Even before the death of Kim Jong Il was announced on Sunday, North Korea was going to be on the front pages of every major global newspaper this week.
In what counts as a milestone in the global march toward equality, the United Nations released its first ever report on the human rights of LGBT people.
More than 710,000 people died as a direct consequence of more than 14,000 extreme weather events, and losses of more than USD 2.3 trillion (in PPP) occurred from 1991 to 2010 globally.
The UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, better known as OCHA, released its 2012 Consolidated Appeal Process today, and with it a list of the 15 humanitarian emergencies that it expects will continue through 2012.