"Senior diplomats from the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany will meet in New York next week to try to break a deadlock on Iran's nuclear program, U.S. officials and U.N. diplomats said on Thursday.
The meeting is now set for Monday among foreign affairs officials from the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany, the envoys said.
"In contrast to earlier problems with Syrian cooperation, the United Nations panel looking into last year's assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri today reported progress in this "critical area," with a common understanding reached regarding access to individuals, sites and information." [Full Story]
"The United Nations will soon have a re-minted human rights body to monitor abuses worldwide after the full membership voted in favour of its creation yesterday ... The notion of a reformed council was proposed by Kofi Annan, the secretary general, last year and endorsed by the UN's 60th anniversary summit in September." More
"United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has urged the international community to remain focused on the protection of civilians in Sudan's strife-torn region of Darfur, saying that rising insecurity there had made it dangerous and volatile.
International efforts should aim to "contribute to the protection of civilians at risk with a view to creating an environment conducive to national reconciliation in a country where human rights are respected and internally displaced persons and refugees can return home," said Annan in his monthly update on Darfur, which was released to the Security Council on Tuesday." [Read more]
"Iran came under more pressure to halt its suspected nuclear weapons programs on Tuesday when the United States and its allies took the issue to the full U.N. Security Council and Russia pursued its own initiative in talks in Moscow.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that any retreat on the nuclear issue would break the Islamic Republic's independence and force it to retreat in other areas." [Link]
"The Security Council today welcomed the decision of the African Union (AU) to support, in principle, the transition of the AU peacekeeping mission in the strife-torn Darfur region of Sudan to a United Nations operation.
"The Security Council commended the African Union for the successful deployment of the African Mission in Sudan (AMIS) and AMIS' role in reducing large-scale organized violence in Darfur," Council President Cesar Mayoral of Argentina told the press after the body was briefed by Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations Hedi Annabi." [MORE]
A sampling of United Nations related blog commentary
Informed Comment: "Kofi Annan says that two things are keeping back an expansion of UN activities in Iraq: no nation will transport UN workers inside Iraq by plane, and the general violence that plagues the country."