UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – Recent U.N. resolutions on Libya broke new ground in backing international action to protect civilians, but the stalemated civil war that has ensued could roll back those advances, diplomats and analysts say.

Russia, China and other powers have voiced dismay that the world body has appeared to take sides in an internal conflict, not just in Libya but also in Ivory Coast, where a Security Council resolution led to the ousting of an incumbent ruler.

UNITED NATIONS, May 9 (Reuters) – Ethnically divided Bosnia is facing its most serious crisis since it was established as a state 15 years ago, its international envoy warned on Monday, accusing Serb officials of threatening its viability.

Bosnia in the 1990s suffered Europe’s worst conflict since World War Two. The country remains divided between former wartime adversaries living in two autonomous regions — a separatist Serb Republic and a Muslim-Croat federation.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The world’s population is projected to pass 7 billion on October 31 as it heads toward 10 billion or more by the end of the century, a new U.N. report said on Tuesday.

The report also predicted that the global population would be higher by mid-century than its last edition forecast two years ago, reaching 9.31 billion instead of 9.15 billion. It attributed this to fewer deaths as well as more births than it had anticipated.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) said on Saturday it was postponing consideration of an aid plan for Syria because of the turmoil there.

The move followed a sharp attack by a senior U.S. Republican congresswoman on the proposed program, which she said could lead to a “Bucks for Bashar” scandal — a reference to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – A European push for the U.N. Security Council to condemn Syria’s violent crackdown on anti-government protesters was blocked on Wednesday by resistance from Russia, China and Lebanon, envoys said.

“There will be no statement,” a Security Council diplomat told Reuters on condition of anonymity.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The United Nations called on Thursday for “bold and decisive steps” to relaunch the Israeli-Palestinian peace process as the region awaits a possible new initiative by U.S. President Barack Obama.

U.N. political chief Lynn Pascoe and ambassadors of key Security Council countries said it was important to break the deadlock soon as a proclaimed September deadline for reaching an agreement draws closer.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on Friday for action by the U.N. Human Rights Council on disputed Western Sahara but stopped short of proposing permanent rights monitoring by U.N. peacekeepers.

Sahara’s Polisario Front independence movement has long called for the U.N. mission there to report on what it says are rights abuses by Morocco, which annexed the former Spanish colony in 1975. Rabat denies the charge and opposes the move.

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The U.N. special envoy on sexual violence in conflict chided the Security Council on Thursday for failing to mention it in two recent resolutions on Libya, despite having made the subject a priority.

In a speech to the council, Margot Wallstrom said measures against sexual violence should be “automatically and systematically included” in provisions to protect civilians like those in the Libya resolutions.

UNITED NATIONS, April 12 (Reuters) – The U.N. Security
Council on Monday backed the idea of special courts to try
captured Somali pirates but put off a decision on thorny
details such as where to locate them.

A council resolution asked U.N. Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon to report back within two months on how to prosecute
suspects, widely seen as one of the weakest links in the
international effort to combat the scourge of Somali piracy.

ABIDJAN/UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – Forces loyal to Laurent Gbagbo, besieged in his Abidjan residence, have retaken ground and are edging closer to where rival presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara is holed up, the United Nations said.

U.N. peacekeeping chief Alain Le Roy told reporters Gbagbo’s forces had used a lull in fighting on Tuesday for peace talks as a ruse to reinforce their positions. [ID:nN08146615]