Applauding election turnout, UN envoy to Iraq calls for unity

The top United Nations envoy to Iraq today praised millions of Iraqis who voted in Sunday’s parliamentary elections in a call for political candidates and groups to respect the democratic process as counting got under way around the country.

UN dispatches relief aid to Uganda for victims of deadly mudslide disaster

United Nations aid agencies are continuing emergency relief efforts for thousands of victims of last week’s devastating mudslides in eastern Uganda, which has left at least 83 dead and authorities still unable to account for more than 300 others.

Today on New Scientist: 8 March 2010

All today’s stories from newscientist.com at a glance, including: the future of interrogation, solving the mystery of the high-carbon ice age, and why a planet is like a toaster

After polls close in Iraq, UN envoy calls for unity

The United Nations’ chief envoy to Iraq called on political candidates and groups to respect the democratic process as counting gets under way after yesterday’s vote in national parliamentary elections.

Chad: UN boosts efforts to tackle food insecurity

United Nations agencies are ramping up efforts to assist around 2 million Chadians who will require food aid this year because of poor rainfall and lean harvests, the world body said today.

Lack of funding hampers UN efforts to support drought-stricken Syrians

A huge shortfall in funding for life-saving emergency assistance to a drought-stricken region of Syria has forced the humanitarian arm of the United Nations to review its response plan for the population suffering under the three-year dry spell, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warned today.

ICC postpones trial of former Congolese leader charged with war crimes

The International Criminal Court (ICC) today announced it is pushing back the start date of the trial of a former senior official of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) who has been charged with war crimes.

Merkel backs IMF-style fund for eurozone

More news on the eurozone front this weekend as we learned that France and Germany are preparing plans for an IMF-style European Monetary Fund (EMF). German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble has said he will “present proposals soon” for a new eurozone institution that has “comparable powers of intervention” to the International Monetary Fund.

Schäuble has today received backing from his Chancellor, Angela Merkel, who said, the EU’s current tools “are not sufficient.” She added, “The European Union must be able to respond to the challenges of the moment” and if establishing an EMF required revising the EU treaties it would be a price worth paying becasue “we’re saying we want to solve our problems ourselves.”

However, it seems that the German government may meet strong resistance from the German political and economic establishment. Juergen Stark, a German Executive Board Member at the European Central Bank, has chosen to write in tomorrow’s edition of Handelsblatt that “Such a mechanism would not be compatible with the principles of the monetary union”. He has also warned that “public acceptance of the euro and the European Union would be undermined.”

Stark’s column argues that establishing an EMF would risk over-politicisation and further increase the eurozone’s susceptibility to ‘moral hazard’ or free-riding from certain member states. “Countries which have not abided by the rules, which profit unilaterally from the euro, without taking their duties seriously, should not be rewarded,” he writes.

Given Merkel’s obvious unwillingness to sign up to any Greek bailout, such public support for the EMF proposal is a little surprising. Given that Germany would be the biggest contributor to such a fund, surely it amounts to a very similar thing: a German guarantee for the eurozone.

Certainly one to watch…

Secretary-General hopes Moscow meeting will spur direct Israeli-Palestinian talks

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today he hopes the upcoming meeting in the Russian capital of the diplomatic group supporting the Middle East peace process will lead to direct negotiations between the Israelis and the Palestinians.

Swiss vote to reject animal lawyers

The Swiss have voted to reject a proposal that would have allowed animals to be represented in court by state-funded lawyers, says Shanta Barley