INTERNATIONAL

  Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon speaks at the General Assembly's debate, "The Road to Rio+20 and beyond", on May 22.  Credit:UN Photo/JC McIlwaine UNITED NATIONS, May 23, 2012 (IPS) – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who has invested heavily in the success of the upcoming U.N. Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD), is publicly expressing his frustration at the lack of substantial progress on …

The United States has completed its planning for a military strike on Iran, the US Ambassador to Israel Daniel Shapiro said in remarks at a closed conference in Tel Aviv that were broadcast on Israel TV on Wednesday night. “It would be preferable to resolve this diplomatically, and through the use of pressure, than to use military force,” Shapiro said …

  The Security Council meets to consider the maintenance of international peace and security, but political wrangling often prevents swift action.  Credit:UN Photo/Paulo Filgueiras UNITED NATIONS, May 15, 2012 (IPS) – The 193-member General Assembly is expected to vote on a resolution – described as "historic" – requesting the five permanent members (P5) of the Security Council to consider "refraining …

President Obama has informed the Iranians they have one “last chance” to avoid attack. They must suspend higher uranium enrichment, close down the Fordow enrichment facility, and “surrender” their stockpile of uranium enriched to 20 per cent purity. Iranian officials respond matter-of-factly that such demands are “irrational.” (Some Israeli officials, eager to build the case for attack, are reportedlydelighted with …

WASHINGTON – The Russian military anticipates that an attack will occur on Iran by the summer and has developed an action plan to move Russian troops through neighboring Georgia to stage in Armenia, which borders on the Islamic republic, according to informed Russian sources. Russian Security Council head Viktor Ozerov said that Russian General Military Headquarters has prepared an action …

By Nathan Freed Wessler, Fellow, ACLU, and Pardiss Kebriaei, Attorney, Center for Constitutional Rights Today the ACLU and the Center for Constitutional Rightsfiled a Freedom of Information Act request seeking information about a horrific U.S. missile strike that killed dozens of civilians in Yemen. This was the Obama administration's first known missile strike in Yemen, carried out with one or more …