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UN to pull its staff out of Afghanistan

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

The United Nations is to evacuate hundreds of its foreign staff from Afghanistan because of spiralling violence, warning that it may permanently withdraw from the country unless the security situation improves. In a move which will add to the sense of foreboding caused by insurgent attacks and political crisis, the organisation said that 600 of its 1,100 international employees would be moved abroad or to safer internal locations.

Frustration mounts over Obama's fatal indecision

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Barack Obama is coming under mounting international pressure to make an early decision on his strategy in Afghanistan amid fears of a dangerous drift as he agonises over his next moves.

Britain rules out climate treaty at summit

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

British Government officials believe there is no hope of signing a legally binding climate change treaty in Copenhagen next month.

Fifty UN peacekeepers punished for sex abuses

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:36:28 GMT

At least 50 peacekeepers have received punishments ranging from reduction in military rank to eight months imprisonment for committing sexual abuses on United Nations missions since 2007, the UN said today.

UN chief defends dismissal of official

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:00:01 GMT

Ban Ki-moon, the secretary general of the United Nations, has defended his sacking of a top UN official who accused the organisation of turning a blind eye to fraud in the Afghan elections. Mr Ban denied that the UN's handling of the poll had tainted its credibility and advised Abdullah Abdullah, the defeated presidential challenger, to "let bygones be bygones".

Sworn enemies across the disarmament table

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Bitter enemies Iran and Israel, whose normal discourse is that of threat and counter-threat, engaged in a rare face-to-face exchange of views at a nuclear disarmament conference in Cairo, Israeli media reported yesterday.

The accidental diplomat in Kabul

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 23:00:01 GMT

If John Kerry had not gone to Kabul, it is possible that the Afghan picture would look very different. The Senator for Massachusetts huddled with Barack Obama back in Washington yesterday, telling reporters later that a decision on troop numbers before the election results were clear would lack "common sense". It seem likely that his views will be taken seriously by Obama: details of the role he played in persuading President Hamid Karzai to accept a run-off vote began to emerge yesterday, and suggested that his influence was critical in the Americans getting the result they wanted.

Tehran edges towards nuclear deal

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 23:00:01 GMT

The UN nuclear watchdog has given Iran a draft agreement designed to check the country's ability to acquire a nuclear arsenal and says it wants an answer from Tehran by tomorrow. Under the programme, 1.2 tonnes of the Islamic Republic's 1.5 tonne reserve of low-enriched uranium would be shipped to Russia and France by the end of the year and converted into fuel – a process that aims to prevent Iran manufacture nuclear weapons.

Afghan run-off may force US hand on troops

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 23:00:01 GMT

The White House signalled last night that Hamid Karzai's decision to accept a run-off vote in Afghanistan could expedite a verdict on whether to increase US troop numbers there.

Hague tells Clinton not to fear Tories' EU allies

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 23:00:01 GMT

William Hague, the man most likely to be Britain's next foreign secretary, yesterday assured Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other top US policymakers that a Conservative government would be "active and activist" in European affairs, despite its scepticism about EU institutions.

Obama envoy warns of 'no deal' summit

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Talks to save the world from the catastrophic effects of global warming may fail, President Obama's climate change envoy said last night.

China unlikely to back more Iran sanctions

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Premier Wen Jiabao says China intends to strengthen its co-operation with Iran, an indication that Beijing will oppose growing calls in the West for additional sanctions against the Islamic Republic for its nuclear programme.

World Focus: Why Palestinians have lost faith in Obama

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 23:00:01 GMT

For a man who is sometimes seen as the Palestinian politician that the Israelis and the Americans like best, Prime Minister Salaam Fayyad was in a strikingly robust mood during a two-hour press conference in Ramallah yesterday. While too polite to criticise the Obama administration, he nevertheless had a clear message in the wake of the failure by the US to persuade the Israeli government of Benjamin Netanyahu to grant a freeze on Jewish settlement construction in the West Bank as a precursor to serious negotiations.

Slump pushes world hunger to 40-year high

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 23:00:01 GMT

A combination of the food crisis and the global economic downturn has pushed more than 1 billion people into hunger in 2009, about 100 million more people than last year.

The Big Question: Why is so much of the world still hungry, and what can we do about it?

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 23:00:01 GMT

UN to debate Goldstone report after Abbas U-turn

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Hopes that US President Barack Obama would breathe new life into a peace process with Israel have "evaporated" according to an internal document circulated within the Fatah faction led by President Mahmoud Abbas.

The Big Question: Is al-Qa'ida really cash-strapped, and is the threat it poses diminishing?

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 23:00:01 GMT

And the other Nobel Peace Prize nominees were...

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Denis Mukwege: Doctor dedicated to helping rape victims

And the other Nobel nominees were...

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Denis Mukwege: Doctor dedicated to helping rape victims

Blood, rage & history: The world's first terrorists

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Imagine it. A network of violent radicals is picking off the world's leaders one by one. They have killed the American President, the Russian head of state, the French President, the Austrian head of state, and the Spanish Prime Minister.

Clinton and Miliband hold talks on Afghanistan

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 08:13:41 GMT

Britain and America are working closely to ensure their Afghanistan strategy is as "clear, as effective and as decisive as possible", David Miliband stressed today.

Brown and Clinton to discuss Afghanistan and Northern Ireland

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 08:13:41 GMT

Gordon Brown will discuss Afghanistan and the Northern Ireland peace process with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton today.

Kim all smiles as he offers US a nuclear olive branch

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 23:00:01 GMT

Six months after declaring the six-party talks on the future of its nuclear weapons programme "dead", North Korea relented somewhat yesterday, suggesting they could be revived on condition that progress was made first on relations with the United States.

Research highlights needless death of a million babies

Sun, 04 Oct 2009 23:00:01 GMT

More than than a million newborn babies are dying needlessly every year around the world because of lack of care in their first month of their life, according to research.

World savours the success of buffet diplomacy

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 23:00:01 GMT

The setting was an 18th-century villa on the shores of Lake Geneva, for a buffet lunch featuring almond trout and sable fish. Sometime after the trout had been consumed, and as the delegates filtered out into the gardens, the US diplomat William Burns and the Iranian chief nuclear negotiator, Sayeed Jalili, sidled off to a side room for a tête a tête.