political nonsense

Torture may be worse now in Iraq than under former leader Saddam Hussein, the UN’s chief anti-torture expert says.
(more…)

Today is International Peace Day.
(more…)

Hugo Chavez called President Bush the devil. “It smells of sulfur still today,” he said, to clapping and laughter, speaking before the UN assembly.
(more…)

The European Union has condemned the CIA’s detention of suspects in overseas prisons.

* Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot:

“The existence of secret detention facilities where detained persons are kept in a legal vacuum is not in conformity with international humanitarian law and international criminal law.”

(more…)

Tens of thousands of demonstrators in cities around the world on Sunday demanded action to stop the killing in Darfur, Sudan.
(more…)

A recent House of Representatives committee report on Iran’s nuclear capability is “outrageous and dishonest” in trying to make a case that Tehran’s program is geared toward making weapons, a senior official of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency said.
(more…)

Dramatic evidence that America is involved in illegal mercenary operations in east Africa has emerged in a string of confidential emails seen by The Observer.
(more…)

Israeli and Arab diplomats feuded bitterly on the U.N. General Assembly floor on Friday after the United Nations approved a largely symbolic global plan to combat terrorism three days before the fifth anniversary of the September 11 attacks.
(more…)

In the Occupied Territories, a senior UN official is warning daily life for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip is reaching a “breaking point.” The official, UN Relief and Works Agency Karen Abuzayd, says Israel’s ongoing military offensives and economic blockade is creating suffering and mass despair for Gaza’s one and a half million residents. Abuzayd called on the international community to send an influx of foreign monitors.
(more…)

The Bush administration’s ongoing effort to win Senate approval of UN Ambassador John Bolton is again facing internal Republican opposition. On Thursday, Republican Senator Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island said he will not vote for Bolton until the Bush administration answers his questions on US policies in the Middle East. Chafee says he wants the Bush administration to block Israel’s expansion of its settlements in the Occupied West Bank. Senator Chafee is facing re-election this year. Bolton was given a recess appointment last year after his nomination failed to win enough support in the Senate.
(more…)

The UN reported that Israel has committed seventy violations since the ceasefire with Lebanon was reached. Hezbollah has committed four.
(more…)

International experts are predicting it could take Lebanon 10 years to clear the country of unexploded cluster bombs used by Israel.
(more…)

The United Nations Security Council has voted in favour of creating a UN peace force for Sudan’s Darfur region. The resolution passed by the council states that such a force would be deployed only with the consent of the Sudanese government.
(more…)

Israel rejected a call by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to lift its air and sea blockade of Lebanon, saying it would only end the seven-week-old siege once all aspects of a cease-fire were in place.
(more…)

Sudan’s president accused the United States and Britain Tuesday of conspiring against his country as diplomats at the United Nations said Washington and ally London want the Security Council to adopt a resolution in two days giving the U.N. authority over peacekeepers in Darfur.
(more…)

The UN’s humanitarian chief accused Israel of “completely immoral” use of cluster bombs in Lebanon. UN clearance experts have so far found 100,000 unexploded cluster bomblets at 359 separate sites, Jan Egeland said.
(more…)

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said it was time for Israel to lift a “humiliating” blockade on Lebanon.
(more…)

Lebanese are split over United Nations demands for the disarmament of Hezbollah following the month-long war between Israel and the Shiite militant group, a poll found Monday.

The poll conducted by a local company called IPSOS found 51 per cent of Lebanese supported the group’s disarmament, while 49 per cent are against it.
(more…)

The European Union pledged up to seven thousands troops for an expanded UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon.
(more…)

France agreed to send 2,000 soldiers to keep the peace in Lebanon.
(more…)