MSN (October 10)
“It’s more critical than ever to construct cost-efficient housing quickly since the UN predicts that by 2030, almost 100,000 homes will need to be built daily to keep up with population growth. In less than eight years, the organization expects three billion people to need housing, which makes the concept of inflated homes even more necessary.”
Tags: 2030, Built, Construct, Cost-efficient, Critical, Homes, Housing, Inflated homes, Population growth, UN
BBC (January 18)
“The United Nations has identified three existential environmental threats – climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution – and concluded that they must be addressed together” through multilateral agreements. Now “more than 100 countries, including the UK” appear to support a dedicated plastics treaty that may be “proposed at the next UN Environment Assembly in February and March.”
Tags: Biodiversity, Climate change, Environmental, Existential, Multilateral agreements, Pollution, Support, Threats, UK, UN
The Guardian (January 8)
“The former Nissan boss is right to point the finger at a legal system that the UN has described as ‘medieval.’” While he may not be a sympathetic character, Carlos Ghosn’s “allegations are not far-fetched” to “anyone familiar with the Japanese justice system.”
Tags: Allegations, Ghosn, Japan, Legal system, Medieval, Nissan, Right, UN
The Economist (March 9)
Interest in Africa is booming. “Outsiders have noticed that the continent is important and becoming more so, not least because of its growing share of the global population (by 2025 the UN predicts that there will be more Africans than Chinese people). Governments and businesses from all around the world are rushing to strengthen diplomatic, strategic and commercial ties. This creates vast opportunities. If Africa handles the new scramble wisely, the main winners will be Africans themselves.”
Tags: Africa, Booming, Businesses, China, Diplomatic, Governments, Population, Strategic, UN
Washington Post (September 25)
“Trump’s speech was funny, in a way: a kind of rhetorical blitzkrieg. Trump spoke as though he had accepted a dare to see how much of the world he could offend in the span of a 35-minute address. It felt as though Triumph the Insult Comic Dog had been unleashed in the General Assembly.”
New York Times (September 20)
“The United Nations isn’t the venue one would expect for threatening war. Yet that’s what President Trump did in his first address to the General Assembly.” His “dark tone and focus seemed a significant deviation, not least his relentlessly bellicose approach to North Korea,” in front of a “world body whose main purpose is the peaceful resolution of disputes.”
Tags: Bellicose, Disputes, General Assembly, North Korea, Peaceful, Resolution, Threatening, Tone, Trump, UN, War
US News & World Report (September 12)
Putin’s proposal to put U.N. Peacekeepers in Ukraine “seems to be a win-win for Moscow – even if it fails.” Whether it will be a “path to peace” remains to be seen and skeptics believe the Russian president is again scheming at something.
The Economist (April 15)
“Despite an influx of 1.2m refugees over the past two years, Germany’s population faces near-irreversible decline. According to predictions from the UN in 2015, two in five Germans will be over 60 by 2050 and Europe’s oldest country will have shrunk to 75m from 82m.”
New York Times (August 22)
“A string of recent scandals has shown that the United Nations has been unwilling to police itself, learn from its errors, correct course and make amends. When a new secretary general takes over next year, she or he should make it a priority to revamp the organization’s oversight entities and create a culture of accountability.”
Tags: Accountability, Culture, Errors, Oversight, Scandals, Secretary general, UN
Financial Times (March 8)
“The tough UN sanctions to be imposed on North Korea, the result of an accord reached by the US and China, go well beyond previous efforts. Yet if the goal is to change Pyongyang’s behaviour, they will not be enough.”
