UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The U.N. Security Council Friday removed 14 former Taliban from its sanctions list as part of moves to induce the insurgent group into talks with Kabul on a peace deal in Afghanistan.

Those delisted by a special sanctions committee included four members of a 70-strong High Peace Council set up by Afghan authorities last September to pave the way for talks, the German U.N. mission announced in a statement.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The U.N. nuclear watchdog brought allegations of covert atomic work by Syria before the Security Council on Thursday, but the 15-nation body took no immediate action amid divisions among key powers.

The International Atomic Energy Agency board of governors voted in June to report Syria to the council, rebuking it for stonewalling an agency probe into the Dair Alzour complex, bombed by Israel in 2007.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The General Assembly admitted South Sudan on Thursday as the 193rd member of the United Nations, sealing the new African country’s independence after decades of conflict.

The assembly vote, by acclamation, followed South Sudan’s independence proclamation in the capital Juba on Saturday, after its people voted in a January referendum to break away from Sudan — a decision accepted by Khartoum.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The Security Council formally recommended on Wednesday that newly independent South Sudan be admitted as a member of the United Nations.

Following the recommendation, in a five-line resolution adopted without a vote by the 15-nation council, the General Assembly is expected to admit the new African country as its 193rd U.N. member on Thursday.

BEIRUT/NEW YORK (Reuters) – The U.N. Security Council on Tuesday condemned “in the strongest terms” attacks by demonstrators on the U.S. and French embassies in Damascus.

Both Washington and Paris sharply denounced Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who has been trying for four months to stamp out a broad popular revolt with troops and tanks.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The Security Council unanimously recommended on Friday that Ban Ki-moon be re-elected as U.N. secretary-general, virtually assuring the South Korean diplomat of five more years in the top U.N. job.

The 192-nation General Assembly is planning to meet on Tuesday to formally reappoint Ban, 67, to a second term of office beginning on January 1, diplomats said.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – U.N. Security Council permanent member Britain urged the African Union on Wednesday to send a strong message that Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi must step down if civil war is to end in the North African state.

Britain’s U.N. ambassador Mark Lyall Grant told the grouping it should subordinate its peace efforts in Libya to those of the United Nations and that there could be no cease-fire as long as Gaddafi remained in power.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The United States is seeking to split the U.N. sanctions list for Taliban and al Qaeda figures into two as part of a bid to induce the Taliban into talks on a peace settlement in Afghanistan, diplomats said on Monday.

The move comes as Washington prepares to start pulling out its 97,000 troops in Afghanistan next month as part of a process to hand over all combat operations against Taliban insurgents to Afghan security forces by 2014.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – World leaders at a U.N. AIDS summit launched a plan on Thursday to try to eliminate by 2015 most new HIV infections among children, who inherit the condition from already infected mothers.

The campaign was launched as the leaders also agreed on a target of reaching 15 million people with HIV treatment, more than double the number who currently get it, also by 2015.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – Britain and France will put forward a U.N. Security Council resolution Wednesday condemning Syria’s crackdown on protesters, British Prime Minister David Cameron said.

Britain, France, Germany and Portugal circulated a first draft condemning Syria at the Security Council last month but veto powers Russia and China have made clear they dislike the idea of council involvement.