Investigators probing the UN oil-for-food program in Iraq will criticise UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, his son and the Swiss company that employed him, but will not accuse the UN chief of corruption, officials said.

THE son of the UN Secretary-General was yesterday reported to have received at least €230,000 from a Swiss company that was awarded a contract from the UN’s oil-for-food programme in Iraq — almost double the amount previously disclosed.

The head of the UN mission to the Democratic Republic of Congo is to leave his post.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan put new pressure on the Security Council yesterday to confront continued violence in Sudan, despite major differences on how to go about it.

A United Nations-appointed team led by Deputy Garda Commissioner Peter Fitzgerald will arrive in Beirut in the next two days to investigate the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri.

After months of criticism, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan decided that UN refugee chief Ruud Lubbers had to go because of the growing controversy over allegations that the former Dutch prime minister had sexually harassed female staffers.

KOFI ANNAN yesterday suspended the head of the UN oil-for-food programme in Iraq and a senior official who dealt with contracts following an independent investigation that accused them of misconduct.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan has suspended the head of the UN oil-for-food programme in Iraq and a senior official who dealt with contracts following an independent investigation that accused them of misconduct.

Former US President Bill Clinton is to be the top UN envoy for tsunami relief and reconstruction to ensure that the world doesn’t forget the immense needs of the countries devastated by the disaster, a well-informed UN diplomat said today.

Iraq’s interim prime minister warned that insurgents are trying to foment sectarian civil war as well as derail elections, while thousands of mourners turned out for funerals in the Shiite holy cities of Najaf and Karbala a day after car bombs killed 67 people.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s son was paid more than €22,900 a year for five years by a company under investigation in the UN’s Iraq oil-for-food programme corruption probe.

Burma’s military junta released at least 19 political prisoners, including pro-democracy party members, as part of a group of nearly 4,000 inmates it said were wrongly charged by an intelligence agency.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan today urged Palestinians and Israelis to work with the international community to make Yasser Arafat’s dream of two states living in peace a reality.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today appointed a five-member international commission to investigate whether acts of genocide took place during the 19-month conflict in Sudan’s western Darfur region.

Hurricane Ivan grew into the deadliest of storms today, packing winds of 160mph as it headed straight for Jamaica and left a devastated Grenada with 20 dead.

The deadly showdown between US troops and Iraqi militants in Najaf dominated Iraq’s national conference, with tribal and religious leaders deciding to send 60 delegates to the holy city to persuade a radical Shiite cleric to call off his fighters.

A Shiite Muslim nuclear scientist is among those being considered for Iraq’s prime minister, officials said today as UN and US envoys and Iraqi leaders poured over names to fill the 30 top spots in the next government.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said today that the UN is taking seriously a death threat against him and other officials made in an audio tape attributed to Osama bin Laden.

IN the first inter-Korean cargo flight, South Korea's Red Cross will transport blankets, medicine and other aid to North Korea today to help the communist nation cope with the aftermath of the devastating train explosion of April 22.

Israel is considering a formal protest to the United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan after his top envoy described the Jewish state as “the great poison” in the Middle East.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan has proposed an independent investigation of alleged corruption in the UN oil-for-food programme for Iraq following allegations that UN staff may have reaped millions of dollars from the programme that helped Iraqis cope with international sanctions.

THE British Government is to review the Official Secrets Act after Prime Minister Tony Blair branded ex-Cabinet minister Clare Short “irresponsible” for claiming British secret agents bugged UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

British bugging of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s office is illegal if proved to be true, the world body said today.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan was meeting coalition and Iraqi officials today, in top-level talks on a role for the UN as Iraq moves towards democracy.

More than 30 UN international staff pulled out of Iraq after additional staff cutbacks were ordered due to security concerns, leaving just 50 foreign employees behind, a UN spokesman said.

A MORTAR blast tore through a market north of Baghdad killing nine civilians and injuring more than a dozen as the UN said it was pulling more staff out of the strife-torn country.

A mortar blast at a market north of Baghdad killed eight civilians shortly after the United Nations announced plans to scale back its international staff because of continuing violence.

More UN staff have been ordered out of Iraq by Secretary-General Kofi Annan following the second bombing at the world body’s headquarters in Baghdad in a month.

At least two people were killed and eleven others injured when a car bomb exploded morning while the vehicle was being examined at a checkpoint as it tried to enter the UN compound in Baghdad.

At least two people were killed and seven others injured this morning when a car bomb exploded while being examined at a checkpoint as it tried to enter the UN compound in Baghdad, Iraqi police reported.

The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund informed the US Treasury they are pulling their staff out of Iraq on following the bombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad.

Security was stepped up across Israel today after a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up on a bus packed with Jews returning from evening prayers, killing at least 20 people.

A suicide bomber blew himself up on a bus packed with Jewish worshippers returning from the Western Wall in Jerusalem, killing at least 18 people, including five children.

Fleeing civilians jammed roads out of an eastern Congo city by the thousands to escape rival ethnic militias battling for control with mortars and machetes.

AMONG the survivors recovering in Kinshasa General Hospital after the Congo air disaster, which saw more than 100 passengers sucked out of their plane when the cargo ramp opened mid-flight, was a policeman, who gave his name only as Katembo.

THE United Nations has a “do” and “don’t” list for Iraq.

Kofi Annan wants Saddam Hussein to clarify if he will accept the return of UN weapons inspectors under Security Council conditions.

A senior UN official from Brazil was today named to succeed former Irish president Mary Robinson as head of the Human Rights Commission.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Iraq’s foreign minister were holding the final session of closed-door talks on a positive note today, but it was unclear whether it would result in the return of weapons inspectors.

Iraq wants high-level talks with the UN to cover a range of issues including US threats to topple Saddam Hussein.

The UN Security Council has unanimously approved a US resolution welcoming a fact-finding mission to look into Israeli military action in Jenin.

Israel today told UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan that it would welcome a fact-finding mission to look into Israeli military action in Jenin and other Palestinian cities, a UN spokesman said.

Talks between Iraq’s foreign minister Naji Sabri and United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan have been postponed at Baghdad’s request, Annan’s spokesman has said.

An Irish army officer was among three UN observers and two armed peacekeepers assaulted by Hezbollah gunmen in southern Lebanon yesterday, UN officials said.