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World body's spokeswoman says Ki-moon phoned Abbas to stress his support for Palestinians on day marking 'catastrophe' of Israel's inception; Israel demands retraction WASHINGTON - Israel is demanding that the UN strike the word 'Nakba' from its lexicon, this after the world body's spokeswoman uttered it, apparently by mistake, in a press briefing she held Thursday night. 'Nakba', or 'catastrophe', refers to the refugee flight of Palestinian Arabs that followed Israel's inception in 1948. The spokeswoman told reporters that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon "phoned Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to stress his support for the Palestinian people on Nakba Day". An...

The Hague - United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has issued a strong condemnation of the anti-Qur'an film released by Dutch MP Geert Wilders. The UN chief said there could be no justification for instilling hatred or incitement to violence. The European Union and a handful of Muslim countries have also strongly condemned the film. The authorities in Pakistan summoned the Dutch ambassador to account for the film and want the Netherlands to take legal action against Geert Wilders, who heads the right-wing Freedom Party. Negative reactions have also come from Iran, Jordan and Indonesia. The Indonesian authorities referred to the...

The BBC has apologized for significant errors in two recent news reports on Israel. In a news item on March 7, following the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva attack, the BBC showed a bulldozer demolishing a house, while correspondent Nick Miles told viewers: "Hours after the attack, Israeli bulldozers destroyed his family home. Later, mourners set up Hamas and Islamic Jihad banners nearby." The house, however, was not demolished; the BBC was embarrassed when news reports from other broadcasters showed the east Jerusalem home intact and the family commemorating their son's actions. Last week, the BBC apologized live on its news program,...

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday promised in Dakar to "fight against those who want to justify violence against the religion." "We will fight against those who want to justify violence against the religion and promote understanding among the Alliance of Civilisations. We will strengthen cooperation between the OIC (Organisation of the Islamic Conference) and the United Nations in this area (religion)," Ban said. He delivered his speech at the opening of the two-day 11th Islamic Ummah summit in Dakar, Thursday. The recently established Alliance of Civilisations (early January 2008) is a UN institution intended to promote dialogue between the...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Mexican President Felipe Calderon on Monday decried anti-immigrant perceptions in the United States and argued that Mexican immigrants complement American workers. On his first trip to the U.S. as Mexico's president, Calderon said he is working to combat anti-Americanism in Mexico and to improve job prospects there to reduce migration. He said he hopes that Americans resist anti-Mexican sentiments. "The worst thing that happened in this country is this anti-Mexican or anti-immigrant perception of people. We need to contain this," Calderon said after a speech at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government. "I need to change...

KIGALI (AFP) - The Rwandan genocide will haunt the world's conscience for generations, UN chief Ban Ki-moon said Tuesday as he visited a memorial for victims of the 1994 massacre during a landmark trip to Kigali. The United Nations secretary general's visit comes as Rwanda seeks to mend ties with the international community, despite simmering resentment over the world's failure to prevent the genocide. "The 1994 genocide will haunt the United Nations and the international community for generations," Ban said, after laying a wreath over a mass grave, where some 250,000 people were buried. "The 1994 genocide shocked our consciences....

Former U.S./U.N. ambassador John Bolton returned to U.N. headquarters in NYC on Friday to launch his new book "Surrender Is Not An Option" (Threshold Editions- Simon & Schuster - 486 pgs.) The controversial U.S. diplomat quit his U.N. post in November 2006 when the Senate Foreign Relations Committee stalled a vote on his nomination. For the preceding 18 mos. Bolton served as UN ambassador under a temporary Congressional recess appointment that was to expire on January 1, 2007. With a Democratic Congress taking office and a rejected nomination likely, Bolton asked President Bush to withdraw his name rather than face...

WASHINGTON — U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called first lady Laura Bush on Tuesday to thank her for her support for the people of Myanmar and to keep international attention on the crisis there, the White House said.

