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

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

I thought you all would have left in disgust by now.  I am sorry.  We have a statement on the Middle East that held us up.  Anyway, here it is. 

**Secretary-General Statement on Middle East

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

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

Good Afternoon.

**Secretary-General Says Not Enough Done to Protect Civilians in Conflict

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

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

Good Afternoon.

**Secretary-General Returns to Headquarters

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

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

It’s a slow news day.  We can start the briefing late, right? Everyone’s relaxed.

**Secretary-General

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

This is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s noon briefing by Manoel de Almeida e Silva, Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General.

**Secretary-General/AIDS

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

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

**Release of UN Staff Held in Somalia

Good afternoon.  At about 9:25 a.m. EST today (or 4:25 p.m. local time), a UN plane picked up the last two UN staff members detained in Somalia -- Bill Condie, 61, and Roger Carter, 41, both nationals of the United Kingdom.

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

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

Don’t get spooked now, but there is a new robotic camera on the ceiling there.  We now have two shots -– one looking at me and one looking at you.

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

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

I thought it was 11 o’clock, no it’s 12 o’clock.  We’ll start with a statement attributable to the Secretary-General on the arrest of Slobodan Milosevic.

**Statement Attributable to Secretary-General

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

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

Good afternoon.  Our guest at today’s briefing is Joseph Connor, the Under-Secretary-General for Management, and he’ll be talking to you about the current financial situation of the Organization, based on his report to the Fifth Committee.

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

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

I understand we have some visiting journalists from India.  Welcome to the briefing.  Good Afternoon.

**Violence in Israel and Palestinian Territories