Pakistan: Pak critical to peace talks in Afghanistan as it’s Taliban’s hub: Karzai | Firstpost

Pak critical to peace talks in Afghanistan as it’s Taliban’s hub: Karzai | Firstpost:

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Facebook Makes Peace With Greenpeace - Hardware - Data centers - Informationweek

Facebook Makes Peace With Greenpeace - Hardware - Data centers - Informationweek: "Greenpeace in April rated Facebook's data the second dirtiest in a group of IT companies that also included Akamai, Amazon.com, Apple, Google, HP, IBM, Microsoft, Twitter, and Yahoo. Apple's energy usage was deemed to be the most reliant on coal (the source of 54.5% company energy usage) and Facebook followed, with 53.2% of its energy coming from coal. Yahoo fared best in the report, with only 18.3% of its energy usage supported by coal.
Faced with the objections of some 700,000 Facebook users, not to mention petitions, videos, and even an airship above its headquarters promoting renewable energy sources, Facebook has agreed to collaborate with Greenpeace. The social utility, as Facebook refers to itself, will be giving serious thought to how it uses electric utilities."

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UN chief, Security Council urge Cypriot rivals to accelerate peace talks - The Washington Post

UN chief, Security Council urge Cypriot rivals to accelerate peace talks - The Washington Post: "In a resolution extending the U.N. peacekeeping force in Cyprus until July 19, 2012, the Security Council also called on Cypriot President Dimitris Christofias and Turkish Cypriot leader Dervis Eroglu to intensify the momentum of negotiations and try to resolve key outstanding issues before the meeting.

Ban noted that Cyprus takes over the EU presidency in July 2012 and will be heavily involved in other European issues, “so the window of our opportunities for further progress in negotiation is very much limited.”"

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Syria: Death toll mounts as the international community stalls over what to do with Bashar al-Assad

"The United Nations' human rights commissioner says that more than 5,000 people have now been killed by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. That number, which includes civilians, army defectors, and soldiers executed for refusing to follow orders, comes as clashes between Syrian security forces and civilian protesters continue to claim casualties today, with at least 11 killed and 26 wounded in a fight in the city of Iblis. The 5,000 is also a sharp revision from the 4,000 offered just last week by Navi Pillay, the rights commissioner, suggesting that violence in the Middle Eastern country is only ramping up nine months into the uprising. The Syrian government says an additional 1,100 soldiers, police, and other regime members have been killed in the clashes. Pillay has urged the UN Security Council to issue war crimes warrants against Assad and his regime, but the council has been reluctant to pass harsh measures against Assad due to opposition from Russia and China." 'via Blog this' Canada News, Commentary, Analysis, Blogs | The Mark:

Norway & Swededen: "Peace prize helps grow the community of peace makers and "give them a platform that is just as strong as the corrupters"

Royals, Mirren honor Nobel Peace Prize winners - Celebrity Circuit - CBS News: "The concert honored this year's Nobel Peace prize winners, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and women's right activist Leymah Gbowee, also of Liberia, and democracy activist Tawakkul Karman of Yemen. Together, the three have boosted the number of women who have received the peace prize from 12 to 15. Sweden's Queen Silvia, King Carl XVI Gustaf and Crown Princess Victoria attended the Nobel Prize ceremony at the Concert Hall in Stockholm on Saturday. Also attending the Nobel Peace Prize events were Norway's King Harald V, Queen Sonja, Crown Princess Mette-Marit and Crown Prince Haakon. British actress Helen Mirren co-hosted the Nobel Peace Prize concert on Sunday with actress Rosario Dawson. Performers included David Gray, Jill Scott, Evanescence and Sugarland."

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Yemen: On Friday of Dignity, people marched saying “peace, peace”, even though they were being shot at, they did not stop but continued marching...

Yemen's Alsaidi: We cannot follow Atatürk's secular model: "Yes, about 1,200 civilians were killed. There is a supposition that (a revolution) in Yemen would have been bloodier than in other (countries) because Yemen is heavily armed and the Yemenis are tribal people. Yes, there are a lot of arms in Yemen, but this issue of tribalism is questionable. Those people have one definition of tribalism and apply it to every case. Yemen went through different stages in history. And don't forget that Yemen is older than the Roman Empire. Yemenis are law-abiding citizens. They are not tribal people who like fighting. There are tribes, but they do not fight among each other, as is wrongly perceived. They intermarry and live in harmony with one another; they rarely clash. On the “Friday of Dignity,” held on March 18, when 52 people were killed by sharpshooters, people marched saying “peace, peace.” Even though they were being shot at, they did not stop but continued marching and at the same time said “peace, peace.” You'd cry if you had seen that scene from the protest. They did not resort to arms." said, Abdullah M. Alsaidi

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Abdullah M. Alsaidi, Yemen's ambassador to the UN who quit from his post after the regime killed peaceful protesters.

Currently a senior fellow at the New York-based International Peace Institute (IPI), Ambassador Alsaidi was the permanent representative of Yemen to the United Nations from 2002 until his resignation in March 2011 in response to the killings of dozens of demonstrators by pro-government forces in Sana'a. He held important government positions, including deputy minister for foreign affairs from 1999 to 2002 and member of the National Arbitration Committee with Eritrea over the Hanish Islands from 1996 to 2002. He received his BA degree in political science from Long Island University in 1975 and his MA in political science from Columbia University in 1982. Ambassador Alsaidi was also a co-chair of the IPI's task force on strengthening multilateral security capacity in 2008.

In his words: “He [Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh] used to call me at night to ask for my opinion, and when I disagreed with him -- about Iraq and Kuwait -- he said: ‘You know what? I think you're right.' Around 2005, that sort of thing stopped. Last year, when I wrote in a report to him that the UN was thinking of contingency plans for Yemen in the event of an uprising, the administration phoned me five times to say, ‘The president is not happy with your report because it isn't true'.”

US: District of Colombia: Tops Peace Corps rankings @ 8.4 Peace Corps volunteers per 100,000 residents, the highest rate of any area

"DC-Arlington-Alexandria vicinity has 372 Peace Corps volunteers, which means it trails only the New York-New Jersey-Long Island metro area (with 393) in the sheer number of folks who serve in the corps. Peace Corps volunteers even rank among the town’s boldfacers. Former Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), who now heads the Motion Picture Association of America; and California Democratic Reps. SamFarr , Mike Honda and Steve Garamendi are among the organization’s alums."

'via Blog this'D.C. tops Peace Corps rankings - In the Loop - The Washington Post