About four months after his father's death, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un tried to assert his country's position as a force to be reckoned with by launching a long-range rocket. But the rocket failed, breaking up during the launch, and the NY Times called it "a $1 billion humiliation." more ›

Police say that a 21-year-old either fell or jumped to her death at a high-rise apartment building near the United Nations last night. According to the Daily News, "The woman's body was found mangled on the pavement in front of 100 United Nations Plaza on the corner of E. 48th St. and First Ave. around 11:40 p.m., police and witnesses said." more ›

The slow march towards filling in the Greenway Gap on the East Side achieved an important milestone yesterday with a Memorandum of Understanding between the city and the U.N., which will allow cyclists, pedestrians and park-goers in general access to the waterfront between East 38th and East 60th Streets—while at the same time allowing the center of world politics to expand its campus with a new office tower. It is a win-win situation for everybody—especially for the man on the bike who's a terrorist. more ›

The U.N. makes us think of lots of things (diplomats, platitudes, architecture), but physical altercations are not normally one of them. And yet now video has surfaced from last week's General Assembly showing an all-out, eh, scuffle inside the U.N. which seems to have started when Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was shoved by a United Nations security Guard. more ›

Oh, United Nations diplomats with their fancy cars! We know they are awesome at racking up millions in unpaid parking tickets, but did you know that sometimes their drivers leave $100,000 Mercedes Benz S550 sedans double-parked and idling on streets as they duck into bodegas for snacks? more ›

Iranian president and clown-of-the-century nominee Mahmoud Ahmadinejad made his sober annual sojourn to speak at the United Nations today. In previous years, half the delegates have walked out after Ahmadinejad railed against Jews, America, and rational thinking—but things were truly different exactly the same this year. Ahmadinejad gave his usual dumb speech filled with anti-Semitic conspiratorial BS, and delegates from the U.S., France, Germany, the United Kingdom and nearly a dozen other countries all walked out in disgust. You can watch his entire "argle-bargle" speech at the bottom, if you so wish. more ›

A year ago, President Obama pushed the UN to reach an agreement that would create a soverign Palestinian state. Now, with Israel digging in against any such accord and Palestinians upset that the US has refused to support their bid for independence, Obama was forced to tread lightly and speak in sweeping generalities in today's speech [pdf] to the General Assembly. After acknowledging that he still supports an independent Palestine Obama said, "Ultimately, it is Israelis and Palestinians who must live side by side...It is Israelis and Palestinians—not us—who must reach agreement on the issues that divide them." more ›

A week before it formally asks the United Nations for statehood, the Palestinian delegation is getting ready with some carbo-loading. According to the Post, they "had a late-night feast of expensive wine and heaping platters of pasta at Cipriani Downtown... The officials entered the swank eatery on West Broadway in TriBeCa at about 11:30 p.m. Friday and were seated at the large table in the back." more ›

Yesterday, a NATO missile strike reportedly killed one of Libyan leader Moammer Gadhafi's sons. The Libyan government said Saif al-Arab Gadhafi, as well as three of Col Gaddafi's grandchildren, died in the attack on a villa in Tripoli. The NY Times calls this "the sharpest intensification yet of the NATO air campaign intended to pressure the Libyan leader from power." However, Al Jazeera reports there's "growing scepticism" over whether Saif al-Arab Gadhafi was killed. more ›

Artist-turned-director Julian Schnabel latest film, Miral, based on Rula Jebreal's novel about growing up as an orphaned Palestinian girl after the Arab-Israeli conflict, premiered earlier this week at the United Nations, in spite of the American Jewish Committee's attempt to shut it down. The AJC believed the movie's goal was to portray Israel in a "negative light," leading the film's distributor Harvey Weinstein and Schnabel, who are both Jewish, to encourage protesters to see the movie first; Schnabel also said, "I love the State of Israel. I believe in it, and my film is about preserving it, not hurting it. Understanding is part of the Jewish way and Jewish people are supposed to be good listeners. But, if we don’t listen to the other side, we can never have peace." more ›

As violence continues to escalate in Libya, with protesters revolting against the government and the government allegedly using "aviation assets" to fire on them, the NY Times reports, "Members of Libya’s mission to the United Nations publicly repudiated Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi on Monday, calling him a genocidal war criminal responsible for mass shootings of demonstrators protesting against his four decades in power. They called upon him to resign." more ›

