Major demonstrations are underway in Tehran today, the 31st anniversary of the Islamic revolution. The Guardian is providing the full Nico Pitney treatment, and continuously collecting first hand accounts and videos from the day's events. So far, it looks like the government is firmly in control of the situation and has been able to keep the crowds dispersed.
ALNAP – the Active Learning Network for Accountability and Performance in humanitarian action – just released a pilot study on the humanitarian system. The study was very ambitious - it looked at the humanitarian system’s performance and progress, defining key criteria, assessing system performance and progress, and present new statistics. Their conclusion? The system gets a B-.
On the heels of Laura Chinchilla's victory in the Costa Rican presidential election and Evo Morales's appointing women to half of his cabinet positions, the Christian Science Monitor
Ban Ki Moon called for a restoration of the "Olympic Truce" in which warring parties lay down their arms for the duration of the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Here's what he said:
As the XXI Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver draw near, the United Nations and the Olympic Movement are once again calling for a worldwide cessation of hostilities for the duration of the Games.
UN Good Will Ambassador Angelia Jolie donated $1 million to Doctors Without Borders through the Jolie-Pitt Foundation. Earlier this week, she visited Haiti. And among the places she stopped included a hospital in the Dominican Republic, the UN's logistical headquarters, and the orphanage from which 33 children were taken by 10 Americans who are now being held on kidnapping charges by Haitian authorities. From the UN News Center:
At the Center for Global Development’s Global Health blog today, Ruth Levine takes a new look at the Gates Foundation’s ten billion dollar vaccine promise. Her concern is that this huge funding commitment will crowd out other donors on immunization. She also has some suggestions for how to spend the money without pushing out other donors.
One of the most persistent stories about the UN that is circulated by people, who, shall we say, are pre-disposed to believing conspiracy theories, is that the UN is plotting to take Americans' guns away. The latest manifestation of this meme occurred last month on the blog of National Association of Gun Rights, which is circulating an online petition to demand that the Senate vote against the UN "Arms Control Treaty." The petition says, "The UN’s “Small Arms
Presidents Bush and Clinton team up for a new public service announcement for Haiti relief efforts.