From the UN News Center:

The Secretary-General urged attendees to build on the momentum generated by the breakthrough in Bali, Indonesia, in last December's landmark UN Climate Change Conference, where 187 countries agreed on the so-called "Bali Roadmap" -- including bolstered action on mitigation, adaptation, technology and finance -- to tackle global warming.

The Bangkok meeting is expected to lay out a work plan for the negotiations which will conclude in 2009 at a major summit in Copenhagen, Denmark. Mr. Ban has emphasized in the past that a successor pact must be ready for ratification three years before the Kyoto Protocol expires to allow countries to make it law in time.

It is also anticipated that this gathering -- attended by delegates from 163 nations -- will further efforts regarding emission reduction targets for developed countries.

Also speaking at the opening of the talks, the top UN climate change official pointed out that three months have already elapsed since the close of the Bali conference.

"This leaves us with around one and a half years -- a very short time-frame within which to complete negotiations on one of the most complex international agreements that history has ever seen," said Yvo de Boer, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Read more.

The Undersecretary General for Management responds to last week's front page Washington Post article on rising costs at the U.N.

The March 21 front-page story "Expenses at U.N. Balloon 25 Percent; U.S. Demands on Body Help Drive Up Budget" suggested that the United Nations recently "presented its top donors with a request for nearly $1.1 billion in additional funds." The implication is that spending is out of control and member states are saddled with the consequences.

But the General Assembly approved the $4.1 billion budget. All additional costs reflect new demands from members, notably the United States, particularly in peace and security. The United Nations does not "present" bills to its members; it acts upon their instructions.

A "doubling" of "administrative costs" is stated as part of the problem. The budget includes mounting costs of special political missions, including Iraq and Afghanistan. By no stretch can these be considered "administrative costs."

The costs of U.N. operations are spiraling upward because they have never been more in demand.

ALICIA BARCENA
Undersecretary General
Department of Management
United Nations
New York

In this week's UN Plaza, Matthew Lee and I cover a host of issues, including francophones at the UN, Northern Uganda, and circumstances surrounding the assassination attempt on East Timor president Jose Ramos Horta. In the segment below, we discuss Ban's recently released report on Somalia.

Dith Pran, a New York Times photojournalist, chronicler of the devastation wrought by the Khmer Rouge, and basis for the The Killing Fields, died on Sunday.

>>Zimbabwe - The results from Saturday's presidential election in Zimbabwe have not been officially released, however the opposition is claiming a landslide victory over Robert Mugabe, who has held power for 28 years. A government spokesman responded by saying that such a claim "is called a coup d'etat and we all know how coups are handled." Delayed reporting by the Zimbabwe Election Commission, which election monitors say should already have the results, has raised concerns that the ruling party would engage in underhanded tactics to fix the election. In the limited results that have already been announced, Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa, a member of Mugabe's party, ZANU-PF, has already lost his seat.

>>Iraq - Yesterday Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr called for his followers to cease hostilities and demanded concessions from the Iraq's government after six days of fighting in Basra, which, according to some calculations, has claimed more than 240 lives. Iraq's government has announced that it will not stop its attack, and British troops previously stationed at Basra airport have entered the battle for the first time. Plans for a drawdown of British troops will be postponed in light of the new insecurity in Basra.

>>Korea - A North Korean military commander has been quoted as saying, "Our military will not sit idle until warmongers launch a pre-emptive strike ... Everything will be in ashes, not just a sea of fire, if our advanced pre-emptive strike once begins." This statement is the most recent escalation in a war of words that began when South Korea's new president threatened to halt new aid and speak out on human rights abuses should the North not abandon its nuclear program. The new Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in South Korea said last week that the South would strike North Korean nuclear bases in response to a North Korean attack but said that he had no plans for a pre-emptive attack.

>>Uganda - LRA commander Joseph Kony is walking to the Sudan-Congo border to sign a final peace agreement with the government of Uganda.

• Breaking the Silence on Rape in the Congo
• Dire Humanitarian -- And Political -- Imperatives in Somalia

Africa

• Audio: Chris McGreal reports from Harare
• Guardian Daily podcast: Zimbabwe moves for change
• WITNESS: Running in Kenya's land of the champions

Americas

• Venezuela bombs drugs airstrips
• Costa Rican minister steps down over FARC comments
• Letters: Brazil sugars the pill on biofuels
• Farmers meet president as strike grips Argentina
• Chavez 'stifles Venezuelan media'

Asia

• Nicolas Sarkozy to lay out Afghan troop plans as Nato struggles
• Two British marines dead in Afghan blast
• Musharraf swears in 24 members of Pakistan cabinet
• Proposed Myanmar charter bars Suu Kyi from office
• Dutch MP's film angers Indonesia
• China arrests suspect in schoolgirl rapes
• China blasts Dalai Lama as Olympic torch arrives
• Bush to Meet NATO Allies Divided Over Adding Troops in Afghanistan
• New Joint Effort Aims to Empower Afghan Tribes to Guard Themselves
• British Troops, Taliban In a Tug of War Over Afghan Province
• Flirting by Text Message, Indians Test Social Limits
• Security tight as Olympic flame arrives in China
• Japan PM in pinch as voters favor cheaper gasoline

Europe

• Czech PM says U.S. radar deal almost ready: paper
• Split looms in Hungarian coalition after sacking
• 'Le scrapbooking' takes France by storm
• Iceland counters alleged attacks
• France offers plane if Betancourt released