Starting at 1 p.m., protesters organized by the Alliance of Egyptian Americans and Activists are set to hold another demonstration outside the United Nations. Yesterday, hundreds rallied in Times Square, and protesters hope the momentum will continue and inspire President Hosni Mubarak to step down. One protester told NY1, "Thirty is more than enough for someone and he's only been taking the Egyptian people and making them poorer and more fearful." more ›

While the Secretariat building of the United Nations has been undergoing renovations, the UN Security Council has been meeting in the basement. And unfortunately, basement means sewage pipes and a broken sewage pipe meant that the world leaders were temporarily forced to smell something totally gross. The diplomats and 150 school kids at the UN for a Security Council meeting were evacuated because of a "disruption in the basement sewage system caused by a high tide on the adjacent East River." more ›

The building where the UN Security Council and the General Assembly were scheduled to meet today was evacuated due to a "suspicious odor." UN officials initially said the smell was caused by a gas leak in the basement, but wire reports say "it's a sewer line." At least it's not bedbugs this time! The meeting is currently being moved to the North Lawn building. more ›

What did we tell you about that takeover? New York City sufficiently terrified, bedbugs have moved on to taking down international leaders. The Post reports that the United Nations has seen bedbugs on "most of the floors in one of the complex’s buildings", and though the building was fumigated, "dogs had detected bedbugs in the CMP conference room chairs," according to their briefing yesterday. The United Nations plans to hold a deliberation on whether or not to issue sanctions on the bugs' biting habits, at which point they will write them a letter, politely asking them to stop. more ›

Did you know that the United Nations has a specific office dedicated to the "peaceful use" of outer space? Not only is the Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) real—they're set to appoint the first Earth ambassador to aliens. And she shall be our Jodie Foster! more ›

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad might be wearing out his 9/11-was-a-government-conspiracy shtick a bit, but not for a lack of some serious, inappropriate rhetorical questioning. After making his annual "don't-take-me-seriously" speech at the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday, he held a press conference yesterday calling on the U.N. to form a committee to get to the bottom of 9/11 once and for all: "Don't you feel that the time has come to have a fact finding committee?" more ›

There's already been one major incident connected peripherally to the U.N. Summit which just ended this afternoon. But there was almost a second one last night when delegates from the Sudan refused to go through metal detectors at an East Side hotel. They were heading to Iranian delegations' party at the Tudor Hotel when the scuffle occurred between the delegates and NYPD, the details of which remain cloaked in mystery, as do most things with diplomats. One person was taken into custody, but released after "it was determined" he had diplomatic status. We would have paid whatever amount to have gotten into that party, just to do one keg stand with our favorite 9/11-conspiracy theorist, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. more ›

Today, President Obama addressed the United Nations General Assembly with remarks about a number of issues, but there was particular focus on peace in the Middle East and Iran's nuclear proliferation. He said, " Those of us who are friends of Israel must understand that true security for the Jewish state requires an independent Palestine -- one that allows the Palestinian people to live with dignity and opportunity. And those of us who are friends of the Palestinians must understand that the rights of the Palestinian people will be won only through peaceful means -- including genuine reconciliation with a secure Israel." more ›

Ah, it's that time of the year when kids are back in school, days become darker earlier, and traffic is a complete mess on the East Side of Manhattan—yes, it's United Nations General Assembly time. With leaders from around the world in town to talk about global goals (or just arouse controversy), there's a heightened police presence and many street closures (see below). Also, if you're anywhere near Dag Hammarskjold Plaza—or a hotel where a world leader is staying...or most anywhere else—expect to see many protests. more ›

Tucked inside a story about how the NYPD thinks the UN is woefully unprepared for a terrorist attack is this little fact about the perks of living outside of city jurisdiction. Though smoking is banned in most UN office buildings (like that firetrap, the Secretariat), it is allowed in the corridors! It's so the French can continue to look cool on American soil, right? With regards to those security measures, the UN is refusing to make the necessary changes to prevent a terrorist attack, preferring to fight back by giving the terrorists emphysema. more ›

Lt. Colonel Vincent Nyakarundi, the first ever Rwandan Military Attache to the UN, showed a thief that just because Nyakarundi was sitting in a Mercedes Benz doesn't mean he can be messed with. Nyakarundi was sitting in the back seat of his car on 2nd Avenue and 45th Street on Friday while his driver was getting coffee, when a man holding a gun under a cloth demanded his belongings. Nyakarundi told the Post, "At the beginning, I thought he was joking. And when he started counting, I knew it was serious. That's when he took all my belongings." more ›