UN: Syrian Rebels, Not Government, Used Sarin

Contrary to recent claims made by the US and UK governments, a leading United Nations investigators has said that all of the evidence her team has collected suggests that it was Syrian rebels, and not the Syrian government, who have used Sarin gas - a deadly ...

Syria Blocks UN Chemical Weapons Mission

By Margaret Besheer from VOA News UNITED NATIONS — The Syrian foreign ministry said Monday it would not admit a U.N. chemical weapons investigation team, despite having asked for it. The Syrian State News Agency, SANA, quoted the foreign ministry on Monday as rejecting the team U.N. ...

First Ever Global Arms Treaty Passes UN Vote

The first ever treaty to regulate the global arms trade has been passed after winning strong support in a vote at the United Nations. The treaty will cover all 'conventional weapons' - from small arms to tanks and warships - and seeks to hold arms exporters responsible if their ...

UN Gives Offensive Powers to Peacekeepers

Members of the United Nations Security Council have given their unanimous support to allow UN peacekeepers to launch offensive operations for the first time ever on Friday. The Security Council passed a resolution which will create a force of 3,000 troops to be sent to the Democratic Republic of ...

UN Arms Treaty Blocked, For Now

English: Emblem of the United Nations. Color is #d69d36 from the image at http://www.un.org/depts/dhl/maplib/flag.htm (Photo credit: Wikipedia) A new UN treaty to impose restrictions on the global arms trade has been blocked by a coalition of Iran, Syria and North Korea. It is likely to ...

Rebel Leader Becomes President of CAR, Keeps Power-Sharing Government

Seleka rebel coalition leader Michel Djotodia has named himself as the President of the Central African Republic, after his forces seized control of the capital Bangui yesterday. Djotodia has pledged to retain the power-sharing government put in place as part of the January peace deal which ...

UN Arms Treaty Talks Resume

By VOA News Negotiations begin again this week to reach an agreement on what could be a landmark U.N. treaty to regulate the multi-billion dollar global arms trade. Talks resume Monday at U.N. headquarters. Weeks of talks in July ended in failure when the United States, Russia ...

UN Peacekeepers Freed by Syrian Rebels

A group of 21 United Nations peacekeepers who have been held hostage by rebels in southern Syria for three days have been freed, and have now crossed into Jordan. The group were taken hostage whilst working as an observer force to monitor the ceasefire line ...

UN Observers Kidnapped by Syrian Rebels

By Margaret Besheer from VOA News Map of Golan Heights, from the BBC (click to view BBC's profile of Golan Heights) UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. Security Council is demanding the unconditional release of more than 20 peacekeepers stopped and detained by armed elements of the ...

One Million Refugees Have Now Fled Syrian Civil War

Flag of United Nations Refugee Agency (Photo credit: Wikipedia) The UN High Commissioner for Refugees has said that the number of people fleeing the war in Syria to neighbouring countries has surged since the start of 2013, reaching over one million. "Syria is spiralling towards full-scale ...

North Korea Threatens War Again, After UN Sanctions Deal

North Korea and weapons of mass destruction (Photo credit: Wikipedia) China has agreed to a new deal with the United States which will 'significantly' expand United Nations sanction on North Korea over its latest nuclear weapons test. The draft sanctions will now be presented to the ...

North Korea Confirms New Nuclear Weapon Test

North Korea and weapons of mass destruction (Photo credit: Wikipedia) North Korea has confirmed that it carried out a third nuclear weapons test on Tuesday, in defiance of United Nations warnings. The announcement confirms the suspicions of South Korea, who broke the news of the nuclear ...