United Nations

Interaction with cities around the world can help American mayors find solutions to urban problems ranging from homelessness to health care, said U.S. delegates to the U.N. Habitat II summit, which wound up its deliberations here Saturday. The two-week summit, which brought together representatives from 171 countries, adopted a declaration endorsing equal access to shelter, health care, food, water and education and urging special attention to groups such as women and the disabled.

Boutros Boutros-Ghali put forward his candidacy for a second term as secretary-general of the United Nations on Wednesday, but his chances were apparently demolished by the Clinton administration's decision to stop him--by veto, if necessary. "The United States is not supporting him," a senior administration official said. Asked if that meant a veto, the official replied, "Yes, if necessary. "The U.N. needs a leader who can make it more efficient and more cost-effective," he said. Although U.S.

Women who have been raped, suffered sexual violence or fear circumcision are entitled to refugee status if they leave their countries, the United Nations declared. The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees urged more countries to follow Canada and the United States in drafting guidelines recognizing a woman's right to international protection against "gender-based persecution."

They went into the competition with fewer students per committee. But Huntington Beach High School's team nonetheless recently won the best delegation award at the 12th annual Ivy League Model United Nations Conference in Philadelphia. "We were under the impression that there could only be a single student on each [Model UN] committee," said Lynn Aase, a teacher advisor for the Huntington Beach students.

Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali warned Wednesday that the United Nations' financial crisis, contrary to what doubters think, is so real and dangerous that he may have to start closing the organization down next summer if the United States and others refuse to pay what they owe. The U.S. failure to pay has induced many other countries to hold back, the secretary-general told reporters and editors in the Los Angeles Times' Washington Bureau.

Americans have grown increasingly paranoid. Spurred by last year's Oklahoma City bombing, many harbor elaborate fantasies of black helicopters and jack-booted shock troops of the "new world order" swooping down from the sky to rob them of their guns and liberty. At the heart of this evil lurks the United Nations, the vanguard of a conspiracy of East Coast elites, stealth agencies, the Federal Reserve and secretive international groups like the Trilateral Commission.

What another glorious party it was when the United Nations celebrated its 50th birthday last October, this from an organization that whatever its shortcomings knows how to lay out an elegant spread. The New York bash was sufficient to resurrect, if but for a few days, that shining aura that once curled round the world body much as the olive branches embrace the world on the U.N. flag. Turning 50, you need a boost like that. Six months later, the U.N.

The United States has ordered the expulsion of a Sudanese diplomat suspected of aiding terrorists who plotted to blow up the United Nations and assassinate Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. U.S. officials told Ahmed Yousif Mohamed, a second secretary at the Sudanese mission to the United Nations, on Tuesday that he had 48 hours to leave the country, James P. Rubin, a spokesman at the U.S. mission, said Wednesday. A U.S.

The federal Board of Immigration Appeals will conduct a hearing next month into the case of Fauziya Kasinga, a young women from Togo who is seeking asylum in the United States on grounds she has been threatened with genital mutilation in her African nation. The hearing had been set for Wednesday. Karen Musalo of American University, who is representing Kasinga, has argued that the United Nations considers this tribal ritual a human rights violation.