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The top United Nations human rights today announced the composition of the independent committee tasked with monitoring Israeli and Palestinian investigations into the deadly conflict in the Gaza Strip that ended early last year.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon met with the leader of Sierra Leone and survivors of the country’s brutal civil war today, capping off his five-country tour of Africa.

National governments have proven to be the engine behind the success of an eight-nation pilot programme seeking to better coordinate development activities nationally, a senior United Nations official said today.

The most senior United Nations officials in Sudan told the Security Council today that the international community must take a more active role in promoting democracy after the recent national elections, particularly ahead of next year’s referendum on possible southern secession, and also focus on stabilizing the increasingly violent Darfur region.

Member States of the International Criminal Court (ICC) have agreed on what constitutes the crime of aggression, a long-running source of contention in international law, after nearly one decade of discussion.

The top United Nations political official is heading tonight to Sri Lanka as part of the world body’s continuing efforts to assist authorities in the South Asian island nation tackle key challenges in the wake of last year’s end to the long-running civil war.

United Nations relief agencies are dispatching emergency aid and staff to Central Asia, where tens of thousands of refugees have crossed into Uzbekistan as they flee several days of deadly ethnic clashes in southern Kyrgyzstan.

(Washington, DC) - Governments that join the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions should adopt strong national legislation to implement the ban agreement, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.

Washington, D.C.—Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano today announced that 100 percent of passengers traveling within the United States and its territories are now being checked against terrorist watchlists through the Transportation Security Administration's (TSA) Secure Flight program—a major step in fulfilling a key 9/11 Commission recommendation.

Yesterday, 429 individuals in 16 states were arrested as part of Project Deliverance, which targeted the transportation infrastructure of Mexican drug trafficking organizations in the United States, especially along the Southwest border, through coordination between federal, state and local law enforcement. More than 3,000 agents and officers operated across the United States to make yesterday’s arrests. During yesterday’s enforcement action, $5.8 million in U.S. currency, 2,951 pounds of marijuana, 112 kilograms of cocaine, 17 pounds of methamphetamine, 141 weapons, and 85 vehicles were seized by law enforcement agents.