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<p>UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- Director Sydney Pollack had been all over New York City, but never inside the United Nations until he scouted locations for "The Interpreter."</p> <p>Over the next 14 weeks, Pollack will spend nights, weekends and holidays here filming his thriller about a U.N. interpreter (played by Nicole Kidman) who overhears a conversation that could cost her her life. Sean Penn is the co-star.</p>

<p>The Bush administration's new budget includes a $1.2 billion, 30-year loan to renovate the aging United Nations headquarters and build a new annex, although U.N. officials expressed disappointment that Washington will charge interest on the loan.</p> <p>The loan was part of a $31.5 billion foreign-operations budget request released Monday that also includes major new funding for the fight against AIDS and a revamped U.S. foreign-aid program targeting poor countries that implement political and social reforms.</p>

<p>The Bush administration's new budget includes a $1.2 billion, 30-year loan to renovate the aging United Nations headquarters and build a new annex, although U.N. officials expressed disappointment that Washington will charge interest on the loan.</p> <p>The loan was part of a $31.5 billion foreign-operations budget request released Monday that also includes major new funding for the fight against AIDS and a revamped U.S. foreign-aid program targeting poor countries that implement political and social reforms.</p>

The year 2003 was a triumphant one for America. But much remains to be done to make the world a safer, fairer place. One problem: the UN. What's to be done about that nest of corruption, double standards and staggering incompetence? No point in rehashing the UN's unrelieved record of failure, which in Africa alone has cost hundreds of thousands of lives. I am not suggesting, at this stage, that the U.S. should leave the organization (or disorganization), although that may well happen in time. What I do suggest is that the U.S. should give the UN notice to quit....

U.N. Puts Security Staff on 'High Alert' in NYC After U.S. Raises Terror Alert Warning The Associated Press UNITED NATIONS Dec. 22 — The United Nations put its security staff on "high alert" Monday following the U.S. government's decision to raise the threat of a terrorist attack to its second-highest level. Assistant Secretary-General Andrew Toh, who is in charge of security, sent an e-mail to some 5,000 staff at U.N. headquarters in New York urging them to go about their normal business but remain vigilant. Tom Ridge, head of the Department of Homeland Security, announced Sunday that the United States...

United Nations has reacted to NewsMax's story about an apparent suicide inside the world body's headquarters by "threatening to fire" the officials who spoke to NewsMax's U.N. correspondent Stewart Stogel. "They (U.N. management) are very upset about the story, but it is true," claimed a U.N. security officer. One fact first revealed by NewsMax was that a second U.N. security officer had opted taken to take a brief nap in the secluded and closed lounge where the first officer apparently took his life. The second officer napped for more than 30 minutes, not realizing the first officer seated only feet...

A U.N. security guard was found dead with a gunshot wound to the head in an apparent suicide committed inside U.N. headquarters on Monday, police said. AP Photo Michael Holton's body was found in a third floor lounge shortly before noon. Two officers had been sent to check on Holton after he did not return to his duty station following a break, said Michael McCann, the U.N. security chief. McCann told a news conference the incident was the first of its kind inside the United Nations (news - web sites) buildings. Holton, 41, was found in a lounge area where...

NEW YORK (AP) -- A body was found inside United Nations headquarters on Monday, a U.N. spokesman said. U.N. security and the New York police department are investigating the matter. The U.N. spokesman said the person had been shot, and that the body was discovered inside the building's third-floor lounge at about 11:30 a.m. He declined to give any details on the deceased person pending notification of the family. The spokesman, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the world body considered the shooting an "isolated incident."

Body Found At UN Headquarters In NYC; Had Been Shot UNITED NATIONS (AP)--A body was found inside United Nations headquarters on Monday, a U.N. spokesman said, and U.N. security and the New York police department were investigating the matter. A U.N. spokesman said the person had been shot and that the body was discovered inside the third floor lounge at about 11:30 a.m. EST (1630 GMT). He declined to give any details on the deceased person pending notification of the family. "The United Nations confirms a tragic shooting death at the U.N.," the spokesman said, speaking on customary condition of...

