"Thousands of people joined celebrities and legislators at a rally Sunday urging the Bush administration and Congress to help end genocide in Sudan's Darfur region.... The organizers' permit anticipated 10,000 to 15,000 people would rally, one of several in U.S. cities this weekend against what the United Nations calls the world's worst humanitarian disaster.
"It is the socially responsible, good conscience thing to do," said Ron Fisher, who took a pre-dawn bus from Cleveland with his 15-year-old daughter Jordyn. "It's an opportunity to show my daughter what people do when they care about something." [More]
Washington Post: "A top Iranian official handed over material on his country's nuclear program in an effort to stave off U.N. sanctions, but it may be a case of too little too late.
Diplomats said they expect U.N. nuclear chief Mohamed ElBaradei to find that Iran failed to meet Friday's deadline for complying with council requests to suspend uranium enrichment, setting the stage for a confrontation at the Security Council."
UPDATE: IAEA says Iran defies UN demands
A sampling of United Nations related blog commentary
Sudan Watch: Just in from Reuters via Scotsman: the UN Security Council voted today to impose sanctions on four Sudanese accused of abuses in the Darfur conflict - excerpt of report by Evelyn Leopold: "The vote on a US-drafted resolution was 12 to 0 with three abstentions -- Russia, China and Qatar, the only Arab member of the 15-nation council. The sanctions, a travel ban and a freeze on assets abroad, were the first adopted against individuals involved in the Darfur war."
"More than 1,000 Iraqis who live south of Baghdad within the bombed and looted complex that was once the centre of Saddam Hussein's nuclear programme are at acute risk of radioactive poisoning, the UN's nuclear authority said yesterday.
The Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency said it was launching a clean-up operation at the Tuwaitha plant, 14 miles south of Baghdad, and appealed for international involvement in what it said would be a long-term challenge." [Full story]
"At least 300 child soldiers in southern Sudan handed in their guns and uniforms on Monday and will return to their families as part of an ongoing demobilisation exercise supported by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the agency said." [More]
WaPo: "Iran's defense minister said on Monday that any U.S. military attack over its nuclear programme would result in a humiliating defeat for the United States, the official IRNA news agency reported.... "Bringing up the issue of military option, threatening Iran with it ... contradicts the charter of the United Nations and other international regulations," Najjar said."
Selected summary of United Nations related news and events
Protests and Death on the Streets of Kathmandu
DR Congo: Ahead of Elections UN Sends More
Peacekeepers to Troubled Katanga
UN Panel Urges S.E. Asia to Choke Terrorist Funds
Press Sudan to Halt Threats Against Aid Worker: UN
Latin Economic Forum Hosts Second Annual
Conference at United Nations April 19-20, 2006