International issues
World set to miss UN hunger reduction goal: UN
The world is on course to miss United Nations hunger reduction targets set in 2000, despite successes in curbing extreme poverty, a UN report said Thursday. In 2000, the world body’s 192 member states launched eight Millennium Development Goals to be achieved by 2015 and the 2011 progress report showed mixed results on the first target of eradicating extreme poverty and hunger.
UN chief sets date for Cyprus unity deal
UN chief Ban Ki-moon set an October target for rival Cypriot leaders to secure a broad accord on reunifying the divided Mediterranean island, after both parties agreed on Thursday to intensify talks. “I have every expectation that by October the leaders will be able to report that they have reached convergence on all core issues, and we will meet that month in New York.”
Canada to end Afghan combat mission
Canada was to officially end its combat mission in Afghanistan on Thursday, after nine years of fighting which saw it lose 157 troops and spend more than $11 billion dollars. With popular support for the war sapped at home, most of the nearly 3,000 Canadian soldiers, based mainly in the dangerous battleground of Kandahar, have packed up and gone home.
Greece blocks Gaza Freedom Flotilla
A year after the first Gaza Freedom Flotilla was attacked by Israel in international waters leading to the deaths of nine activists, the Free Gaza Movement is organising a second flotilla which is currently experiencing difficulties in Greece as the government there is refusing to allow the boats to leave port, citing fears for the safety for the passengers on board.
The Outliers And The Nuclear Bayonets The World Is Sitting On
Napoleon is said to have remarked: “Bayonets are wonderful! One can do anything with them except sit on them!”. Today’s bayonets are nuclear weapons; and we are actually sitting on them.
Mr. Dhanapala is President, Pugwash Conferences on Science & World Affairs. He served as UN Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs and as Ambassador of Sri Lanka to the USA in 1990s.
Watch The Sky–It May Rain Atomic Bombs
There are no weather forecasts for that, so you must do it by yourself. Just watch the sky every time you can as it might rain atomic bombs. It is not about any fiction tall– a technical problem, a new virus or a hiker attack, could order drones (unmanned aircrafts) to empty their full-of-nuclear-weapons’ stomach on your head.
Surprising economic benefits of immigrants’ arrival in Italy
As debate continues to flare in the European Union Government on whose responsibility it is to manage the flow of recent North African immigrants to Italy and their subsequent migration to other regions in Europe, one point remains clear: Immigrants can benefit the Italian economy and contribute much-needed workers to the labour market in Italy.
Serious incidents reflect the marginalization of Belfast loyalist Protestants
On Monday night Ireland suffered the most violent incidents in a decade between Protestants and Catholics, who clashed in the city of Belfast some even firing guns, according to Irish police. In the images broadcast by television there were hundreds of youths throwing stones and Molotov cocktails in the Short Strand area.