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has instructed his security officers not to force inspections of ambassadors or their cars when they enter the world body's headquarters in NYC. This despite repeated criticisms that security at U.N. facilities, both in the United States and abroad, is seriously deficient. The security memo, dated Oct. 29, 2003, and obtained by NewsMax, first explains that "all vehicles (and persons) entering UNHQ must be inspected." Then, in the next sentence, the memo says: "... if a permanent representative refuses [to permit an inspection] allow him to pass and enter, but note the delegate's name, date and...

Committee on Relations with Host Country 218th Meeting (PM) UNITED STATES DELEGATE SAYS DIPLOMATIC PARKING PROGRAMME IN NEW YORK SUCCESSFUL, WITH FAR FEWER TICKETS ISSUED UN Host Country Committee Hears Complaints of Continuing Problems; Action Promised if Missions Report to Authorities The Committee on Relations with the Host Country met this afternoon to discuss diplomatic parking issues and other matters. The representative of the Russian Federation said that one year after the implementation of the diplomatic parking programme, he had arrived at the conclusion that it had a very low rate of effectiveness. Members of his delegation were regularly photographing...

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Secretary-General Kofi Annan spoke too soon in trying to ban smoking from U.N. headquarters with several fuming diplomats on Tuesday trying to find ways around the prohibition. At a meeting of the General Assembly's committee on budget and administration, several delegates, led by Costa Rica and Russia, questioned the legal basis for Annan to put out such an order without a vote from member states. In the end, the panel, which includes all 191 U.N. members, decided to ask Annan to explain the legal basis for his decision before taking any further action. "It is the...

<p>October 1, 2003 -- Fuming U.N. diplomats are trying to find ways around a plan to ban smoking at the organization's East Side headquarters. Several delegates, led by Costa Rica and Russia, yesterday questioned the legal basis for U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to order a smoking ban without a vote from member states.</p>

UN envoys fume over New York smoking ban By Simon English in New York (Filed: 04/09/2003) A diplomatic confrontation between American authorities and much of the rest of the world intensified yesterday as senior officials at the United Nations insisted on their right to smoke in the organisation's headquarters. Casting aside petty differences and forging new allegiances, UN ambassadors said they would ignore New York's smoking ban, imposed five months ago and extended to the UN this week. A directive signed by Kofi Annan, the secretary-general, demanded that "no smoking shall be permitted in any of the UN premises at...

The Associated Press UNITED NATIONS Sept. 3 — The United Nations, the last bastion for smokers in New York City, has officially banned smoking but some diplomats insist they still have the right to puff away. A directive signed by Secretary-General Kofi Annan decreed that "no smoking shall be permitted in any of the United Nations premises at headquarters" starting Sept. 1, to eliminate the risks associated with secondhand smoke. Denis Beissel, head of the U.N. Office of Human Resources Management, warned U.N. staff in a follow-up directive that anyone who smokes in the building could face "disciplinary action." Russia's...

Lawyers group proposes reforms for United Nations The International Association of Lawyers proposed on Saturday the United Nations' charter should be overhauled and that its headquarters should be moved from New York, in a call for reform after the Iraq crisis. Failure to reform could lead to a "total marginalisation of this body in the fight for peace and international security in the 21st century", the association's president, Antoine Akl, said in an address at its annual congress. The Paris-based association, grouping almost two million lawyers from 110 countries, said it planned to submit its proposals to UN Secretary-General Kofi...

LISBON (Reuters) - The International Association of Lawyers proposed Saturday the United Nations' charter should be overhauled and that its headquarters should be moved from New York, in a call for reform after the Iraq crisis. Failure to reform could lead to a "total marginalization of this body in the fight for peace and international security in the 21st century," the association's president, Antoine Akl, said in an address at its annual congress. The Paris-based association, grouping almost two million lawyers from 110 countries, said it planned to submit its proposals to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan in an effort to...

<p>August 30, 2003 -- No butts about it - the United Nations has decided to ban smoking.</p> <p>The U.N., one of the last bastions for smokers in New York, will follow the Big Apple's tough anti-smoking law beginning Monday, officials said yesterday.</p>