U.N. peacekeeping has surged to 93,000 troops, police and civilian personnel in 18 operations around the world, the most ever in the history of the world body, a U.N. official said on Wednesday.
But this figure, which includes nearly 70,000 military personnel, could jump to 140,000 within a year, Jean-Marie Guehenno, the undersecretary-general for peacekeeping, told a news conference.
United Nations peacekeepers deployed in southern Lebanon to act as a buffer between Israel and Hezbollah fighters are authorized to use force to stop "hostile activity" of any kind, the UN said. More
NYT: "North Korea announced today that it plans to conduct a nuclear test, in a sharp escalation of its standoff with the United States that set off ripples of alarm in Japan and South Korea.... American officials have said that if North Korea were to conduct nuclear tests, the United States would seek Security Council sanctions through a procedure that carries the threat of military action to enforce the council's vote."
Alertnet: "As in many villages in West Africa, education is still a distant dream for many girls. The United Nations children's agency (UNICEF) says that in Senegal about 40 percent of girls 7-12 years old lack access to basic education, and those who do enroll are likely to drop out. Sixty percent of Senegalese girls are illiterate. Senegal's Ministry of Education reported that 80.6 percent of girls began school during the 2004-2005 school year, yet only eight percent finished high school."
The number of Iraqi civilians killed in violence may have jumped to a record high in September, data from the Iraqi government indicated on Sunday....
The United Nations, which adds numbers on hospital deaths from the Health Ministry to the numbers of unidentified bodies in the Baghdad morgue, has said 6,599 Iraqis were killed in July and August, 700 more than in the previous two months." More