Better financial position

Joseph Connor, the chief financial officer, a nominee of Bill Clinton’s whose steady hand during the long period of severe fiscal problems finally saw the UN through in 2001 to its best year (formerly delinquent states paid their dues) has been asked to soldier on. Shashi Tharoor, an Indian part-time novelist and author, has reinvigorated the department of public information (drawing rare praise from its former severest critic, the United States) and gets a 12-month extension in that post. For now, UN secretary-general, Kofi Annan, has evidently decided that ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’.

From Jane’s Information Group Ltd., Sentinel House, 163 Brighton Road, Coulsdon, Surrey CR5 2NH, UK – Jan. 24, ‘02