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This photo is one of many in the World Press Photo Contest of 2012. Straight out of Orwell's "1984". It shows a picture of North Korea's founder, Kim Il-sung, decorating a building in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang.

NIKE has pulled a pair of leggings after the design was criticized for being racist. The monochrome print, which features on the label's Pro Tattoo Tech Tights, has caused controversy in Australia and New Zealand for its similarity to the traditional Samoan Pe'a male tattoo.

(Reuters) - A sewage backup caused a big stink at the United Nations on Tuesday, forcing diplomats and their staff to evacuate the Security Council and General Assembly. Spokesman Farhan Haq said the evacuation was a precautionary measure after a strange smell was noticed in parts of the U.N. secretariat building. He said the odor was due to sewage backup possibly caused by high tides in the nearby East River. "There were gases released from the sewage but they're not harmful," Haq said. Firefighters and hazardous materials experts had been called to the scene. U.N. management officials were working to...

WikiLeaks sparks push for tighter controls. The United Nations is considering whether to set up an inter-governmental working group to harmonise global efforts by policy makers to regulate the internet. Establishment of such a group has the backing of several countries, spearheaded by Brazil. At a meeting in New York on Wednesday, representatives from Brazil called for an international body made up of Government representatives that would to attempt to create global standards for policing the internet - specifically in reaction to challenges such as WikiLeaks.

Global talks on climate change resume in the Mexican resort of Cancun on Monday. The 12-day meeting climaxes an 11-month effort to focus global attention on the environment after last December's failure in Copenhagen. Video courtesy of AFP.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - New York City's bedbug epidemic has spread to yet another landmark in the city that never sleeps -- the United Nations, officials at the world organization said on Wednesday. The pests appeared at places like the Empire State Building and Bloomingdale's before reaching the city's center of international diplomacy on the East Side of Manhattan. The U.N. press office said a bedbug-sniffing dog had confirmed the presence of bedbugs in furniture in the basement of the Dag Hammarskjold Library, where the offices of the team overseeing the U.N. headquarter's $1.9 billion renovation project are housed.

12:35 Mr Gaddafi has just wrapped up his unscripted 94-minute rant, having thrown the General Assembly session into confusion. He got absolutely no applause. Delegates just sat stunned. ... 12:21 Mr Gaddafi has thrown the UN session into disarray. He has now been speaking for 100-odd minutes and seems just to be warming up. He was supposed to speak only 15 minutes. Some UN journalists are now betting he will run on for a Fidel Castro-like seven hours. Of course, the General Assembly president has not got the heart to stop him. Perhaps because the General Assembly president is Ali...

President Obama made his first address to the U.N. General Assembly today. He had them at hello. Even his opening -- "It is my honor to address you as the 44th president of the United States" -- got a round of applause. The reason? The latest Pew Global Attitudes Survey of 21 countries found global confidence in Obama’s leadership on foreign affairs at 71% -- far higher than approval ratings at home (in the low 50% range) and even more striking matched against world opinion of George W. Bush last year, which Pew tracked at 17%. To Nile Gardiner of...

President Obama made his first address to the U.N. General Assembly today. He had them at hello. Even his opening -- "It is my honor to address you as the 44th president of the United States" -- got a round of applause. The reason? The latest Pew Global Attitudes Survey of 21 countries found global confidence in Obama’s leadership on foreign affairs at 71% -- far higher than approval ratings at home (in the low 50% range) and even more striking matched against world opinion of George W. Bush last year, which Pew tracked at 17%.

The United Nations, which aspires to protect human rights around the world, is struggling to deal with an embarrassing string of sexual-harassment complaints within its own ranks. Many U.N. workers who have made or faced accusations of sexual harassment say the current system for handling complaints is arbitrary, unfair and mired in bureaucracy. One employee's complaint that she was sexually harassed for years by her supervisor in Gaza, for example, was investigated by one of her boss's colleagues, who cleared him.

