The U.S. and Iranian presidents clashed in the spotlight at the United Nations, providing sharply different views of developments in the Middle East and underscoring the difficulties ahead in resolving the crisis over Iran’s nuclear program.

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.

The United Nations has released a report on global violence against children.

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.

Online Debate: Two experts spar over U.S. policy toward the new UN Human Rights Council.

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.