At least 2,000 people a day are killed with weapons by criminal gangs, bandits, terrorists, insurgents -- and their own governments. In Africa alone $18 billion is consumed through armed conflict, about the same amount as non-military foreign aid.

In an effort to regulate the arms trade, UN members...

UNITED NATIONS - For the 18th consecutive year, the UN General Assembly condemned the US economic embargo against Cuba. The 187 countries voting in favor were friends and foes, democracies and dictatorships.

But this was the first vote since President Obama took office, and everyone listened for hints of change....

Two elephants are and were in the room during negotiations on Iran's nuclear ambitions: the rigged elections that brought President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to power and the shadow of Iraq in overestimating Tehran's weapons of mass destruction.

Obviously the Iraq and Iran situations differ. Iraq's Saddam Hussein did have chemical and...

In a world filled with long-winded political leaders bereft of content, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi excelled in a performance of his own.

Only a few blocks from Broadway, Colonel Gaddafi rambled on for more than an hour and a half, shuffling through his notes, tearing out pages of the U.N....

UNITED NATIONS - President Obama makes his debut appearance at the United Nations this week, attending and presiding over a breathless array of events far beyond the usual schedule for U.S. presidents. A standing ovation is not out of the question among the world body's 192 member stations, drowning out...

United Nations - Beijing broke from its usual uncontroversial statements on Myanmar (Burma) and told the West to stop "picking" on the ruling junta and stop treating it with "arrogance and prejudice."

In a U.N. Security Council session on Myanmar, China's deputy U.N. ambassador, Liu Zhenmin, made clear that Beijing,...

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UNITED NATIONS - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon visited Myanmar (Burma) for the July 3-4 weekend in what turned out to be a major political gamble -- with no discernible results so far.

Ban is probably the only world figure of stature who can meet the country's reclusive 76-year...

(Update)

UNITED NATIONS - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon visited Myanmar (Burma) for the July 3-4 weekend in what both friends and detractors view as a major political gamble. With an agenda that asks the ruling military junta to open its doors to national "reconciliation" (which would end their solitary rule),...

UPDATE

UNITED NATIONS - The U.N. Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution that would appreciably tighten weapons and financial sanctions against North Korea. Some analysts dismiss anything that passes through the United Nations as useless while others say sanctions won't work and only intense diplomacy has a chance.
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United Nations -- Another nuclear test, missiles and threats from North Korea and the world is waiting for the Obama administration's reaction. But unless China takes firm steps, action from Washington can fall flat.

The first stop, before any bilateral action, is the U.N. Security Council, which reflects the national...

Even one more nuclear-armed nation is too much. But since the 1960s statesmen, officials and politicians have used the number 20 - as in "there may be 10 nuclear powers instead of 4, and by 1975, 15 or 20." (President John F. Kennedy on March 12, 1963).

And in...

UNITED NATIONS - The U.N. Security Council finally spoke out on the tragedy in Sri Lanka, telling the government to stop firing heavy artillery at civilians in a war zone and the Tamil Tiger rebels to "lay down their arms" and allow non-combatants to leave the conflict area.

But the...

UNITED NATIONS - After the largest reported attack on civilians in Sri Lanka over the weekend, the foreign ministers of Britain, France and Austria condemned the "bloodbath" and appealed for the United Nations Security Council to put the conflict on its agenda.

Meanwhile, four non-governmental groups (Human Rights Watch, Amnesty...

Thrown into a quandary, the United Nations Security Council came up with an American-Chinese compromise statement that condemned North Korea's rocket launch and pledged to revive a blacklist of Pyongyang firms, banks and people.

The outcome of a week of intense diplomacy was a partial victory for President Obama, who...

By Evelyn Leopold, at the United Nations

Until China agrees to tougher sanctions or other ways to discourage North Korea's military ambitions, the United States and its allies will have an uphill battle other than putting pressure on Beijing itself. After three hours of consultation in the UN Security Council...