United Nations

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Confronting the new geopolitics of ‘net-states’

What role should tech titans like Facebook have in global politics?

Confronting the new geopolitics of ‘net-states’
U.S. President Donald Trump participates in a session on reforming the United Nations at U.N. Headquarters in New York, U.S., September 18, 2017.

President Trump attends his first UN General Assembly this week. Here's what to expect.

President Trump attends his first UN General Assembly this week. Here's what to expect.
United Nations peacekeepers meet women and children on their path during a patrol near Bentiu, northern South Sudan, Feb. 11, 2017.

President Trump, do you think cutting UN funding by 50 percent will make America safer?

President Trump, do you think cutting UN funding by 50 percent will make America safer?
Draft executive orders proposed a 40% cut in funding to the United Nations.

What a cut to its UN funding does to US leverage in the world

What a cut to its UN funding does to US leverage in the world
A construction site in the Israeli settlement of Har Homa, known to Palestinians as Jabal Abu Ghneim, in the West Bank, on Dec. 22.

Netanyahu: Obama failed to protect Israel against UN ‘gang-up’ and ‘colluded behind the scenes’

Netanyahu: Obama failed to protect Israel against UN ‘gang-up’ and ‘colluded behind the scenes’
Police use pepper spray against protesters trying to cross a stream near an oil pipeline construction site near Standing Rock Indian Reservation, north of Cannon Ball, North Dakota, U.S. November 2, 2016.

The United Nations heads to North Dakota to investigate possible human rights abuses

Police have made mass arrests and used pepper spray, riot gear and armored vehicles to stop the protests. Now, the United Nations is looking into possible human rights abuses.

The United Nations heads to North Dakota to investigate possible human rights abuses
The United Nations General Assembly hall in New York, April 2016.

The UN just took on antibiotic resistance, but can diplomacy help us combat disease?

The problem of drug-resistant superbugs is growing, but can a political body like the United Nations change the stakes?

The UN just took on antibiotic resistance, but can diplomacy help us combat disease?
A group of children jump and reach for a ball on a volleyball court at a refugee camp in Germany after World War II

It's not just the Olympics. Sports have been important in refugee camps for decades.

As a team of refugees participates in the Olympics for the first time, refugees around the world are playing sports in the camps they're temporarily calling home. Social welfare organizations like the YMCA also recognized the value of sports in refugee camps dating as far back as World War II.

It's not just the Olympics. Sports have been important in refugee camps for decades.
displaced yemeni girl stands

UN blacklisted Saudi coalition for killing children in Yemen — then abruptly changed its mind

The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen landed on a UN blacklist of states and armed groups that kill and maim children in armed conflicts. It wasn't on the list for long.

UN blacklisted Saudi coalition for killing children in Yemen — then abruptly changed its mind
Abdallah Abu-Bakr Al-Ghazouli fled Darfur in 2007. He's tried to get refugee status in Lebanon since. Now he and some other Sudanese asylum seekers are camping out 100 feet from the UNHCR office in Beirut.

In Lebanon, if you're not a Syrian it's even harder to get refugee status

With more than one million Syrians in Lebanon hoping to get refugee status, Sudanese asylum seekers are watching their chances slip away.

In Lebanon, if you're not a Syrian it's even harder to get refugee status
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, and Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza speak to the press in Gitega, Burundi.

US Ambassador Samantha Power: 'The match could be laid' to ignite Burundi conflict

Burundi’s leader seems hellbent on dragging his country into more ethnic violence.

US Ambassador Samantha Power: 'The match could be laid' to ignite Burundi conflict
Russian President Vladimir Putin addresses attendees during the 70th session of the United Nations General Assembly at the UN Headquarters in New York, September 28, 2015.

Putin returns to the UN to cut a deal with the West on Syria

Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed attendees during the 70th session of the United Nations General Assembly at the UN Headquarters in New York. But he really came to cut a deal with Western powers on Syria.

Putin returns to the UN to cut a deal with the West on Syria
David Hyde stands in front of his tent in Geneva, Switzerland.

Update: Tent-living UN intern 'comes clean,' planned stunt to publicize intern conditions

David Hyde, an unpaid intern at the UN offices in Geneva, Switzerland found a creative way to bypass the city's high cost of living. Instead of renting, he pitched a tent on Lake Geneva.

Update: Tent-living UN intern 'comes clean,' planned stunt to publicize intern conditions
US Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power reads a statement following a United Nations Security Council vote on a resolution about the ongoing crisis in Iraq on August 15, 2014.

Shocking photos push Samantha Power to seek peace in Syria

A photo exhibit now lining the halls of UN headquarters in New York shows Syrian victims of torture. It's hard to look at, but US Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power says the images are yet more evidence that peace is desperately needed in Syria — and motivation to make sure the Assad regime is toppled.

Shocking photos push Samantha Power to seek peace in Syria
The interpreters' booth at the Nuremberg trials. From left to right: Capt. Macintosh, British Army, translates from French into English; Miss Margot Bortlin, translates from German into English; Lt. Ernest Peter Uiberall, Monitor.

How the Nuremberg Trials changed interpretation forever

We take simultaneous interpretation for granted today, watching world leaders at the UN and other organizations listen to speeches being translated in real time. But there was a time not too long ago when even the thought of someone instantly translating speech was impossible.

How the Nuremberg Trials changed interpretation forever