This opinion by Suzanne Nozzel was published in Foreign Affairs on 5th June 2013.
As the first red-headed U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power will cut a distinctive figure in the organization’s staid meeting rooms and endless cocktail receptions. But she will also stand out in ways that go well beyond appearance. By virtue of her youth, professional background, philosophical commitments, and direct personal style, Power has the potential to be a uniquely effective U.S. envoy. By raising the UN’s visibility and cache, and by doubling down on its role as a force for human rights and the mediation of violent conflict, Power could be just what the United Nations needs to help galvanize it for the twenty-first century.
The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that international pressure on Iran to stop its nuclear programme must continue, after reformist Hassan Rouhani was elected president.
"The international community should not fall into wishful thinking and be tempted to ease pressure on Iran to stop its nuclear programme,
North Korea’s governing body proposed nuclear and security talks with the United States in an appeal sent just days after calling off talks with rival South Korea.
Speaking at a rally on Sunday of tens of thousands of government supporters on Sunday in Istanbul, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that it was his "duty" to evict the protesters from Istanbul Park.
Asserting that the two week protest had been manipulated by "terrorists", Erdogan rejected accusations of authoritarianism.
The Tamil Guardian's Ismail Okan Ukav was at a pro-government rally in Ankara on Saturday and sent us these photographs:
At the UN Special Committee on Decolonisation on Wednesday, UN member states reiterated their support for the Saharawi's people's right to self-determination, including representatives from Venezuela, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Cuba.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has dismissed assertions made by the US that Syria has used chemical weapons against rebels.
Lavrov said it made "no sense" for President Assad, who also denies the claims, to use chemical weapons as "the regime has not been driven into a corner".
South Africa has agreed to hand over Gaddafi's secret funds, believed to be worth almost £650m, to the Libyan government.
In a statement, South Africa's Treasury said:
"The Minister of Finance, Pravin Gordhan, has agreed with the Libyan government that the repatriation from South Africa of Libyan funds and assets will be handled in terms of United Nations (UN) protocols."
Morgan Tsvangirai, chief rival of Robert Mugabe, has rejected the president's proposed election as "unlawful".
Mugabe bypassed parliament to set the poll date for the 31st July, a move which breaches the 2008 power-sharing agreement made between the president's Zanu-PF party and Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change.
British legal representatives of defendants sentenced to death by Bangladesh's international crimes tribunal have appealed for a UN intervention on the basis that their clients were not tried fairly.
The domestic court trying those accused of atrocities during the 1971 war of liberation against Pakistan, has faced growing criticism from international human rights and legal groups.
