http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/?service=Rss http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/give-money-to-hungry-not-banks-says-un-food-chief-1823228.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/give-money-to-hungry-not-banks-says-un-food-chief-1823228.html <p>The director of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation has questioned how world powers could put so much money into fighting the financial crisis and not feed the one billion hungry. </p> World Politics Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/obama-bends-knee-to-chinese-might-1822421.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/obama-bends-knee-to-chinese-might-1822421.html ]]> <p>America used to take pride in speaking softly and carrying a big stick, but in China Barack Obama has had to speak softly and keep any stick he might feel like flourishing well out of sight. </p> World Politics Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/britain-ready-to-send-more-troops-to-afghanistan-1822098.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/britain-ready-to-send-more-troops-to-afghanistan-1822098.html <p> Allied troops must stay in Afghanistan to prevent the Taliban filling any "vacuum", the Foreign Secretary said today. </p> World Politics Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:09:11 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/greens-urge-tuna-ban-1821737.html http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/greens-urge-tuna-ban-1821737.html <p>Environmentalists called for a global ban on the trade in Atlantic bluefin tuna, after the body responsible for managing stocks cut quotas but did not suspend fishing of the threatened species. </p> Nature Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/the-40-million-children-who-just-didnt-exist-1820969.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/the-40-million-children-who-just-didnt-exist-1820969.html ]]> <p>This is a story about a project which found 40 million children who didn't officially exist. A campaign that, over four years and across three continents and 32 countries, has helped to protect hundreds of thousands of children in danger of being trafficked, and girls as young as 12 being forced into illegal marriages – and it is now also saving untold numbers of unborn girls from being aborted because they are the "wrong sex". It is that very rare thing: a global good news story.</p> World Politics Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/americas-first-pacific-president-woos-china-north-korea-and-burma-1820975.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/americas-first-pacific-president-woos-china-north-korea-and-burma-1820975.html ]]> <p>US President Barack Obama pledged yesterday, in the first major speech of his extensive Asia tour, to deepen dialogue with China rather than seek to contain the rising power. Calling himself "America's first Pacific president", the Hawaian-born Mr Obama reaffirmed Washington's decades-old alliance with Japan, its most important ally in the region.</p> Asia Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/iiosi-graphic-un-child-report-1820978.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/iiosi-graphic-un-child-report-1820978.html World Politics Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/iiosi-graphic-where-to-find-the-worlds-missing-people-1820977.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/iiosi-graphic-where-to-find-the-worlds-missing-people-1820977.html World Politics Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/karzai-told-to-talk-with-the-taliban-1820547.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/karzai-told-to-talk-with-the-taliban-1820547.html <p>The British Government has suggested that the government of Hamid Karzai should talk to the Taliban leadership, the so-called "Quetta Shura", in an attempt to bring insurgents into the political process.</p> Asia Sat, 14 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/suicide-attack-piles-pressure-on-obama-and-brown-1820548.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/suicide-attack-piles-pressure-on-obama-and-brown-1820548.html ]]> <p>Barack Obama declared yesterday that his long-awaited decision on sending reinforcements to Afghanistan would come soon. But as the US President was declaring his determination on "getting this right", the Taliban issued a bloody reminder of the stakes in Kabul, carrying out a suicide attack on a US convoy in the Afghan capital.</p> Asia Sat, 14 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/us-indecision-annoys-british-government-1819911.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/us-indecision-annoys-british-government-1819911.html <p>British ministers and military chiefs fear that wrangling in the US over the deployment of extra troops risks undermining support for the war in Britain. They are irritated and angry over the delay in obtaining a decision amid signs that President Obama's administration is deeply split over the issue.</p> World Politics Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/north-and-south-korea-clash-on-the-high-seas-1818229.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/north-and-south-korea-clash-on-the-high-seas-1818229.html ]]> <p>A badly damaged North Korean patrol ship retreated in flames yesterday after a skirmish with a South Korean vessel – the first naval clash between the two nations in seven years.</p> Asia Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/britain-rules-out-climate-treaty-at-summit-1815728.html http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/britain-rules-out-climate-treaty-at-summit-1815728.html ]]> <p>British Government officials believe there is no hope of signing a legally binding climate change treaty in Copenhagen next month. </p> Climate Change Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/frustration-mounts-over-obamas-fatal-indecision-1815732.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/frustration-mounts-over-obamas-fatal-indecision-1815732.html ]]> <p>Barack Obama is coming under mounting international pressure to make an early decision on his strategy in Afghanistan amid fears of a dangerous drift as he agonises over his next moves.</p> Asia Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/un-to-pull-its-staff-out-of-afghanistan-1815735.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/un-to-pull-its-staff-out-of-afghanistan-1815735.html <p>The United Nations is to evacuate hundreds of its foreign staff from Afghanistan because of spiralling violence, warning that it may permanently withdraw from the country unless the security situation improves. In a move which will add to the sense of foreboding caused by insurgent attacks and political crisis, the organisation said that 600 of its 1,100 international employees would be moved abroad or to safer internal locations.</p> Asia Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/fifty-un-peacekeepers-punished-for-sex-abuses-1815403.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/fifty-un-peacekeepers-punished-for-sex-abuses-1815403.html <p> At least 50 peacekeepers have received punishments ranging from reduction in military rank to eight months imprisonment for committing sexual abuses on United Nations missions since 2007, the UN said today. </p> World Politics Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:36:28 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/un-chief-defends-dismissal-of-official-1814196.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/un-chief-defends-dismissal-of-official-1814196.html ]]> <p>Ban Ki-moon, the secretary general of the United Nations, has defended his sacking of a top UN official who accused the organisation of turning a blind eye to fraud in the Afghan elections. Mr Ban denied that the UN's handling of the poll had tainted its credibility and advised Abdullah Abdullah, the defeated presidential challenger, to "let bygones be bygones".</p> Asia Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/sworn-enemies-across-the-disarmament-table-1807652.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/sworn-enemies-across-the-disarmament-table-1807652.html ]]> <p>Bitter enemies Iran and Israel, whose normal discourse is that of threat and counter-threat, engaged in a rare face-to-face exchange of views at a nuclear disarmament conference in Cairo, Israeli media reported yesterday.</p> Middle East Fri, 23 Oct 2009 00:00:01 +0100