Lee Feinstein, an expert on U.S. foreign policy and the United Nations, says the sixty-first UN General Assembly session faces “a number of huge issues, any one of which in a different year would be seen as a dominant one.” He notes Iran is “a looming crisis” for the Security Council, the problem of Darfur needs considerable work, and a new secretary-general needs to be chosen.

After a week of waffling, France commits a large number of troops and offers to lead the UN peacekeeping effort in Lebanon. The move is expected to clear a diplomatic logjam that delayed the deployment of peacekeepers. In the absence of a sizeable force, Kofi Annan is in the region attempting to stabilize the still-shaky cease-fire.

A cease-fire continues to hold but Lebanon could quickly descend back into violence unless a UN peacekeeping force arrives soon. Rallying such a force has not been easy.

Lee Feinstein, an expert on U.S. foreign policy and the United Nations, says the current cease-fire between Hezbollah and Israel, while a "positive" development, is unlikely to last unless regional powers like Syria and Iran are brought into a dialogue on ways to maintain it.

The United Nations Department of Public Information has issued a release describing ten stories the world should hear more about.

The Congressional Research Service has a released a report on Cyprus and the status of U.N. Negotiations to unite the Greek and Turkish zones into a federal republic.

An impotent UN Security Council and an ineffective African Union peacekeeping force have failed to alleviate the misery in Sudan's western Darfur region, where over a hundred thousand have been killed and millions of refugees are threatening security across the region.

The U.S.-Turkish relationship, a Cold War strategic fixture, shows signs of fraying. A new CFR report says Washington can help repair ties by improving dialogue on Iraqi Kurds, taking a bigger role in resolving the Cyprus dispute, and boosting Ankara's bid to join the European Union.

George Lopez and David Cortright argue in a Kroc Institute Policy Brief that the escalating crisis between Iran and the United States belongs on the bilateral summit table and not the United Nations Security Council.

The White House has dismissed a letter sent by President Ahmadinejad, the first formal contact between the leaders of the U.S. and Iran in over a quarter century.