United Nations

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Residents wave anti-EU flags as they watch a live broadcast from the U.N. court on the verdict for a key wartime Croatian commander, Gen. Ante Gotovina, in Zagreb, Croatia, in April. Croatia signed an EU accession treaty last year and is set to become a member in July 2013, if the Croats say "yes" in the referendum and all of the bloc's 27 states later ratify the deal. (Associated Press)

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U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (left) and Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati attend the opening session of a conference on democracy in the Arab world in Beirut on Sunday, Jan. 15, 2012. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

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Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai shakes hands with U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon (center), while German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle (right) stands next to them at the International Afghanistan Conference in Bonn on Monday. (Associated Press)

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Susan Rice, U.S. ambassador to the U.N.

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** FILE ** Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra answers reporters questions during a joint press conference with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the Government House in Bangkok, Thailand, on Wednesday Nov. 16, 2011. (AP Photo/Damir Sagolj, Pool)

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Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, has said the United Nations too often becomes a forum for tyrants when it should promote democracy and human rights. (Associated Press)

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Former businessman Herman Cain has said he would change some of the U.N.'s rules. Mr. Cain, a GOP presidential hopeful, says he admires the hard-line foreign-policy views of a former U.S. envoy to the U.N.

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A U.S. soldier checks the damage at offices of the U.N.'s refugee agency, the UNHCR, caused by a suicide bomber in Kandahar, Afghanistan, on Oct. 31, 2011. The attack killed four people and severely damaged the U.N. agency's building, Afghan officials said. (Associated Press)

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In this photo from Sept. 23, 2009, Libyan leader Col. Moammar Gadhafi shows a torn copy of the United Nations Charter during his address to the 64th session of the U.N. General Assembly. (Associated Press)

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U.N. humanitarian chief Valerie Amos (center left) shakes hands with North Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Pak Kil-yon on her arrival at the Pyongyang airport on Monday, Oct. 17, 2011. (AP Photos/APTN)

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Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, wants to cut funds to the U.N. as well as its Population Fund. (Associated Press)

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Angelina Jolie has accepted a position as Special Representative on the Afghan refugee situation, the U.N. announced Tuesday in Geneva. (Associated Press)

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Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is gambling on a favorable response about statehood from the U.N. (Associated Press)

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Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (left) addresses the 66th session of the United Nations General Assembly at United Nations headquarters on Sept. 23, 2011. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the assembly shortly after Abbas. (Associated Press)

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Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas holds a letter requesting recognition of Palestine as a state as he addresses the 66th session of the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 23, 2011, at U.N. headquarters. (Associated Press)

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Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (left) poses for a picture with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon after giving him a letter requesting recognition of Palestine as a state during the 66th session of the General Assembly at United Nations headquarters on Sept. 23, 2011. (Associated Press)