AP - The United Nations wants to strengthen its partnership with a rising China, U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon said Wednesday during a visit to Beijing focused on global challenges such as food security and soaring energy prices.

AP - The U.S. pressed fellow U.N. Security Council members Wednesday to impose sanctions to push for change in Zimbabwe, where leaders cannot agree whether to even talk about how to resolve their crisis amid fears of worsening political violence.

Reuters - Members of the executive board of the U.N. Development Program would like the agency to resume its work in communist North Korea, from which it pulled out last year amid U.S. charges of financial mismanagement.

AP - U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon said the United Nations wants to strengthen its partnership with a rising China, during visit to Beijing on Wednesday focused on global challenges such as food security and soaring energy prices.

Reuters - Somali gunmen have kidnapped five local employees of an Italian charity and the United Nations in the latest attack on humanitarian staff in the country, the head of the Italian group said on Tuesday.

AFP - A new humanitarian action plan is needed for Afghanistan, where people are being hit by resurgent fighting and a food shortage, the United Nations top official on humanitarian aid said Tuesday.

AFP - Thailand's government will not appeal a ruling that suspended its endorsement of Cambodia's bid to see a disputed Hindu temple granted World Heritage status, the foreign minister said Tuesday.

AFP - The United States is preparing a new sanctions resolution to the UN Security Council after the controversial runoff election in Zimbabwe, the US Ambassador to the United Nations said Monday.

Reuters - The Iraqi government sued dozens of companies, including oil giant Chevron Corp., for more than $10 billion on Monday, saying they paid kickbacks to former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's government under the U.N. oil-for-food program.

AFP - Australia's former foreign minister Alexander Downer will quit politics for a new role as United Nations special envoy for Cyprus, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd confirmed Tuesday.

AFP - The 11th-century Preah Vihear temple sits serenely on a mountaintop, just across the border from Thailand, with sweeping views over the blue-green Cambodian jungle.