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- Ban delivers message, gets muted response in Myanmar
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon delivered a strong reform message but left Myanmar on Sunday with few assurances the ruling military junta plans to follow through. Junta leaders refused Ban's request to meet with imprisoned Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and rebuffed his calls to release political prisoners, doing little to ease concerns that upcoming elections will be free or fair. The New York Times (7/4) , TIME (7/5)  - Report: G-8 to launch agriculture development initiative
The G-8 will pledge more than $12 billion to fund agricultural programs during the next three years to launch a food security initiative when it meets this week, according to reports on a draft declaration. The move reflects a growing shift from providing food aid in favor of promoting long-term development, the report says. AlertNet.org/Reuters (7/6) - Haiti overcomes the odds in HIV/AIDS battle
Early closures of private blood banks, massive public education programs and services tailored to local populations by innovative aid groups beginning in the 1980s have helped Haiti fight off the worst predictions on the spread of HIV/AIDS despite the country's perennial instability. While infection levels have stayed in the single digits, poverty and the continued use of voodoo priests continue to pose challenges. Yahoo!/The Associated Press (7/6) - UN, groups warn global recession increasing hunger, deaths
Ninety million more people now face extreme hunger as a result of the global recession and any further aid reductions risk promoting more death and disease in developing countries, the United Nations says in its annual progress report. Several aid groups also published reports warning of increases in deaths from preventable diseases as a direct result diminishing aid budgets. AlertNet.org/Reuters (7/6) Top five news stories selected by UN Wire readers in the past week. - Results based on number of times each story was clicked by readers.
- Body of "headscarf martyr" returned to Egypt
The body of Marwa Sherbini, who was killed in a German courtroom by the man she was suing for insulting her religion, was returned to her native home of Egypt, where she is being greeted by some as a martyr. Sherbini had sued "Axel W" -- who is in a Dresden jail -- for insulting her Hijab. BBC (7/6) - Obama, Medvedev affirm new arms control agreement
U.S. President Barack Obama met with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to discuss nuclear arms control and reached a preliminary agreement to cut nuclear stockpiles. The agreement commits Russia and the U.S. to new caps on their nuclear arsenal as they write a new arms control treaty -- the first step toward global nuclear disarmament and a replacement for the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which expires in December. The New York Times (7/6) - 156 reported dead in Uighur riots in China
Scores of Han Chinese and Uighurs living in China's Xinjiang province died in clashes in what is being characterized as the deadliest civil unrest China in decades. Information is being tightly controlled by China's state-run media, which describes the violence as having been instigated at the behest of a Uighur ethnic group. The Wall Street Journal (7/6) , BBC (7/6) - North Korea tests seven missiles on Fourth of July
In firing seven missiles off its east coast on a day the U.S. celebrates its anniversary, North Korea sent a provocative message that some analysts interpret as an effort to discourage the deployment of new missile defenses. The redundancy of seven missiles in a single test suggests a saturation point that could overwhelm a missile defense shield. The Washington Post (7/5) - Iran clerics express support for election challenge
A group of prominent clerics in the religious center of Qum assailed the country's disputed elections Saturday and branded the new government illegitimate in the most public evidence of a split among Iranian religious leaders. While the clerics' announcement might not change the election results, it marks the first real open challenge to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's leadership. The New York Times (7/4) - Revolutionary Guard takes control
Iran's Revolutionary Guard announced it had taken control of the country's security apparatus and it would tolerate nothing less than full support of Iranians in the ongoing dispute over the legitimacy of recent elections. Los Angeles Times (7/6) - Suicide attack on Pakistan nuclear personnel raises fears
A suicide attack on scientists working for nuclear labs has many Pakistanis wondering about the government's ability to maintain security for the country's nuclear arsenal as it continues to fight off the Taliban and al-Qaida. The continued security of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal remains a major international concern. The New York Times (7/4) - Afghans cautiously optimistic over U.S. strategy shift
 A pronounced shift in U.S. tactics in Afghanistan to minimize civilian casualties and insert a prolonged military presence in villages is winning cautious support from Afghans. U.S. officials hope the new strategy will promote long-term stability and the time necessary to turn over security operations to Afghan forces. TIME (7/5) - Former U.S. Defense Secretary McNamara dead at 93
Former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, who oversaw the war in Vietnam as well as the Bay of Pigs fiasco, died at age 93, having spent much of his final years regretting his role in the escalation of the Vietnam conflict. As the president of the World Bank after his departure from U.S. government, McNamara worked to improve conditions in rural communities in developing nations. BBC (7/6)
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