EDITH M. LEDERER

Associated Press
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UN envoy: Libya unstable but moving to democracy

The top U.N. envoy in Libya said Thursday there are positive signs that the country is moving toward democracy but longstanding tensions have escalated into armed conflicts, detainees are still being tortured, and there is rising discontent among former revolutionary fighters.

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UN imposes sanctions on 3 NKorean companies

The U.N. Security Council ordered all countries Wednesday to freeze the assets of three North Korean state-owned companies to punish Pyongyang for its failed rocket launch last month.

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UN official: Myanmar can become Asian tiger

The U.N. secretary-general's special adviser on Myanmar says the resource-rich but desperately poor nation has the potential to become an Asian tiger if it promotes investment, eases financial restrictions, and finds experts to develop the country.

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Ex-UN chief Annan back on front line in Syria

Five years after handing over the reins of the United Nations, Kofi Annan is back on the front line trying to end the Arab Spring's longest conflict and one of its bloodiest with diplomatic skills honed over half a century.

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ICC prosecutor: Kony will be arrested in 2012

The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court says he has "no doubt" that fugitive African warlord Joseph Kony will be arrested this year because the international spotlight has helped boost the hunt for the Lord's Resistance Army leader.

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AP Interview: Ocampo discusses Palestinians on ICC

The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor said Wednesday the war crimes tribunal would allow the Palestinians to sign up if the U.N. General Assembly approves a resolution recognizing Palestine as a non-member observer state.

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UN ambassador: cop said he could be a terrorist

A U.N. ambassador who was handcuffed after walking through a barricade to get into his office building said Friday the New York police officer who arrested him thought he could be a terrorist.

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Syria says opposition must give up arms first

Syria has told international envoy Kofi Annan in a letter obtained Saturday by The Associated Press that it is "keen to end violence" but insists that armed opposition groups give up their weapons first.

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Journalism group criticizes killings in Syria

The Committee to Protect Journalists expressed outrage at the number of journalists killed and detained in the year since the Syrian uprising began — the highest death toll of any country swept by the Arab Spring.

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UN chief urges Libya to probe rights abuses

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday urged Libyan authorities to address human rights violations related to last year's uprising and ouster of Moammar Gadhafi after a U.N. report said forces both supporting and opposing the former leader committed war crimes.

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US and Russia clash over Syria at UN

The United States and Russia clashed over Syria at the United Nations on Monday after the U.N.'s chief urged the divided Security Council to speak with one voice and help the Mideast nation "pull back from the brink of a deeper catastrophe."

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Security Council mulls proposed Syria resolution

Key U.N. Security Council members began discussing a possible new resolution Tuesday that demands an end to the violence in Syria, first by government forces and then by opposition fighters, in hopes of overcoming opposition from Russia and China.

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Russia accuses Libya of training Syrian rebels

Russia demanded Wednesday that NATO apologize for civilian casualties during the uprising in Libya last year and accused the Libyan government of supporting a training center for Syrian rebels, provoking a sharp response from the U.S. and Libya's prime minister.

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UN demands Syria allow in humanitarian chief

In its first statement on Syria in seven months, the U.N. Security Council on Thursday deplored the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation there and called on the government to grant U.N. humanitarian chief Valerie Amos "immediate and unhindered access."

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AP Exclusive: Researchers push to open UN archive

Locked inside U.N. headquarters is a huge but largely unknown archive documenting 10,000 cases against accused World War II criminals, from Belgian charges against Adolf Hitler to the trial of a Japanese commander for inciting rape.

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Kofi Annan named UN-Arab League envoy to Syria

Former U.N. secretary-general Kofi Annan on Thursday was appointed the joint United Nations-Arab League envoy on the Syrian crisis with a mandate to bring an end to the violence and promote a peaceful political solution.

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UN: W. Africa cocaine trade generates $900M a year

The U.N. agency that fights drugs and crime estimated that cocaine trafficking is generating some $900 million annually in West and Central Africa as South American cartels use the shortest route to transport drugs to Europe.

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Israeli minister: Iran wants to be superpower

Israel's deputy prime minister said Tuesday that Iran wants to revive the Persian Empire and once again become a major superpower with a nuclear bomb.

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AP Interview: Roubini warns of tough times ahead

Economist Nouriel Roubini, nicknamed "Dr. Doom" for his gloomy predictions in the run-up to the financial meltdown four years ago, says the fallout from that crisis could last the rest of this decade.

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UN chief to focus on sustaining Arab Spring

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in his second term as chief of the United Nations, wants to help people who rose up in the Arab Spring attain and sustain freedom and democracy.

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Russia and US clash over NATO bombing probe

Russia urged the U.N. Security Council on Thursday to investigate civilian deaths in Libya from NATO's bombing campaign, a move the United States immediately dismissed as "a cheap stunt" to distract from Moscow's failure to condemn the Syrian government's ongoing killing of protesters.

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Russia urges NATO to probe Libyan deaths

Russia urged NATO on Monday to investigate civilian deaths in Libya from its bombing campaign, saying the alliance's claim that there were no civilian casualties is untrue.

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UN unfreezes assets of 2 Libyan banks

The U.N. Security Council on Friday ordered assets of two Libyan banks that had been under the control of Moammar Gadhafi to be unfrozen, clearing the way for the return of more than $40 billion to help the new government rebuild the country.

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UN: Cypriot rivals must speed up peace talks

The U.N.'s chief and its most powerful body urged rival Greek and Turkish Cypriots on Wednesday to accelerate peace negotiations aimed at reunifying the divided Mediterranean island.

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Resolution to seek Syrian rights condemnation

Germany, Britain and France are pressing for a U.N. resolution that would strongly condemn Syria's human rights violations and call for an immediate halt to all violence in the country.

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