From the BBC: "In a speech in London, Mr Annan said the UN had an important role to play in fighting terror and poverty. Earlier, UK Prime Minister Tony Blair strongly endorsed Mr Annan, calling him a "tremendous unifier".
From the Chicago Tribune: "The United Nations said governments have given only a fraction of the money they pledged for tsunami aid and warned that more cash is needed to fund long-term reconstruction efforts."
Secretary Rice, from a Q&A in Paris: "The United States is a founding member of the United Nations. We want the United Nations to be strong and active and effective.... The United Nations has been critical in providing the mandate for the coalition forces that are now in Iraq as a part of a multinational force there to support the Iraqi people."
Via UN Wire, this article on the battle to end HIV/Aids in Africa. Quote: "The United Nations children's and public health agencies may be able to develop and market anti-HIV/AIDS formulations for children within 18 months, the UN Special Envoy helping to coordinate the battle against HIV/AIDS in Africa said today in Barcelona, Spain.... "The most important touch of solace on the horizon is that UNICEF and WHO have come together in an effort to address the most complex aspects of this predicament," he said."
From UN Wire: "As American officials seek to quell fears of an Iranian-like theocracy coming into power in Iraq with guarantees that Iraq's leaders will embrace only moderate policies, Swanee Hunt and Isobel Coleman write in the International Herald Tribune that without real rights afforded to women, any claims of moderation are simply "an illusion."
"Talking to Mark Malloch Brown, Annan's new British chief of staff, this weekend I sensed a new sense of resolve that the UN was ready to take the fight back to its detractors." More...
From Saturday's NY Times: "A commission investigating the United Nations' oil-for-food program in Iraq has issued an interim report that sheds some light, but not much, on the nature and scope of this much-ballyhooed scandal."
Jonathan Curiel writes about the "rhetorical standoff" on the question of what constitutes genocide: "It's easy to stay mired in this rhetorical standoff ... but to do so would ignore what may be the most important element of the U.N. commission's report: Its gripping narrative of the Darfur violence.... The U.N. commission wasn't trying to absolve the atrocities committed by both sides in Darfur. In fact, the report states unequivocally that the perpetrators of violence in Darfur should be prosecuted to the fullest extent possible. On this point, there is no debate at all."
From ABC News (via UN Wire): "David Nabarro, the WHO's top health crisis official, said health officials' success at combating disease had exceeded his expectations, after the U.N. body had warned of possible mosquito-and water-borne epidemics in the region, which is in the grip of the rainy season."