A global group of leaders wants to end what it says is a failed policy and instead focus on legalising use and putting people’s health first, writes Europe Correspondent Ann Cahill

While the failures of the UN are often criticised, its many successes show that it should be improved through reforms not discarded, says Kofi Annan

Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro is this year’s winner of the Confucius Peace Prize, China’s alternative to the Nobel Prize.

Young people need to think and fight for a vision of a world that is safer, cleaner, healthier and fairer. That was the key message to emerge from the One Young World Summit which opened on a predictably positive note in Dublin this week.

The "One Young World" Summit, which will be addressed by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, gets underway in Dublin later today.

US actor George Clooney and Lebanese-born human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin formalised their marriage in a civil ceremony in Venice yesterday, capping star-studded weekend nuptials.

Delegates at the World Economic Forum on Africa will be isolated from reality on the ground, says Pascal Fletcher.

George Clooney could finally be settling down — the Hollywood star is engaged to beautiful lawyer Amal Alamuddin.

Dust — A Novel

WHETHER in or out of prison, Nelson Mandela was a crowd puller.

Whether in or out of prison, Nelson Mandela was a crowd-puller.

Pakistani teenager Malala Yousafzai was awarded the EU’s prestigious Sakharov human rights prize yesterday in recognition of her crusade for the right of all children, girls and boys, to an education.

WE celebrated Mandy’s 40th birthday on Sunday.

Tanaiste Eamon Gilmore has deemed goods from Israeli settlements in the West Bank should be treated as illegal.

The UN envoy to Syria Lakhdar Brahimi has said Syria's war has reached "unprecedented levels of horror".

New UN-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi has said that the death toll in Syria is "staggering" and the destruction "catastrophic".

Government warplanes bombed a town in northern Syria today, killing at least 18 people, activists said, while the new UN envoy to the country acknowledged that brokering an end to the nation’s civil war will be a “very, very difficult” task.

The UN’s new envoy to Syria said today that president Bashar Assad’s regime should realise that the need for change is both “urgent” and “necessary” and that it must meet the “legitimate” demands of the Syrian people.

Troops and tanks swept into a restive town near Damascus yesterday in an assault aimed at crushing opposition to President Bashar al-Assad, whose struggle for survival has dragged Syria into an increasingly bloody war.

Syrian rebels waged fierce battles with regime troops in a town along the Iraqi border today, capturing a string of security posts and the local police headquarters despite heavy government shelling and bombing runs by warplanes, activists said.

The appointment of a new United Nations envoy to Syria is being welcomed around the world.

After two decades as a diplomatic troubleshooter in hotspots from Afghanistan to Iraq, Lakhdar Brahimi firmly believes that every conflict can be solved.

Refugees are fleeing Syria in ever greater numbers, UN agencies said yesterday, as the conflict between President Bashar al-Assad’s forces and rebels intensifies.

Government troops fought back rebels near the airport of battle-scarred Aleppo, Syria’s state media said today, in the first official acknowledgement that combat had neared a strategic gateway to the country’s largest city.

Lakhdar Brahimi, a former Algerian foreign minister and long-time UN diplomat, has agreed to replace former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan as peace envoy to Syria, the United Nations has announced.

The Security Council has agreed to end the UN military observer mission in Syria in the face of an escalating civil war.

Iran is playing a growing role supporting the Syrian regime and is helping to build and train a militia to fight opposition forces, US defence chiefs say.

A Syrian warplane crashed in flames in eastern Syria in disputed circumstances yesterday as President Bashar al-Assad’s forces pursued their drive to quell rebels in Aleppo and elsewhere.

The UN General Assembly has overwhelmingly denounced Syria’s crackdown and demanded the lockdown of its chemical and biological weapons.

The UN General Assembly is preparing to denounce Syria for unleashing tanks, artillery, helicopters and warplanes on the people of Aleppo and Damascus, and demand that the Assad regime keep its chemical and biological weapons warehoused and under strict control.

Kofi Annan delivered blistering criticism of world powers’ failure to unite over Syria’s escalating violence as he submitted his resignation as special envoy to the country.

Syrian rebels have bombarded a military air base in Aleppo using a tank captured from government troops as activists reported the regime has launched new raids against opposition fighters near the capital Damascus, killing dozens.

Kofi Annan has submitted his resignation as special envoy to Syria, saying he plans to step down on August 31.

Kofi Annan has resigned as the UN - Arab League envoy to Syria.

Arab countries are pushing ahead with a symbolic United Nations General Assembly resolution that tells Syrian president Bashar Assad to resign and turn over power to a transitional government.

The government of Bashar al-Assad has declared victory in a hard-fought battle for Syria’s capital Damascus, and pounded rebels who control parts of the country’s largest city Aleppo.

The Syrian government launched an offensive yesterday to retake rebel-held neighbourhoods in the nation's commercial hub of Aleppo, unleashing artillery, tanks and helicopter gunships against poorly armed opposition fighters.

Arab nations have said they will go to the UN General Assembly and seek approval of a new resolution on Syria.

The future of the 300-strong United Nations observer mission in Syria was in limbo today after Russia and China again vetoed a Western-backed resolution aimed at pressuring President Bashar Assad’s government to end the escalating civil war.

Russia and China have again vetoed a Western-backed UN resolution threatening non-military sanctions against Syria.

Syrian forces struck back against rebels today with attack helicopters and shelling in Damascus, one day after an audacious rebel attack in the capital killed three leaders of the regime.

The United Nations will vote today on a new British-crafted Syria resolution after a last-minute delay failed to get key Western nations and Russia to agree on measures to end the soaring violence.

The UN Security Council has delayed a vote on a new Syria resolution until tomorrow in a last-minute effort to get key Western nations and Russia to reach agreement on measures to end the escalating violence.

Russia has accused the West of inciting the Syrian opposition after the defence minister and president Bashar Assad’s brother-in-law were killed in a bomb attack.