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - UN chief Ban Ki-moon, opening a landmark summit on climate change, warned world leaders Monday they face condemnation by future generations if they fail to tackle greenhouse-gas pollution. "Climate change, and what we do about it, will define us, our era, and ultimately the global legacy we leave for future generations," the secretary general said. He demanded a breakthrough at a key conference taking place in Bali, Indonesia, in December. "The time for doubt has passed," said Ban, as he noted the grim 4th assessment on climate change by the United Nations' top scientific panel this...

UNITED NATIONS - The science is clear and the time short, but the political will is lacking to confront global warming, the U.N. secretary-general said Tuesday. Ban Ki-moon said he hoped next Monday's "climate summit" here will help galvanize leaders to take action "before it is too late." Asked at a news conference about President Bush's planned separate meeting to discuss global-warming measures among a handful of countries later next week, the U.N. chief said Bush assured him it would be coordinated with the established U.N. process of negotiating climate treaty commitments among all nations. The Bush administration rejects treaty...

<p>ABC reported on their website blog about 20 min ago that United Nations weapons inspectors discovered six to eight vials of a dangerous nerve gas, phosgene, as they were cleaning out offices at a U.N. building in New York this morning, federal authorities tell the Blotter on ABCNews.com. The federal authorities said the office, in a U.N. building near headquarters, was being evacuated and the White House had been notified at 10 a.m. New York police and fire officials said federal authorities had not notified them of any problem at the U.N. building, as of 11 a.m. A U.N. spokesperson said a statement would be issued shortly.</p>

UNITED NATIONS Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, now eight months in office, is proving that his courteous manner should not be mistaken for lack of resolve. The Korean diplomat's administration has spoken out for the victims of Darfur, confronted Sri Lanka over the killings of aid workers, and acted to establish the international tribunal on the assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri of Lebanon. Quietly but firmly, Ban is helping to confirm the UN's indispensable role in the world. Yet Ban has made little progress in restraining the UN's own dark side. Getting underway in Europe alone, in the space...

Ban Ki-Moon Asked To Intercede On Behalf Of Two Journalists Under Sentence Of Death August 14, 2007 Reporters Without Borders RSF Reporters Without Borders wrote yesterday to United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon urging him to intercede in the case of Adnan Hassanpour and Abdolvahed Botimar, two journalists who were sentenced to death on 16 July, and to ask the Islamic Republic of Iran to adhere to the international treaties it has signed concerning civil and political rights. “Their most basic rights were violated as they were barred from court when the sentence was handed down,” the letter said. “Even more...

I do not like coming off like a crank or a crazed winger. I think of myself as pragmatic and moderate, and I believe that my positions bear that out. Yes, I sometimes use intense language when discussing the behavior and motives of the left, the Dems, and the MSM (all one thing, in a way). I believe that intensity is warranted. Still, my politics themselves are center-right, and I seek to be pragmatic, responsible, and not to buy into crazy conspiracy theories. That said, I want you to read this article by Debra Saunders. It's short enough, so please...

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday urged the United States to take the lead in combating global warming during a visit to California to learn about the state's aggressive campaign to curb its greenhouse gas emissions. "The whole planet earth is at a crucial juncture," Ban told an audience at an event organized by the World Affairs Council of Northern California. "Time is of essence. The cost of inaction will be far greater than the cost of action." Ban, who served as South Korea's foreign minister before he became U.N. chief in January, arrived in San Francisco on Thursday...

Sacramento -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon are scheduled to spend part of today at a San Jose networking company in which the governor has an indirect financial stake. The company, Echelon Corp., manufacturers energy-saving control systems and will host the governor and the U.N. chief for a morning tour and press conference where both leaders are expected to praise California companies and their efforts to address global warming issues. But Schwarzenegger, who has a personal fortune estimated at more than $100 million, also has a holding of at least $1 million in an investment fund that...

The United Nations' Cash for Kim Jong Il scandal is now six months old, so it's a good time to assess progress, if that's the right word. The evidence of misdeeds at the U.N. Development Program in North Korea continues to mount, but there's still no "urgent" and "external" inquiry, as ordered by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in January. Now the U.S. has uncovered evidence that in addition to transferring millions of dollars in cash that may have gone to help prop up Kim's grotesque regime, the UNDP also transferred dual-use technology. It did so without bothering to secure a U.S....