Have you ever watched an infomercial or seen an item in a department store and thought "I could have thought of that!" Have you wished you had invested money early in a blockbuster invention? Learn the stories behind some (seemingly) ridiculous ideas that have made inventors and investors very wealthy, and find out what you, as a potential investor, should look for and consider before putting up capital for a potential funding opportunity. The Koosh Ball You've may have never heard of Scott Stillinger but somewhere in your home or office you probably have one of his inventions – the...

Obama backs the U.N. and their agenda and guidelines on dictating to all children's rights and how to raise our children. Click Here

WASHINGTON, (AP) -- The State Department says the United States will seek election to the U.N. Human Rights Council, the Obama administration's latest reversal of President George W. Bush's foreign policies. The department says the Obama administration wants to participate in the council's activities as part of a new era of U.S. engagement with the world.

This afternoon at 3:00 (EDT), Representative Pete Hoekstra (MI) and Senator Jim DeMint (SC) will hold a joint press conference at Upper Senate Park, next to the Russell Office Building in Washington, D.C., to announce the introduction of the Parental Rights Amendment in both houses of Congress. Perhaps you will be able to catch a glimpse of it this evening on the national news! Introducing the Amendment, of course, is only the beginning – and now the clock is ticking. Today’s announcement will no doubt get the attention of opponents to the Amendment, and we will have to stay ahead...

Of all this week's news, this is the only life-changing thing I've seen: "Somali Muslims Changing Small Town" (direct) From the (mainly sympathetic) article: Immigrants are chosen from UN refugee camps. The selected refugees then undergo a few days of cultural orientation and are soon on their way to America. Like me, you probably assumed that the one redeeming feature of such "refugees" was that at least they possessed the industriousness to try and make it to America; that at least they had enough of a personal desire to come to America, to try and get to America by themselves....

She is eight years old, loves to care for people and animals, wants to be a doctor when she grows up and is learning to read and write in her free time - that is, till her "customers" arrive. As this IANS correspondent entered a room at the infamous red light area of Kalighat in south Kolkata, she was greeted by a smiling child who offered a glass of cold water and two pieces of 'sandesh' (sweets). "Please sit... it's 10.15 a.m... no one will disturb us at least till 1 p.m. But after that my customers may land up,"...

The tinpot dictators who dominate the so-called UN Human Rights Council are at it again -- squawking about "defamation of religion" in a seedy attempt to undermine freedom of expression. If this band of political bandits has its way, criticism of religious dogma would be virtually banned as an affront to human dignity. Curiously, only Islam is specifically mentioned in the draft resolution, released by UN Watch last week. Could this have anything to do with the fact that there are so many Muslim countries on the Human Rights Council? Want a laugh? The resolution includes the usual remarks about...

The United States will not attend a United Nations conference on racism that critics say will be a forum to criticize Israel and will no longer attend planning sessions for it, a U.S. official said on Friday. "We will not attend," the official said. A U.S. delegation attended consultations earlier this month on the World Conference Against Racism, scheduled for April in Geneva, Switzerland, although Israel has called for a boycott and Canada has said it will not attend.

Gaddafi, addressing a meeting on ways to expand cooperation between the United Nations and African Union, urged the Court to stop its proceedings against Bashir: "Why do we have to hold President Bashir or the Sudanese government responsible when the Darfur problem was caused by outside parties, and Tel Aviv [Israel], for example, is behind the Darfur crisis?"

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE NEW WORLD DISORDER United Nations' threat: No more parental rights Expert: Pact would ban spankings, homeschooling if children object -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted: February 05, 2009 12:00 am Eastern By Chelsea Schilling © 2009 WorldNetDaily A United Nations human rights treaty that could prohibit children from being spanked or homeschooled, ban youngsters from facing the death penalty and forbid parents from deciding their families' religion is on America's doorstep, a legal expert warns. Michael Farris of Purcellville, Va., is president of ParentalRights.org, chairman of the Home School Legal Defense Association and chancellor of Patrick Henry College. He told WND that...