Homophobic bullying represents grave violation of human rights – Ban Homophobic bullying of young people constitutes a “grave violation of human rights,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today, urging States to take the necessary measures to protect their citizens from violence and discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity. “Bullying of this kind is not […]

UN-led campaign that planted 12 billion trees worldwide starts new phase A United Nations campaign that has overseen the planting of more than 12 billion trees around the world has been handed over to a youth-led environmental organization based in Germany that will build on the initiative’s achievements over the past four years. “More than […]

UNDP’s Match Against Poverty 2011 – Zinedine Zidane … … Football superstar Didier Drogba has joined a star-studded array of 30 international active and retired players who will take part in Tuesday’s Match Against Poverty, hosted by German team Hamburger Sport-Verein (HSV) in Hamburg, to raise awareness and funds for the Horn of Africa famine […]

Gaza: UN agency invites runners worldwide to take part in marathon Children run in a marathon organized by UNRWA in the Gaza Strip on 5 May 2011 International runners, from top athletes to weekend warriors, are being invited to enter next year’s marathon in the Gaza Strip, the United Nations-created race that made its debut this year. […]

Climate funding for poor countries should not add to their debt burden – UN expert Special Rapporteur on the effects of foreign debt on human rights, Cephas Lumina. UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferré Financing received through the proposed Green Climate Fund should not exacerbate developing countries’ debt burdens, an independent United Nations human rights expert said today, […]

Traumatic injury sets off a ‘genomic storm’ New research overturns longstanding assumption “Burn patients may take months to years to recover from their injuries, while trauma patients who are going to recover usually do so within a month. So it was entirely unexpected that gene expression patterns in burns and trauma patients changed in exactly […]

Time to fight back against ‘cancer’ of corruption – UN chief No country, region or community is immune to corruption, a serious crime that can undermine social and economic development in all societies Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is urging everyone to do their part to stamp out corruption, which afflicts all countries, undermining social progress and breeding […]

UN, Luxembourg partner to strengthen emergency telecoms A satellite dish, facing the East River, sits on the snow-covered grounds of UN Headquarters. The United Nations International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and Luxembourg today announced that they have agreed to cooperate on strengthening emergency telecommunications and rapid responses whenever natural disasters strike. ITU and Luxembourg are both members of […]

Food prices remain steady during November, UN agency reports Global food prices in November were virtually unchanged from October, and 10 per cent below their peak in February, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reported today. FAO’s Food Price Index level was 215 points last month – just two points, or one per cent, above […]

Researchers find best routes to self-assembling 3-D shapes Researchers at Brown and Johns Hopkins universities have found optimal configurations for creating 3-D geometric shapes — like tiny, highly simplified geodesic domes that assemble by themselves. The Brown team developed the algorithmic tools, and the Johns Hopkins team tested selected configurations. The research may lead to […]