams from the U.S., Australia, the U.K. and Asian countries have arrived to help local authorities with the efforts. Google/The Associated Press (2/23) - Joint effort is under way to save Haitian murals
Haitian church officials and the U.S. Smithsonian have joined forces in an effort to save the last three remaining murals of Port-au-Prince's Episcopal Trinity Cathedral. Conservationists worry about the murals' structural soundness and are looking to move them to a climate-controlled warehouse. The other 11 murals were reduced to rubble during last year's earthquake. The New York Times (free registration) (2/22) - Food prices could fall on strength of farm plantings
While governments intervene in global food markets to curb domestic fallout from rising food prices, farmers are rushing to expand plantings in many parts of the world -- steps that might even result in decreases in costs for staples such as wheat, corn and soybeans. In fact, if weather conditions continue to be favorable in Australia, Brazil and Russia, prices could drop by the second half of this year. The Wall Street Journal (2/23)  | - UN looks to Hollywood on climate-change battle
United Nations officials are petitioning Hollywood to include story lines about global warming in movies, television shows and other outlets in a bid to build public support for the fight against climate change after disappointing efforts to forge international agreements on a plan. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has traveled to Los Angeles with other high-ranking officials to make the case to directors, writers, producers and actors. Los Angeles Times/Greenspace blog (2/21) - Indian state tries new approach on land disputes
Uttar Pradesh officials have offered a unique compensation agreement to Indian farmers in a bid to diffuse tension over land rights and the construction of a highway. Observers hope the method will serve as a blueprint for state governments to deal with land disputes as federal authorities continue to wrangle over efforts to reform outdated land-acquisition laws. The New York Times (free registration) (2/22) - Algeria to end 19 years of emergency rule
The Algerian Cabinet has signed off on a plan to end the country's 19-year period of emergency rule, one of the key demands of the political opposition. Authorities have been grappling with growing public protests over rising food prices and political freedoms in recent weeks. Reuters (2/22), BBC (2/22)  | |  | | | | | | Regional Leader, East Asia | World Vision International | Bangkok, Thailand | | Researcher on Afghanistan | Human Rights Watch | N/A, Afghanistan | | Peacebuilding Program Director | Social Science Research Council | Brooklyn, NY | | Senior Development Associate, Girl Up | United Nations Foundations | Washington DC, DC | | Leo Nevas Human Rights Fellow | United Nations Foundations | New York City, NY | | Director, Global Vaccines Campaign | United Nations Foundations | Washington DC, DC | | Director, Nothing But Nets campaign | United Nations Foundations | Washington DC, DC | | Various Positions | International Labour Office | Geneva, Switzerland | | | |  | |  |
 | - The Pledge Guarantee for Health helps streamline the aid pipeline
More than 800,000 anti-malaria bed nets have arrived and been distributed in Zambia three months ahead of schedule and before the peak of the deadly rainy season, thanks to a deal reached by the Government of Zambia, the World Bank, UNICEF, Stanbic Bank Zambia, part of the Standard Bank Group and the United Nations Foundation, supported by the African Leaders Malaria Alliance and the UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Malaria. This deal marks the inaugural transaction of the Pledge Guarantee for Health (PGH), a new financial tool developed by the UN Foundation, with help from Dalberg Global Development Advisors, and funded by the Bill Melinda Gates Foundation, that streamlines the procurement of lifesaving health supplies. Click here for more from the UN Foundation. UN Foundation (2/22) |
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UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told Libyan Col. Moammar Gadhafi in a telephone conversation Monday that violence against protesters "must stop immediately." Meanwhile, the escalation in the measures undertaken by the strongman's regime to quell popular unrest were characterized as genocide by the country's UN ambassador, and once-loyal foreign envoys were resigning and forswearing their allegiances. 
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