"Secretary-General Kofi Annan has announced the creation of a fund to promote democratric institutions and practices around the world - an idea first proposed by the United States.

The United Nations said Tuesday that since many members have offered to contribute, Annan wanted to set up the fund this summer so interested countries could make donations by September. That's when Annan has invited world leaders to a summit to tackle U.N. reform and agree on measures to meet U.N. development goals, including cutting extreme poverty by half by 2015." [More]