The United Nations announced a milestone this week. For the first time, a UN-led force helped beat back a rebel group to protect a civilian population. Instead of its usual defense-only peacekeeping, the UN engaged in aggressive peace enforcement – with helicopters, snipers, and artillery. The Security Council authorized the unprecedented offensive last March for Congo. But the UN’s Force Intervention Brigade only began fighting in August, alongside Congo’s military, against a rebel force known as M23.

Israel will renew its cooperation with the United Nations’ Human Rights Council after a year and a half of boycott, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided on Sunday. In light of the decision, Israel will take part in the periodical hearing regarding human rights in Geneva on Tuesday, a senior Israeli official said. A team of Israeli diplomats and jurists is departing for Geneva tonight (Sunday) to prepare for Tuesday’s hearing.

The African Union and Kenya have formally asked the U.N. Security Council to suspend an International Criminal Court prosecution of the Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy on the grounds that it is undermining the Kenyan leaders' efforts to fight terrorism.

The Chinese government on Tuesday released a "white paper" defending its policies in Tibet, and accusing the Dalai Lama and his supporters of "conducting separatist activities" to "sabotage the development and stability of Tibet".

Saudi Arabia's Gulf Arab allies and Egypt have applauded its decision to reject a U.N. Security Council seat in protest at the world body's failure to act on Syria, whose leader is backed by Russia and Shi'ite Iran. Saudi Arabia turned down a coveted two-year term on the council on Friday in a rare display of anger with what it called “double standards” in the United Nations.

The Qatari foreign minister thanked his Saudi counterpart for rejecting a seat at the U.N. Security Council, blaming the diplomatic body for failing in its responsibility towards the Arab world. In a message posted on his official Twitter account, Qatari foreign Minister Khalid al-Attiya commended Saudi Prince Saud al-Faisal.

Saudi Arabia took the extraordinary step Friday of refusing to take its seat on the U.N. Security Council -- despite pursuing the position for years. It's an unprecedented protest over the council's failure to take firmer action in Syria and Palestine. And it comes at a time of growing Saudi frustration with American-led policies across the Middle East.

Here's a simple and powerful campaign idea from UN Women using real suggested search terms from Google's autocomplete feature. Campaign creator Christopher Hunt, head of art for Ogilvy & Mather Dubai, offers this summary: “This campaign uses the world's most popular search engine (Google) to show how gender inequality is a worldwide problem. The adverts show the results of genuine searches, highlighting popular opinions across the world wide web.”