Leadership: The new U.N. secretary general invokes a Twinkie defense, excusing Islamofascist genocide in Darfur by blaming it on global warming. Forget the Chinese weapons. According to Ban Ki-moon, your SUV is responsible.

(IsraelNN.com) United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon visited Israel Sunday, paying tribute to dead PLO chief Yasser Arafat but refusing to meet with Hamas officials. Ban arrived Saturday and met with Fatah chief and PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday. The secretary-general praised Abbas for his faction?s participation in the unity government but refrained from making any commitments. ?We will have to wait and see how the new government accepts the international conditions,? he said. "I expect that with this formation of the national unity government, the leaders of this government will abide by the principles laid out by the Quartet,?...

Bound to Fail Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has taken on 'mission impossible.' Everything about The United Nations conspires against him. By Sebastian Mallaby Newsweek International March 5, 2007 issue - On a celebrated Thursday in April 1953, the first secretary-general of the United Nations greeted his successor as he arrived at New York's Idlewild airport, now JFK. You are about to inherit "the most impossible job in the world," he told him. Half a century on, that warning still overshadows the heirs to the U.N. throne. Ban Ki-moon, the South Korean diplomat who stepped into the job in January, jokes that...

"Secretary-General of the U.N. Ban Ki-moon (R) sits with U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) on an aircraft while their way to Washington, DC, to New York City February 2, 2007."

Ban's Reform Call The U.N. responds to our Cash for Kim reporting. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon has been on the job for less than a month, but with a 26-word announcement Friday he did more to reform that international body than anything ever attempted by predecessor Kofi Annan. "The Secretary-General will call for an urgent, system wide and external inquiry into all activities done around the globe by the U.N. funds and programs." So said Mr. Ban's spokesman after the Secretary-General met with Ad Melkert, associate administrator of the United Nations Development Program. The key word here is "external."...

"UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 19 — Ban Ki-moon, the new secretary general, called today for outside examination of all United Nations activities after a published report that the United Nations Development Program in North Korea was making unaccountable payments in hard currency to local staff members and the Pyongyang government. Mr. Ban’s sweeping order sought “an urgent, system-wide and external inquiry into all activities done around the globe by the U.N. funds and programs.”

The new United Nations secretary-general has been in office barely three weeks and has already shown himself a worthy successor to the time honored political tradition of patronage, favors and ducking.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is forcing senior officials to resign so he can install his own staff as part of a sweeping overhaul of the world body. Mr Ban, the UN's first Asian head in 35 years, also wants to split the scandal-plagued peacekeeping department in two to reduce costs and red tape. The move to "designate his own staff" at the top of the UN hierarchy by the end of the month is detailed in a leaked internal memorandum, obtained by The Australian, that has emerged only days after the former South Korean foreign minister replaced Kofi Annan as...

New U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon ran into trouble on his first day of work Tuesday over Saddam Hussein's execution when he failed to state the United Nations' opposition to the death penalty and said capital punishment should be a decision of individual countries. The U.N. has an official stance opposing capital punishment and Ban's predecessor Kofi Annan reiterated it frequently. The top U.N. envoy in Iraq, Ashraf Qazi, restated it again on Saturday after the former Iraqi dictator was hanged. Ban, however, took a different approach, never mentioning the U.N. ban on the death penalty in all its international tribunals,...

Minister of Strategic Threats Avigdor Lieberman on Tuesday sent a letter to new United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon asking him to revoke Iran's UN membership, Army Radio reported. Lieberman also called to pressure the UN Security Council to impose significant sanctions on Iran, according to the radio. "If the world allows Iran to achieve nuclear capability, Israel will be the first to pay the price," he wrote. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad scorned the Security Council's imposing sanctions on Iran, telling a crowd Tuesday that Iran had humiliated the United States in the past and would do so again.

