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- UN: Better disposal of medical waste is needed
Few countries have or are developing sufficient regulations to cope with medical waste, United Nations Special Rapporteur Calin Georgescu warns in a report to the UN Human Rights Council. A quarter of the world's medical waste is hazardous, yet in many countries discarded materials go directly into dumps and water systems. The Boston Globe/The Associated Press (free registration) (9/15)      - UN is expected to free up more assets, weapons for Libya
 The UN Security Council is poised to pass a resolution loosening sanctions on some Libyan companies and arms shipments, while establishing operations there to assist the National Transitional Council administering elections as the country emerges from several decades of dictatorial rule. The council's sanctions committee has unfrozen some $16 billion in assets since strongman Moammar Gadhafi lost his grip after months of popular revolt. CNN (9/15), Reuters (9/15)  - Polio-stricken street band finds a global audience
Street musicians from Congolese ghettos -- four of them disabled from polio, and playing makeshift instruments while seated on makeshift tricycles -- have coalesced into the band, Staff Benda Bilili, which is featured in a movie that chronicles the band's unlikely journey from the streets of Kinshasa to major venues in Europe. The band's American debut at a music festival in Chicago has been canceled because of visa problems. San Francisco Chronicle (9/15), Chicago Sun-Times (9/13) - Breast, cervical cancer rates are increasing
 Incidences of breast and cervical cancer are growing around the world, exacting a deadly price in poor countries where access to qualified diagnosis and treatment is limited, according to a study published in the Lancet journal. Breast cancer cases worldwide have more than doubled in the past three decades, researchers found. AlertNet/Reuters (9/15) - Peepoo bags attempt to tackle slum sanitation issues
Swedish social entrepreneurs are piloting a basic sanitation system in the slums outside Nairobi, Kenya, in a bid to address environmental and health concerns over the lack of facilities. Residents purchase Peepoo bags, single-use toilets that sanitize human waste and turn it into fertilizer, and then return the used items for a small recycling refund. The Christian Science Monitor (9/14)  - Culinary luminary Andrés backs cookstoves effort
Chef Jose Andrés was tapped by the U.S. State Department to act as a Culinary Ambassador for the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves -- an effort that looks to promote clean-burning cooking methods in the developing world. Andrés said, "I have seen this silent killer firsthand, and I am therefore honored to join the alliance in helping to raise additional awareness." FoxNews.com/Latino (9/14)  | - Climate financing hits "historic" levels worldwide
The world's top 20 economies spent the bulk of the $243 billion invested last year in clean energies, says the UN Development Program, which Wednesday identified more than 50 national public climate funds, 45 carbon markets and more than 6,000 private equity funds geared toward battling climate change. Brazil and China have two of the most successful national climate funds, said Cassie Flynn, lead author of a UNDP guide to help poor countries set up national climate funds. The Economic Times (India)/Agence France-Presse (9/14), AlertNet (9/14) - Clashes erupt as Haitians protest UN mission
Haitian police clashed with hundreds of protesters demanding the withdrawal of United Nations peacekeepers Wednesday. Demonstrators were protesting against UN troop presence after allegations that Uruguayan peacekeepers assaulted a young Haitian man. AlertNet/Reuters (9/15) - UN Foundation Launches New UNFoundation.org
The United Nations Foundation relaunched www.unfoundation.org as an enhanced online hub, providing instant access to UN Foundation initiatives and connecting people with the UN to help solve the world's biggest challenges. Visitors to the site will have easy access to information about the campaigns powered by the UN Foundation; can get engaged by learning, advocating, and donating on behalf of global issues; and can share their experience with their online networks through Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google+, and the full range of social media. Click here for the full news release from the UN Foundation. - Award-winning chef José Andrés joins Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves
The Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves announced today that Chef José Andrés will serve as Culinary Ambassador, helping to raise awareness of the death, sickness and injury caused by toxic smoke from cooking stoves in developing countries. Two million people globally die each year from illnesses such as pneumonia, chronic lung disease and cancer -- all due to exposure to smoke from harmful and inefficient cooking and heating practices. The vast majority of deaths are among women and children. "I have seen this silent killer first hand, and I am therefore honored to join the Alliance in helping to raise additional awareness," said Andrés. "Shortly after the earthquake, I went to Haiti to assist in humanitarian relief efforts, and saw that the grinding poverty they live with day-to-day had been exacerbated by dirty cooking conditions in overcrowded and unsafe tent cities." Click here to read more from the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves.
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