AFP - The United Nations on Friday criticised plans by the government to extend the length of time it can hold terrorism suspects without being charged.

AFP - The United States welcomed Friday a decision by rival Cypriot leaders to begin direct talks on ending the island's 34-year-old division, saying it was prepared to back the leaders and the United Nations in the process.

Reuters - War crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic will be extradited to the United Nations tribunal in The Hague at the earliest on Monday, Serbia's chief war crimes prosecutor Vladimir Vukcevic said on Friday.

AFP - The leaders of divided Cyprus are to enter direct peace negotiations on September 3 aimed at ending the 34-year-old division of the island, with a solution to be put to simultaneous referendums, the United Nations said on Friday.

AP - A prosecutor interviewed war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic on Friday about the details of his arrest, his lawyer said, amid efforts by the ex-Bosnian Serb warlord to fight his extradition to the U.N. war crimes tribunal.

AP - One of South Africa's leading female jurists who won acclaim defending apartheid opponents was nominated Thursday to serve as the next United Nations high commissioner for human rights.

AFP - The United States warned Myanmar's military rulers that they must cooperate with UN mediator Ibrahim Gambari or face increased pressure from the Security Council.

Reuters - The U.N. Security Council was split on Thursday over how to push Myanmar to improve human rights and adopt democratic reforms as a U.N. special envoy prepared for a key visit to the Asian nation.

Reuters - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday named South African judge Navanethem Pillay as the world body's new human rights chief, despite initial U.S. concerns about her background.

Reuters - The United Nations human rights committee said on Thursday Britain should ease back on tough "anti-terror" measures and take firm action to combat "negative public attitudes" towards Muslims.

AFP - Cambodia has asked the UN Security Council to postpone a formal meeting on its tense military standoff with Thailand pending talks next week between the two countries' foreign ministers, Vietnam's UN envoy said Thursday.

AP - With some 4,000 troops massed along the Thai-Cambodian border, United Nations Security Council members say they will try to keep a standoff from escalating into war.

AFP - The UN Security Council has "good reasons" to be unsure about sending large numbers of peacekeepers to Sudan's Darfur region, its outgoing head of peacekeeping said in an interview published Thursday.

Reuters - The U.N. Security Council will hold a special meeting on a border dispute between Cambodia and Thailand that has sparked fears of a military clash, France and Vietnam said on Wednesday.

Reuters - The African Union said on Wednesday it was incapable of stabilizing the situation in Somalia and urged the United Nations take over peacekeeping operations in the lawless Horn of Africa country.

AFP - Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah has spelled out his terms for further prisoner swaps with Israel, according to a letter from UN chief Ban Ki-moon to the president of the Security Council seen here Wednesday.

AFP - The UN Security Council is expected to discuss a tense military standoff between Cambodia and Thailand this week as more troops amassed along the border, officials said Wednesday.

AFP - The United Nations is to stop flying in aid to Myanmar next month, forcing relief agencies to find another way to bring in vital supplies to cyclone survivors, its logistics head told AFP Wednesday.