Middle East, United Nations | featured news

Iran increased its uranium stockpile while failing to boost cooperation with United Nations inspectors probing whether the Persian Gulf country is trying to build nuclear weapons, the International ...

The U.N. Security Council is set to impose a new round of sanctions on a defiant Iran on Wednesday over a nuclear program that Western powers suspect is aimed at developing atomic weapons.

Masked gunmen attacked a U.N.-run summer camp for children on Sunday after militants in the Gaza Strip accused the United Nations of promoting immorality in the religiously conservative enclave controlled by Hamas Islamists.

The United States, Russia, Britain, France and China on Wednesday voiced support for making the Middle East a nuclear-arms-free zone, which would mean Israel would have to scrap any atomic bombs it has.

President Hamid Karzai accused the West of trying to ruin Afghanistan’s parliamentary elections this year, in a showdown over a U.N.-backed fraud watchdog.

The U.N.'s Office on Drugs and Crime says nearly 60% of Afghans regard corruption as their biggest worry, outpacing concerns about the insurgency or joblessness.

Endemic corruption in Afghanistan amounts to a virtual tax on poverty-stricken Afghans, robbing them of the equivalent of a quarter of the war-wracked nation's annual gross domestic product, a new U.N.

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan accused the United Nations on Saturday of intervening in the formation of President Hamid Karzai's next cabinet, less than a week into his new term.

Iran did not reject the United Nations plan outright, but its counterproposal could draw out the negotiations.

A U.N.-backed fraud watchdog said Friday it was close to a verdict in its probe of Afghanistan's presidential election, which could force incumbent Hamid Karzai into a run-off against his main rival.

The embattled head of the United Nations mission in Afghanistan on Sunday defended himself against allegations from his former American deputy that he chose to ignore evidence of fraud in last month's disputed elections and acted in a biased manner towards President Hamid Karzai.