Daily Press Briefing by the Office of the Spokesman for the Secretary-General

Following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s noon briefing by Marie Okabe, Associate Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.

Good afternoon.

**Tsunami Update – Egeland

Starting the briefing for us today is Jan Egeland, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, here to give us our daily update on the tsunami assistance.

Daily Press Briefing by the Office of the Spokesman for the Secretary-General

Following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s noon briefing by Marie Okabe, Associate Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.

Daily Press Briefing by the Office of the Spokesman for the Secretary-General

Following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s noon briefing by Marie Okabe, Associate Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.

Good afternoon and a Happy New Year to you all.

**Guest at Noon

Daily Press Briefing by the Office of the Spokesman for the Secretary-General

Following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s noon briefing by Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General.

Good afternoon,

**Iraq –- Electoral Update

In Iraq, the list of candidates for the upcoming elections is still being processed.  So far, the names of almost 19,000 candidates have been presented.

Daily Press Briefing by the Office of the Spokesman for the Secretary-General

Following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s noon briefing by Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General.

Good afternoon,

Vacation started early.  Sorry, I am a little bit late.  We’ll start with Iraq.

**Iraq

Daily Press Briefing by the Office of the Spokesman for the Secretary-General

Following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s noon briefing by Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General.

Good afternoon,

**Statement Attributable to Spokesman for Secretary-General

We’ll start with a statement attributable to the Spokesman on the subject of Iraq:

Daily Press Briefing by the Office of the Spokesman for the Secretary-General

Following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s noon briefing by Stéphane Dujarric, Associate Spokesman for the Secretary-General.

Good afternoon.

**SG in Brussels

Daily Press Briefing by the Office of the Spokesman for the Secretary-General

Following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s noon briefing by Stéphane Dujarric, Associate Spokesman for the Secretary-General.

Good afternoon.

**Council on Foreign Relations

I’ve got quite a few items today, starting off with the Secretary-General who, as you know, is in Washington today, where he is currently meeting with US National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice.

Daily Press Briefing by the Office of the Spokesman for the Secretary-General

Following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s noon briefing by Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General.

Good afternoon,

**Statement Attributable to the Spokesman for the Secretary-General

The lead item for today that just was given to me on Iraq is a statement attributable to the Spokesman:

DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY THE OFFICE OF THE SPOKESMAN FOR THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

Following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s noon briefing by Fred Eckhard, Spokesman for the Secretary-General.

Good afternoon,

**Guest at Noon

Joining us today will be Jan Pronk, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Sudan, and he will brief you on the latest developments in that country.