International

UN Security Council members have agreed on a new round of sanctions in response to North Korea’s recent nuclear test and missile launches. The new measures include asking countries to inspect North Korean vessels carrying suspicious cargo and requiring them to deny the vessels fuel. The US ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, praised the agreement.

Mikhail Gorbachev, the Soviet Union’s last communist general secretary, called for a new American “revolution” — also calling it a “perestroika,” or government restructuring — in an editorial published Wednesday in The Sydney Morning Herald .

Spokespersons from the Humanist Movement have planned protests in front of Peruvian embassies to condemn violent tactics used against the Amazon people after the massacre of indigenous people in Bagua brought on by the actions of the Peruvian government.

Last Wednesday, the Russian Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, assured that his country would be willing to renounce nuclear weapons if the United States does so.

The White House said Monday that Obama and Netanyahu had “constructive” talks by phone ahead of the prime minister’s speech on the Middle East peace process next week.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper joined Obama at Saturday’s ceremony held under bright skies—a stark contrast to the winds and rain that marked D-Day.

Tabaré Vazquez is the fifth Latin-American President to promote the campaign of the World March for Peace and Nonviolence, following his peers in Chile, Bolivia, Ecuador and Argentina.

A new study by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute has found global military spending rose four percent last year to a record $1.46 trillion despite the global financial crisis.

Global Peace Index gives top ranking to New Zealand, the launching site of the 95-nation peace march.

A few days after endorsing the World March for Peace and Nonviolence, Ecuador’s president, Rafael Correa, informs the whole country of his decision to support the initiative for nuclear disarmament.