"Members of the Security Council failed again yesterday to agree on a resolution that backed the Arab League plan to bring the Syrian crisis to an end. The crisis that began last March claimed the lives of more than 5,500 people according to the United Nations. While 13 Security Council members voted for the resolution, Russia and China vetoed it thus preventing resolution to be adopted..."

"Some 450 global investors gathered last week at the UN headquarters in New York for Investor Summit on Climate Risk and Energy Solutions, UN reported..."

"Countries of the European Union agreed yesterday to ban imports of Iranian oil thus further tightening existing measures by the Western world against Iran, as Reuters and other media also reported. Just a few days earlier, on December 31, President Obama signed harsh financial sanctions against Teheran which resulted in Iran's threats this week against the navy of the United States..."

"The dependence of the global food system on fossil fuels limits its ability to feed a world population, says Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) in its report and agriculture and food systems need to move toward new models that are 'energy-smart.'..."

"Today's arrival of Arab League's observers to Damascus didn't stop the Syrian slaughter. At least 23 people died just a day after Christmas, as Syrian army tanks have been firing rounds into neighborhoods of the city of Homs, as Reuters and other media reported. The Arab League observers came to Syria to assess whether President Assad is abiding by the League’s plan to halt the crackdown on protesters...."

"In spite of the current economic crisis, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) raised hundreds of millions of dollars from donors last week at their annual pledging conferences and ensured assistance to refugees, stateless people and forcibly displaced as well as people caught up in conflicts and disasters, as reported by the UN...."

"North Korea’s merciless and self-absorbed leader, Kim Jong Il, had died at 69. North Korea’s state run television news agency, KCNA, made the shocking announcement from the capital. According to reports, Kim suffered a massive heart attack on a train Saturday and could not be revived..."

"The United Nations released Thursday the first ever historic report on human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people around the world that is detailing a pattern of violations of human rights in every region of the world, among them murder, torture, assault, kidnapping, arbitrary detention, rape, coercion, education, employment and health discrimination and psychological threats..."

"The two-week Durban UN Climate Change Conference that brought together governments and civil society from all over the world ended on Sunday in South Africa with Durban Platform, a package of agreements that also includes the launch of Green Climate Fund and a second commitment period for the current Kyoto Protocol that is at present the only global legally binding agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions...."

"This week, ahead of Human Rights Day celebrated every year on December 10, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and many other international officials all called on nations to stop discrimination, bullying and violence based on sexual orientation...."