US and China kill British proposal for UN Security Council reform

Source: The Washington Post | By Colum Lynch

Having invited the foreign ministers of the four other permanent Security Council nations to London to discuss enlarging the 15-nation council, Britain on Monday called off the Wednesday meeting after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and China’s foreign minister declined to attend, according to key U.N. members.

Former New Zealand premier nominated for top U.N. development post

Source: United Nations

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has requested the General Assembly to confirm former Prime Minister Helen Clark of New Zealand as the new Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for a four-year term.

Obama’s video diplomacy with Iran

Source: Reuters | By Matt Spetalnick

President Barack Obama issued an unprecedented videotaped appeal to Iran on Friday offering a “new beginning” of diplomatic engagement to turn the page on decades of U.S. policy toward America’s longtime foe.

Click on the image to watch the video

U.N. chief meets with President Obama

Source: Associated Press | By John Heilprin

Buoyed by President Barack Obama’s pledge to work on bringing peace to Darfur, the U.N. chief is making the rounds of Capitol Hill to strengthen cooperation on climate change and other pressing global crises.

Obama invites UN Secretary-General to the White House

Source: Reuters

President Barack Obama has invited U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to the White House next week, the first meeting between the two since Obama took office, Washington’s U.N. envoy said on Friday.

UK urges America to lead global effort on climate change

Source: The Guardian | by Patrick Wintour and Ewen MacAskill

Gordon Brown yesterday invoked the spirit of American optimism as he challenged Congress to let Barack Obama lead the world away from self-defeating protectionism and the perils of irreversible climate change.

ICC issues a warrant of arrest for President of Sudan

Source: International Criminal Court

Today, Pre-Trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued a warrant for the arrest of Omar Hassan Ahmad Al Bashir, President of Sudan, for war crimes and crimes against humanity. He is suspected of being criminally responsible, as an indirect (co-)perpetrator, for intentionally directing attacks against an important part of the civilian population of Darfur, Sudan, murdering, exterminating, raping, torturing and forcibly transferring large numbers of civilians, and pillaging their property. This is the first warrant of arrest ever issued for a sitting Head of State by the ICC.

EU’s climate aid to the developing world

Source: Bloomberg | by Jonathan Stearns

European Union governments kept their options open on how to help the developing world pay for climate- change protection, one of the hurdles to reaching a new United Nations accord.