| CENTERPOINT NOW WEEKLY UN NEWS UPDATE WEEK 4 - 22 JANUARY 2006 |
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| TOP NEWS - Interviews |
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On Iran, no consensus until Feb 2. Even then, Russia and China object to bring it to the Security Council. SC is set to meet Monday to issue a Fr-US-UK presidential statement calling on Lebanon to implement the remaining stipulations of UN Resolution 1559. |
| MYTH OR FACT: "Iran has no ambition to become a nuclear power and poses no threat. At the end of this newsletter: Myths and Facts by Mitchell G. Bard |
| 02 |
The Europeans are not prepared to acknowledge that the problem is not uranium enrichment but the nature of the Iranian regime. More than 20 countries, from Argentina to Ukraine, enrich uranium without anyone making a fuss. Amir Taheri NYP |
| 03 |
The UN Security Council has expressed "full support" for Ivorian Interim Prime Minister Charles Konan Banny and urged the UN Operation in Cote d`Ivoire (ONUCI) to provide all necessary assistance in accordance with its mandate. |
| Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesmanHamid- Reza Assefi has called Israeli military threats "childish behavior" and warned that any military action against Iran would have "severe consequences." Large number of Iranian athletes, on Sunday, held demonstrations at Uranium Conversion Facility (UCF) in Isfahan and formed a symbolic human chain. |
| 04 |
| The Kosovo issue due to the upcoming talks of January 25th in Geneva. 24 Jan UNOCI (UN Operation in Côte d'Ivoire) S/Res/1609. |
| 05 |
| The Secretary-General will be traveling to Europe this weekend. The trip will include stops in Switzerland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Monday, Apart from the daily noon press briefing by the Spokesman, there are no other press conferences today. |
| SG Kofi Annan |
| 06 |
| CEDAW 34th Session at UNHQ until 3 February 2006. |
| Jan Elliason, President of General Assembly |
| 07 |
| Secretary-General Kofi Annan has appointed Ad Melkert to serve as Under-Secretary-General and the Associate Administrator of the UNDP. Melkert, a Dutch national, will begin on 1 March. |
| UNDP Director Kemal Dervis |
| 08 |
| Over 2,300 leaders from 89 countries will seize "The Creative Imperative" for fresh responses to global challenges at the Annual Meeting 2006 in Davos. Germany's Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel will give the opening speech. |
| Summit |
| 09 |
23-24 Jan AU Summit (Khartoum) 25 Jan Palestinian Parliamentary elections 23 January, National Day of India. |
| Elections National Days |
| 10 |
| Nirupam Sen, Permanent Representative at the United Nations, was High Commissioner in Sri Lanka and came out of retirement. Syria's Amb to UN Faysal Mekdad recently met Serge Brammertz who replaced Detlev Mehlis, to affirm Syria's readiness to fully cooperate w/ the investigation. |
| 11 |
| 11 DPI to hold the first universal observance of the International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust under the theme “Remembrance and Beyond” at UN Headquarters on 27 Jan fm 10:30 am to 12 noon. The day designated by the GA is the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp. |
| @ UN |
| 12 |
| Third Global Conference on Oceans, Coasts and Islands (UNESCO) Location: HQ UN Sponsor: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) 23 Jan - 27Jan Sue Williams s.williams@unesco.org Phone No: +33 (0) 1 45 68 17 06 |
| 13 |
Rice, " the six-party talks is extremely important on North Korea and we both urge the North Koreans to come back to the talks without conditions" |
| Sec. of State |
| 14 |
| Carter said that although Hamas were "so-called terrorists," so far "there have been no complaints of corruption against [their] elected officials" also, the Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin's membership in the Irgun, "was also characterized as a terrorist organization." |
| Democrats |
| 15 |
| Sen. Ted Kennedy's (D-MA) office is behind a last ditch effort to stop Judge Samuel A. AlitoÕs confirmation before next week's vote using a 2004 recusal request? What would the effect of Iran Freedom and Support Act of 2005 be if passed? |
| Congress |
| 16 |
| The Homeland Security Department said it had no plans to raise the nation's terror threat-alert level and no reason to believe an attack was imminent. |
| NYC |
| 17 |
Rice will lobby in Europe for Iran United Nations referral until Jan 31. |
| AGENCIES & NGO |
| UN AGENCIES & NGO NEWS Dissemination |
| 18 |
| Ad Hoc Committee on a Comprehensive and Integral International Convention on Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities (7th session) (UNHQ New York, 16 January-3 February 2006) Committee on the Rights of the Child (41st session) (Geneva, Switzerland, 9-27 January 2006) |
| 19 |
| Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations, regular session New York 19 - 27 January |
| 20 |
| Persian is now the third most common language in the global village of blogs, according to Stanford researchers. "It is commonly hoped that the Internet will help save Iran from its theocratic rulers." TNR |
| 21 |
| At the Chinese government's request, Microsoft has silenced a well-known blogger (Zhoa Jing) in China for committing journalism after he criticized the government's firing of editors at a progressive newspaper. (NYT) |
| 22 |
