DIRECTORY OF ORGANIZATIONS AND PLACES IN THE NEWS  

AU - African Union 

On 9 Sep 1999, the Heads of State and Government of the Organisation of African Unity issued a Declaration (the Sirte Declaration) calling for the establishment of an African Union. The African Union was launched in Durban on 9 July 2008 with the aim of accelerating OAU objectives: to rid the continent of the remaining vestiges of colonization and apartheid; to promote unity and solidarity among African States; to coordinate and intensify cooperation for development; to safeguard the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Member States and to promote international cooperation within the framework of the United Nations.

As of Apr 2008, there are 53 members. The AU headquarters is in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
http://www.africa-union.org/ 

ABKHAZIA

A region in the former Soviet Union that declared independence from Georgia in the early 1990s, sparking fighting and the dispatch of Russian peacekeepers to the areas. Georgia says the peacekeepers side with the separatists. It has pledged to bring both regions back under central government control. 

MDGs - Millennium Development Goals

The MDGs were established at the 2000 Millennium Summit, when 189 world leaders adopted the United Nations Millennium Declaration. The MDGs form a blueprint agreed to by the signatory countries and leading development institutions. According to the United Nations, the MDGs have galvanized unprecedented efforts to meet the needs of the world’s poorest.
By the target date of 2015, the signatories agreed to the:

• Eradication of extreme poverty and hunger

• Achievement of universal primary education

• Improvement of maternal health

• Promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women

• Combating of malaria, HIV/AIDS, and other diseases
  
• Reduction of child mortality
  
• Establishment of environmental sustainability, including the halving of the world population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation
  
• Establishment of a global partnership for development that includes an open trading and financial system as well as the implementation of programs that address the special needs of least developed countries

NEPAD (New Partnership for Africa’s Development)

Launched in 2001, NEPAD works to strengthen the fight against poverty and accelerate economic development in Africa. Other NEPAD priorities are "human development, good political and economic governance, infrastructure, education, health, agriculture, technology, energy and the environment."  The plan is to incorporate it into the African Union.
http://www.nepad.org/

SOUTH OSSETIA

a region of the Soviet Union that declared independence from Georgia in the early 1990s, sparking fighting and the dispatch of Russian peacekeepers to the areas. Georgia says the peacekeepers side with the separatists. It has pledged to bring both regions back under central government control.

TICAD (Tokyo International Conference on African Development)

TICAD has become a major global framework for Asia and Africa to collaborate in promoting Africa's development and consensus-building around African development priorities. The forum, held once every five years in Japan since 1993, brings together heads of state and government from some 40 African countries. TICAD has introduced the concept of South-South cooperation by involving as partners developing countries in Southeast Asia and North Africa. It is built on the principle of African ownership of development and growth. The original purpose of the partnerships is to pass advanced developing countries' experiences on to Africa.
http://www.ticad.net/

UN United Nations 

In 1945, representatives of 50 countries met in San Francisco at the United Nations Conference on International Organization to draw up the United Nations Charter. It officially came into existence on 24 October 1945, when the Charter had been ratified by China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, the United States and a majority of other signatories. United Nations Day is celebrated on 24 October.

The Charter is the constituting instrument of the United Nations. It sets out the rights and obligations of Member States, and establishes the Organization's organs and procedures.
 
The purposes of the United Nations are to maintain international peace and security; to develop friendly relations among nations; to cooperate in solving international economic, social, cultural and humanitarian problems and in promoting respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms; and to be a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations in attaining these ends.

The six principal organs of the United Nations, are the: General Assembly,  Security Council, Economic and Social Council, Trusteeship Council, International Court of Justice and Secretariat. The United Nations family encompasses 15 agencies and several programs and bodies.
http://www.un.org/