UN Geneva offices may need $1b repairs

The Palais des Nations is crumbling.

Built more than 70 years ago to house the United Nations' predecessor and then largely neglected, the grandiose structure has kilometers of leaky and rusted pipes and unsafe wiring, inefficient heating and cooling systems, and also suffers frequent floods.

Its Russian director-general says the historic complex urgently needs repairs that could cost more than $1 billion.