At the State Department this morning, Hillary Clinton laid out the results of the Obama administration's long-awaited Sudan policy review.
With the failure of four consecutive rainy seasons, the impact of drought, hunger and disease is felt throughout the Horn of Africa, where over 18.5 million people are in dire need of relief. A Unicef video from Kenya.
Last year, over 116 million people – nearly two percent of the world population – took action in the Stand-UP, breaking the Guinness World Record for the largest mobilization around a single-cause event in recorded history. Join the movement this year by clicking on the banner below.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon got full rock star treatment when he visited the United Nations International School (UNIS) in New York to lead the students in a Stand Up Action.
The UN Human Rights Council passed a resolution endorsing the Goldstone Report, which found evidence suggesting that the Israeli Defense Forces and Hamas may have committed war crimes during Operation Cast Lead last winter (but reserves its harshest criticisms for Israel.) The report was discussed at the council for a vote for the first time earlier this month, but the Palestinians (under heavy pressure from the United States) opted to defer a vote on the resolution until the Council met again
The General Assembly held Security Council elections yesterday. As is the case with many procedures at the UN, a certain number of seats are set aside for specific regional blocs. And, as is often the case, the blocs decide amongst themselves who will stand for election. This is what happened yesterday in which five countries ran un-opposed for five seats on the council. The results are as follows:
Africa & Asia: Gabon, Lebanon & Nigeria
Switzerland is going to vote on a national referendum, banning the construction of minarets at Swiss mosques. There are only four minarets in the country, but the referendum argues that minarets are a sign of Islamic conquest, not religious faith.
Today, Pakistan saw five coordinated terrorist attacks in Lahore and Kohat. The attacks took place in the space of a few hours, and forty-three people are dead. The attacks were highly coordinated, and targeted the police – two police stations, a federal police office, and a police training facility – as well as a school in Peshawar.