On the evening of 24 Jan, the screening of the movie Fateless from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in the Dag Hammarskjöld Library Auditorium, based on the novel with the same name by Nobel Literature Laureate Imre Kertesz which follows a 14-year Jewish boy from Budapest to the Buchenwald concentration camp. |
| @ UN construction of electronic checkpoints |
| 23 |
| Next SG Search |
| 24 |
| SOUTH |
| 25 |
UN. Reports Lack of Data on Women in Poverty. The new report, "The World's Women, 2005: Progress in Statistics," is the first to comprehensively analyze which countries collect official statistics by sex and which do not, its authors says. |
| MDG results |
| 26 |
| To meet its future energy needs, Pakistan is looking to import gas from Iran via proposed pipeline, exploring the possibility of an under-sea gas pipeline from Qatar into Pakistan and on to India and looking into a pipeline from Turkmenistan, through Afghanistan into Pakistan and on to India. |
| 27 |
The website provides information on the latest inspection of each of New York City 's more than 20,000 restaurants. Information can also be sorted alphabetically and by borough, neighborhood, inspection score, and by those that have received a Golden Apple Award from the DOHMH, a sign of excellence in food safety. |
| 28 |
Jan 21, 2006 - Jan 24, 2006 National Variety Merchandise Show - Trade at Javitz Center. 'Darwin' is the most in-depth exhibition ever mounted on this highly original thinker, botanist, geologist and naturalist and his theory of evolution. |
| 29 |
| 30 |
What to see in Florida in January: Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom, MGM Studios, Universal Studios, Universal Islands of Adventure, Busch Gardens, SeaWorld and Kennedy Space Center. |
| Travel |
| 31 |
| ANNOUNCEMENTS -- Advisory |
| 32 |
"People are talking about Hillary and Condi and thinking why, if it can happen in Germany and Chile and Liberia, can't it happen in the United States?" said Yolanda Richardson, president of the Center for Development and Population Activities, a Washington-based nonprofit group that works to improve the lives of women and girls. |
| 33 |
| 34 |
The H5N1 avian influenza virus can survive for more than a month in bird droppings in cold weather and for nearly a week even in hot summer temperatures, the World Health Organization. |
| MD |
| 35 |
Centerpoint Now Weekly UN News Update available in print at the UN Headquarters in New York. |
| Myths & Facts MYTH: "Iran has no ambition to become a nuclear power and poses no threat to Israel or the United States." FACT: Iran has made no secret of its antipathy for Israel and the United States and has become one of the most serious threats to stability in the Middle East. In 1990, China signed a 10-year nuclear cooperation agreement that allowed Iranian nuclear engineers to obtain training in China. In addition, China has already built a nuclear research reactor in Iran that became operational in 1994. In 2002, Iran revealed that it had purchased special gas from China that could be used to enrich uranium for the production of nuclear weapons. Iran is a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which allows the peaceful pursuit of nuclear technology, including uranium mining and enrichment, under oversight by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The gas purchase was supposed to be reported to the IAEA, but it was concealed instead. Chinese experts have also been involved in the supervision of the installation of centrifuge equipment that can be used to enrich uranium. Further evidence of Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons was revealed in late 2003 and early 2004 when Pakistan's top nuclear scientist, Abdul Qadeer Khan, admitted he provided nuclear weapons expertise and equipment to Iran, as well as North Korea and Libya. The Iranian government, confronted in February 2004 with new evidence obtained from the secret network of nuclear suppliers surrounding Khan, acknowledged it had a design for a far more advanced high-speed centrifuge to enrich uranium than it previously revealed to the IAEA. This type of centrifuge would allow Iran to produce nuclear fuel far more quickly than the equipment that it reluctantly revealed to the agency in 2003. This revelation proved that Iran lied when it claimed to have turned over all the documents relating to their enrichment program. Source: Myths & Facts by Mitchell G. Bard |
| In a new attack on the existence of Israel, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has challenged Europe to take back the Jews who emigrated to Israel, adding that no Jews would remain in Israel if Europe were to open its doors. |
| The Citizens United Foundation's (www.citizensunited.org) explosive documentary details a litany of the U.N.'s failures to resolve human rights abuses, improve economic and social development and enhance world security. Entitled “Broken Promises The UN At 60,” depicts UN's flawed history of inefficiency, scandal and corruption. |
| Retroscreen Virology, a medical research institute subsidiary of Queen Mary College, University of London, announced Wednesday that a medical preparation, Sambucol, developed by Israeli company Razei Bar Industries (1996) Ltd., reduced the quantity of cells infected with the H5N1 strain of avian flu virus by 99%. |
Action Aid, "far too much aid is driven by geopolitical and commercial objectives rather than efforts to protect the rights of the poor people." |
| Books of The Times | 'Nuclear Showdown' Questions Without Answers: The Korean Conundrum by Gordon C. Chang |
Joint Meeting of the Executive Boards of UNDP/UNFPA, UNICEF and WFP |
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