"The No. 2 United Nations official met with top Iraqi leaders in Baghdad on Thursday to promote a new partnership meant to help muster political and economic support for Iraq's government, the U.N. said.

Mark Malloch Brown, the deputy U.N. secretary-general, discussed setting up a preparatory group that will have the backing of the World Bank and include representatives of international donors, the U.N. said in a news release from its headquarters in New York." [More]