site.news_by_theme Ban Ki-moon

Russia on Friday officially opens in Sochi its first ever Winter Olympics with a lavish ceremony attended by dozens of heads of state and aimed at impressing a sceptical world with an unforgettable spectacle.

• 07 февраля 2014, 17:31

Aid operations were due to start in besieged areas of Homs Friday, a US official said, as Syria and the UN agreed to hold a "humanitarian pause" on fighting in the devastated city.

• 07 февраля 2014, 16:58

The United States tried Thursday to defuse a potential row with its European allies after the leak of an embarrassing phone call in which a top US diplomat cursed the EU response to the Ukraine crisis.

• 07 февраля 2014, 16:20

Washington's new top diplomat for Europe, Victoria Nuland, has been apparently caught being decidedly undiplomatic about her EU allies in a phone call about Ukraine posted Thursday on YouTube.

• 07 февраля 2014, 12:35

Google marked the Winter Games in Sochi by flying the gay flag in a search page Doodle that linked to a call for equality in the Olympic Charter.

• 07 февраля 2014, 10:33

Global leaders from politics, defence and diplomacy meet in Germany from Friday to discuss conflict hotspots and looming threats, from Syria and Afghanistan to East Asia and Africa.

• 29 января 2014, 17:35

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed Tunisia's adoption of a new constitution on Sunday, declaring it a "historic milestone" and a model for other countries seeking reform.

• 27 января 2014, 17:34

Syria's peace conference moved into a second day Thursday with the warring sides showing no willingness to compromise as global powers seek to engineer head-to-head talks on ending the bloodshed.

• 23 января 2014, 11:04

Donors gathered in Kuwait Wednesday in a major fundraising drive for 13 million Syrians affected by war following a record UN appeal for $6.5 billion.

• 15 января 2014, 18:51

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is due to travel to Tehran ally Damascus in the next few days, media reported Sunday, amid preparations for a Syria peace conference.

• 13 января 2014, 13:05

Israel unveiled plans Friday for more than 1,800 new settler homes in a move the Palestinians said was aimed at forcing Washington to abandon its Middle East peace drive.

• 12 января 2014, 14:51

Bangladesh's newly elected lawmakers took the parliamentary oath on Thursday after an election condemned as a farce by critics, with the country's battling political leaders still locked in a deadly confrontation

• 09 января 2014, 13:58

Russia beefed up security and mourned its dead on Tuesday as the toll from jarring successive-day suicide strikes in the run-up to the Sochi Winter Olympic Games rose to 33.

• 31 декабря 2013, 14:39

Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed Monday to stay within international law in the hunt for the perpetrators of two bomb attacks in the city of Volgograd, the United Nations said.

• 31 декабря 2013, 11:45

Syria now views Saudi Arabia as its number one enemy and accuses it of trying to destroy the country by arming jihadists and other rebels fighting to oust President Bashar al-Assad.

• 22 декабря 2013, 21:04

US President Barack Obama warned that South Sudan stands at the "precipice" of renewed civil war, amid spiralling violence including an attack on a UN base that killed three Indian peacekeepers.

• 20 декабря 2013, 17:11

Clashes between rival army factions in South Sudan have left up to 500 dead and 800 wounded, a top UN official told the UN Security Council on Tuesday.

• 18 декабря 2013, 11:41

UN chief Ban Ki-moon called on the international community Friday to sanction those responsible for Syrian chemical weapons attacks documented in a newly released report.

• 15 декабря 2013, 12:53

UN leader Ban Ki-moon on Monday joined international opposition to the cancellation of a presidential election in the Maldives that has heightened tensions in the Indian Ocean nation.

• 21 октября 2013, 14:09

The UN Security Council on Thursday backed a plan by UN leader Ban Ki-moon for a joint mission with the global chemical arms watchdog to destroy Syria's weapons.

• 11 октября 2013, 18:16