Syria has agreed to a United Nations investigation into last week’s alleged chemical weapons attack outside Damascus.

North Korea warned foreign embassies in Pyongyang that it was unable to guarantee their safety after Apr 10 and they should consider evacuating their missions amid soaring nuclear tensions.

The Philippines remains committed to deploying troops in UN peacekeeping hotspots despite the brief hostage-taking of 21 of its soldiers, military officials have said.

Syrian rebels have freed 21 UN peacekeepers and have handed them to Jordanian authorities, according to an international peace envoy.

Indian police have charged six men with murder, adding to accusations that they beat and gang-raped a woman on a New Delhi bus two weeks ago in a case that shocked the country.

The UN Secretary General has called on Hamas to end its rocket attacks on Israel while urging Israeli leaders to exercise the maximum restraint.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will attend the summit of the Nonaligned Movement of mainly developing countries in Tehran next week despite strong opposition from Israel and Jewish groups outraged at Iran’s calls for the destruction of Israel, the UN announced today.

North Korea needs immediate food assistance after heavy rains killed scores of people and submerged swathes of farmland, the United Nations said.

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.

Islamist Mohammed Morsi was declared the winner in Egypt’s first free presidential election in history, closing the tumultuous first phase of a democratic transition and opening a new struggle with the still-dominant military rulers who recently stripped the presidency of most of its powers.

The United Nations Security Council will vote today on a resolution authorising the deployment of the first wave of military observers to monitor a ceasefire between the Syrian government and opposition fighters.

The United Nations Security Council failed again to take decisive action to stop the escalating violence in Syria as Russia and China blocked a resolution backing an Arab League plan for President Bashar Assad to step down.

Diplomats claimed considerable progress today towards overcoming Russian objections to a United Nations Security Council resolution aimed at halting the violence in Syria.

MORE than 3,000 people were killed in South Sudan in brutal massacres last week in an explosion of ethnic violence that forced tens of thousands to flee, a local official said yesterday as the UN increased patrols.

Reconciliation talks between Bahrain’s Sunni monarchy and the Shiite opposition have started for the first time since anti-government protests erupted in the Gulf kingdom, an opposition figure said.

The worst kept secret at the United Nations is that Ban Ki-moon wants a second term as secretary-general and will almost certainly get it, possibly this month.

Yemen’s embattled president vowed today he would not step down or allow his impoverished nation to become a “failed state” even as urban combat between government troops and armed tribesmen engulfed parts of the capital.

A PLANE carrying UN staff and peacekeepers crashed yesterday on landing at the airport in Congo’s capital, breaking into pieces and killing at least 26 people, aviation officials said.

A plane carrying UN staff and peacekeepers crashed today on landing at the airport in Congo’s capital, breaking into pieces and killing at least 26 people, aviation officials said.

A massive demonstration against Yemen’s government turned into a killing field today as snipers fired down on protesters from rooftops and police made a wall of fire with tires and petrol, blocking a key escape route.

United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon has appointed an independent panel to investigate the source of a cholera outbreak that has killed nearly 3,000 people in Haiti.

Israel has been sharply criticised after its refusal to halt settlement construction forced Washington to drop efforts to relaunch Mideast peace talks.

More than 70% of camps in Haiti, home to an estimated 1.3 million earthquake victims, lack proper international management nearly nine months after the disaster, leaving them at increased risk of sexual and gang violence, hunger and forced eviction, campaigners said.

Peace envoy George Mitchell was on his way to the Middle East today in an urgent bid to salvage stalled peace talks after the US criticised Israel’s refusal to extend its partial ban on settlement building.

The UN humanitarian chief demanded that Sudanese authorities allow aid agencies into a camp in Darfur and surrounding areas where more than 80,000 displaced people were unable to receive food and other relief supplies for nearly two weeks.

Security forces and agitated protesters faced off at a major intersection after bloody grenade attacks rattled Thailand’s chaotic capital – a scene of tense, weeks-long confrontations between die-hard demonstrators and a wavering government.

The UN chief said 16 UN personnel were confirmed dead in the earthquake that shook Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince, with 100-150 UN workers still unaccounted for, including the mission chief and his deputy.

Russian forces and their separatist militia allies are keeping international monitors out of South Ossetia, according to confidential documents today.