The U.N. Security Council hit deadlock Monday on a statement on the Gaza conflict with the United States saying it opposes any action that undermines efforts to reach a ceasefire.

But Russia warned that unless an Arab-proposed statement calling for Israel-Hamas hostilities to end was agreed by Tuesday morning it would press for a vote on the full council resolution -- setting up a potential veto clash with the United States.

U.N. leader Ban Ki-moon vowed Sunday that peacekeepers will stay in the DR Congo city of Goma after U.N. combat helicopters and government troops failed to stop a rebel advance amid growing international alarm.

Government troops and local officials were already fleeing the city, said several sources.

U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon considered that there are deliberate attempts to destabilize the situation in Lebanon, expressing his “deep concern” over the possibility of the Syrian crisis spilling over into the country.

Ban stressed that the international community is determined to preserve stability in Lebanon, saying there should be no impunity in the October 19 assassination of Internal Security Forces Intelligence Bureau Chief Wissam al-Hasan.

Russia's representative in international talks with Iran over its disputed nuclear program, Sergei Ryabkov, is to meet Tehran's top negotiator on Wednesday, news agencies reported.

Ryabkov, who is also deputy foreign minister, was due to meet Saeed Jalili in his one-day visit, the Iranian agencies said without elaborating on the content or the aim of the visit.

A meeting in Tokyo later this month aimed at increasing pressure on the Syrian regime could include several Southeast Asian countries, Japanese officials said Wednesday.

The November 30 meeting will bring together senior government officials from the "Friends of Syria Group" supporting the Syrian opposition and will focus on making sanctions more effective, a foreign ministry official said.

The Palestinians will submit a bid to the General Assembly for non-state membership of the United Nations later this month, President Mahmud Abbas said on Sunday.

"We're going to the United Nations in November 2012, not 2013, or 2014," Abbas said at an event commemorating the eighth anniversary of the death of former president Yasser Arafat.

Hizbullah senior official Mohammed Yazbek criticized on Saturday U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon's 16th semi-annual report on the implementation of 1559, saying that the party is defending Lebanon's national unity.

“They are demanding to dismantle the resistance so that Israel remains” safe, Yazbek said.

The U.N. Special envoy for the implementation of U.N. Security Council resolution 1559 said the world should give “priority to protecting Lebanon from harm at this difficult time.”

“Lebanon should not become a battleground for actors seeking to advance their own interests at the country’s expense or to destabilize the region,” Terje Roed-Larsen told the Security Council on Friday during a briefing on U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon's 16th semi-annual report on the implementation of 1559.

China said Thursday it had made "constructive new suggestions" to end the bloodshed in Syria, including a phased region-by-region ceasefire and the formation of a transitional government.

In an apparent attempt to position China at the heart of efforts to solve the issue, the foreign ministry gave a detailed account of proposals it made to Lakhdar Brahimi, the visiting United Nations-Arab League joint peace envoy.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was due to hold talks Wednesday with President Francois Hollande on the Iranian nuclear program.

The two-day trip is Netanyahu's "first opportunity to talk with President Hollande, and he hopes to build a good working relationship with the French leader," a source close to the Israeli leader told AFP.