South Korean diplomat Ban Ki-moon became the United Nations' eighth secretary-general on New Year's Day as the organization faced a tough array of global issues - from escalating violence in Darfur to the AIDS pandemic. The 62-year-old career diplomat, who grew up during a war that left his country divided, has promised to make peace with North Korea a top priority. He will travel there when necessary, he has said, and has cautioned that the reclusive communist nation must be talked to - not just punished with sanctions for its nuclear weapons program. The United States is certain to press...

UNITED NATIONS - South Korea's Ban Ki-moon laid out an ambitious agenda as the next U.N. secretary-general, promising to become personally engaged in efforts to bring peace to the Mideast and Darfur and to clean up the world body. The 62-year-old career diplomat, who was sworn in Thursday to a five-year term that begins Jan. 1, also said he plans "concerted action" to achieve U.N. development goals that include cutting extreme poverty by half and universal education by 2015. Calling himself "a harmonizer and a bridge-builder," Ban said he also wants to repair relations between the U.N.'s rich and poor...

Ban Ki-moon Sworn In As Secretary General of UN

Chirac tests Ban's French during lunch By ANGELA CHARLTON, Associated Press Writer Fri Nov 3, 9:04 PM ET Parlez-vous francais? If you want to rule the United Nations, you'd better learn. Ban Ki-moon, who will become U.N. secretary-general in January, has been plugging away at French lessons, and on Friday he passed a crucial test in Paris: a French-only lunch with President Jacques Chirac. The South Korean foreign minister had met Chirac in the past but Friday was their first encounter since Ban's election last month, and apparently the first with such a rigorous language requirement. "I will cooperate closely...

South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-Moon has been unanimously chosen to lead the United Nations for the next five years and accepted the position saying the world body needs to promise less and deliver more. The 62-year-old career diplomat will take over from Ghanaian chief Kofi Annan in January and will becomes the world body's eighth secretary general and the first Asian UN chief since U Thant of Burma led the organisation from 1961 to 1971. "I am deeply honoured to become the second Asian to lead the organisation," Ban told the General Assembly after his nomination Friday. "The true...

Britain demands plum UN posts in backroom deal By Richard Beeston and James Bone BRITAIN has demanded a key United Nations policy job as the price of supporting the man likely to become the new UN Secretary-General. Before throwing its weight behind Ban Ki Moon, the South Korean in the leading position to succeed Kofi Annan, the Government set out conditions that included the promise of top jobs for British officials. The “unseemly” horse trading also involved other countries, according to diplomatic sources. It took place behind closed doors before Mr Ban cleared the latest hurdle — an informal straw...

SOUTH Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-Moon won a third informal straw poll in the United Nations security council today to decide who will succeed Kofi Annan as UN chief, diplomats said. China's UN Ambassador Wang Guangya told reporters that Mr Ban had finished ahead of India's Shashi Tharoor, a UN undersecretary in charge of communications, and Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga, the only woman in the seven-member field. Mr Ban, 62, thus consolidated his status as the odds-on favourite to succeed Mr Annan when the Ghanaian secretary-general steps down at the end of December after 10 years in office. As in...

NEW YORK -- The race for United Nations secretary-general is moving into its final weeks with South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon well in front, but the late entry of Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga, who would be the first woman in the post, muddles the odds. Seven declared candidates are now in the running to succeed Kofi Annan in January, and more could enter. They include a U.N. official who writes novels, the deputy prime minister of a recently deposed government, an ambassador with a passion for disarmament, a prince with peacekeeping experience, and a former World Bank executive from...

Annan succession: first white vote Monday with the Security Council New York (the United Nations) - the Security Council of the United Nations was to hold Monday a first white vote on the four official candidates at the post of secretary-general of the Organization, who aim at succeeding Kofi Annan in January, one learned from diplomatic sources. The result of this white vote, envisaged towards 16H30 (20H30 GMT) in camera, was to be the subject the no official communication of, specified one of these sources. The four official candidates all are originating in Asia, of many countries estimating that...