UN Conference Addresses Maternal Mortality

The United Nations Population Fund this week is highlighting the problem of maternal mortality around the world. Of all the UN's development goals, the effort to reduce maternal mortality rates has seen the least progress in recent years. The lack of improvement is particularly striking in Central Asia, Afghanistan, Iran, and Iraq. More

Kurdistan Scandal Threatens Former U.S. Diplomat Galbraith

Deputy UN envoy to Afghanistan Peter Galbraith was dismissed from his mission earlier this month after accusing the top envoy there, Kai Eide, of concealing information about the extent of fraud in the country’s contested election. In a new twist, Galbraith himself is now at the center of a new apparent scandal. A Norwegian newspaper reported that Galbraith acquired shares in an Iraqi Kurdish oil field at a time when he was a leading diplomatic voice in the U.S. debate over the structure of post More

Iraqi Kurds Halt Oil Exports In Dispute With Baghdad

Iraq's largely autonomous Kurdish region has stopped exporting oil in a dispute with Baghdad. The regional government says that it will contribute no more oil to the Iraqi government's oil-export program until disagreements are resolved over who is responsible for paying foreign oil companies operating in the Kurdish region. More

Refugees Hide As Makeshift Camps Get Bulldozed

France plans to close makeshift camps housing hundreds of illegal migrants. The crackdown follows the bulldozing of a similar refugee camp in Greece. Rights activists say hundreds of refugees will now be forced to go into hiding or face jail and deportation. More