In March of 2011 and just hours before the United Nations Security Council vote, Libyan dictator Muammar Ghaddafi promised citizens of Benghazi--his own countrymen--that he was “coming tonight” and that would show them “no mercy and no pity.” Gaddafi’s brazen statement telegraphed an impending attack with a high possibility massive civilian casualties.

As the United Nations opens its 68th General Assembly session, publics around the world continue to have a positive impression of the international organization. Clear majorities in 22 of the 39 countries surveyed say they have a favorable view of the UN, including thumbs-up from Security Council permanent members Britain, France and the U.S. Ratings for the UN are on balance favorable in Russia. But the Chinese are divided in their opinion. However, views trend negatively in key Middle Eastern publics, including Israel, the Palestinian territories, Jordan and Turkey.

Recent events surrounding Syria have prompted me to speak directly to the American people and their political leaders. It is important to do so at a time of insufficient communication between our societies. Relations between us have passed through different stages. We stood against each other during the cold war. But we were also allies once, and defeated the Nazis together. The universal international organization — the United Nations — was then established to prevent such devastation from ever happening again.

China's new envoy to the United Nations Liu Jieyi has presented his credentials to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the UN Headquarters. After an official ceremony, Liu told reporters China will continue to firmly support the UN, uphold the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, and play the role of a responsible major country in world affairs. Liu said that being the most universal, representative and authoritative international organization, the UN bears the expectations of the people all over the world and shoulders a significant mission.

A leading German news magazine says the U.S. National Security Agency, NSA, has eavesdropped on the United Nations, penetrating the world body's internal video conference system to decode data. Der Spiegel, in a report Sunday, linked its latest U.S. spy claim to secret files released by fugitive former U.S. intelligence contractor Edward Snowden. The report did not say when the magazine acquired the information, or whether it came directly from Snowden. It alleges the spying took place in mid-2012.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today welcomed the agreement between the two Koreas on the re-opening of the Kaesong Industrial Complex, adding that he hopes this will lead to other constructive steps to promote trust and improve relations between the East Asian neighbours...The complex is located in the border town of Kaesong just across the Demilitarized Zone. It employs more than 53,000 citizens of the DPRK at 123 companies of the Republic of Korea (ROK), according to media reports.

This past weekend, Ambassador Samantha Power gave her first speech as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations to more than 1,500 young activists at Invisible Children's Fourth Estate Leadership Summit in Los Angeles.

I was a 20-year-old smart ass when I first picked up Samantha Power’s book, A Problem From Hell, in the fall of 2004. My international politics professor had assigned her thick chapter on Rwanda, so on the night before class, still smarting from a botched date in Philadelphia and hurtling toward Swarthmore College in a rickety SEPTA train, I opened to page 329. There I read about the inept American response to the massacre of 800,000 human beings in 100 days in 1994. And just like that, Samantha Power’s words changed my mind, and my life.