Ban Ki-moon takes the reins of U.N.


EDITH M. LEDERER,
Associated Press Writer

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 Ban to expand management reforms at the United Nations, which outgoing Secretary-General Kofi Annan began.

The 192-member General Assembly, which controls the U.N. budget and oversees its management, has been reluctant to institute changes that Annan and many experts say are essential to modernize the 61-year-old world body.

In a speech after taking his oath of office Dec. 14, Ban said he will work to build "a more peaceful, more prosperous and more just world for succeeding generations."

His first priority, he said, will be to restore trust in the United Nations, whose reputation has been battered by the oil-for-food scandal in Iraq, corruption in the U.N.'s purchasing operations and sexual abuse by U.N. peacekeepers.

"I will seek to act as a harmonizer and bridge-builder," Ban said. "And I hope to become known ... as a secretary-general who is accessible, hardworking, and prepared to listen attentively."

Ban officially became secretary-general at the stroke of midnight, but no official ceremony was scheduled.

He won't get to move into his official residence — an 85-year-old neo-Georgian town house on New York's fashionable Sutton Place — due to renovations, the first since 1950.

The General Assembly recently approved $4.9 million to modernize the residence's heating, air conditioning, plumbing, kitchen and security. The work is expected to take about nine months.

Ban defeated six other candidates for U.N. chief and won final approval from the General Assembly in October. Since then, he has been meeting with a wide range of people inside and outside the U.N. to prepare for the job.

On Sunday, Ban announced his first two appointments. He named veteran Indian diplomat Vijay Nambiar as his chief of staff, and award-winning Haitian journalist Michele Montas as his spokeswoman.

Ban said in a statement Sunday that he will make more appointments in the coming days. The most important will be his choice for deputy secretary-general — widely expected to be a woman from a developing country.

The new secretary-general's first day at U.N. headquarters will be Tuesday, when he plans to meet with U.N. staff after an official welcome and sit for his official portrait.

Ban will be the first Asian to lead the organization in 35 years. It also will mark a milestone for South Korea, which only joined the United Nations in 1991 and still has U.N. troops on the tense border with North Korea.

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Blast at mosque in northern Thailand

A SMALL homemade bomb exploded at a mosque in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai on today, injuring a Myanmar migrant worker, police said.


Witnesses told police that two men riding a motorcycle threw the explosive device at the mosque in central Chiang Mai.


The migrant suffered moderate injuries to his arm and hand, while the garage and some lights at the mosque were damaged, police said.


Police refused to say if they thought the attack was linked to the bomb blasts that killed three on New Year's Eve in Bangkok.


Chiang Mai has the biggest Muslim community outside the insurgency-plagued provinces of southern Thailand, but the two communities have little in common other than their shared religion.


While the southern provinces along the Malaysian border suffer almost daily attacks that have killed more than 1700 people over three years, no insurgent violence has been reported in Chiang Mai.

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Today in history - Jan. 1


The Associated Press

Today is Monday, Jan. 1, the first day of 2007. There are 364 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Jan. 1, 1863, President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring that slaves in rebel states were free.

On this date:

In 1892, the Ellis Island Immigrant Station in New York formally opened.

In 1898, New York City was consolidated into five boroughs.

In 1901, the Commonwealth of Australia was proclaimed.

In 1953, country singer Hank Williams Sr., 29, died of a drug and alcohol overdose while en route to a concert date in Canton, Ohio.

In 1959, Fidel Castro led Cuban revolutionaries to victory over Fulgencio Batista.

In 1979, the United States and China held celebrations in Washington and Beijing to mark the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

In 1984, the breakup of AT&T took place as the telecommunications giant was divested of its 22 Bell System companies under terms of an antitrust agreement.

In 1993, Czechoslovakia peacefully split into two new countries, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

In 1994, the North American Free Trade Agreement went into effect.

In 1999, the euro, the new single currency of 11 European countries (later 12), officially came into existence with the start of the New Year.

Ten years ago: An off-duty Israeli soldier with a history of mental problems opened fire on a crowded vegetable market in Hebron, wounding five people and touching off a stone-throwing demonstration by angry Palestinians. Kofi Annan assumed the title of United Nations secretary-general.

Five years ago: The euro became legal tender in 12 European nations. Michael Bloomberg succeeded Rudolph Giuliani as New York City's mayor. Eduardo Duhalde was named Argentina's fifth president in two weeks. No. 2 Oregon defeated No. 3 Colorado 38-16 in the Fiesta Bowl.

One year ago: President Bush strongly defended his domestic spying program, calling it legal as well as vital to thwarting terrorist attacks. The Medicare prescription drug plan went into effect. American teenager Farris Hassan, who'd traveled alone to Iraq to experience the lives of its people, returned home to Florida after three weeks in the Middle East.

Today's Birthdays: Author J.D. Salinger is 88. Former Sen. Ernest Hollings (news, bio, voting record), D-S.C., is 85. Actor Ty Hardin is 77. Actor Frank Langella is 67. Rock singer-musician Country Joe McDonald is 65. Writer-comedian Don Novello is 64. Actor Rick Hurst is 61. Country singer Steve Ripley (The Tractors) is 57. Rapper Grandmaster Flash is 49. Actress Ren Woods is 49. Actress Dedee Pfeiffer is 43. Actress Embeth Davidtz is 41. Actor Morris Chestnut is 38. Actor Verne Troyer is 38.

Thought for Today: "It is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers." — James Thurber, American humorist (1894-1961).

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The enduring significance of the Emancipation Proclamation

Lincoln’s proclamation, which took effect January 1, 1863, in the midst of the American Civil War, imparted to the conflict, which until then had been waged as a struggle to preserve the union, a social revolutionary character. It initiated one of the largest property transfers in history, expropriating the principal form of property in one third of the United States, an action that reverberates to this day. It freed 4 million slaves valued at $3 billion. By comparison, as a proportion of national wealth, this would represent several trillion current US dollars.

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New UN Chief Releases His First Appointments


South Korean Ban Ki-moon, who becomes U.N. secretary-general on Monday, announced his first two appointments after weeks of speculation and mystery about his intentions.

Vijay Nambiar of India, a special adviser to Ban's predecessor, Kofi Annan, will be his chief of staff and Michele Montas, an award-winning Haitian broadcaster, will head the spokesman's division, replacing Stephane Dujarric of France, a U.N. statement said on Sunday.

U.N. sources said Alicia Barcena of Mexico was expected to be named undersecretary-general for administration and management, a post previously held by the United States, which now wants political affairs or peacekeeping.

Ban's big decisions are yet to come, including the naming of a deputy secretary-general and how to please Security Council powers insisting on top appointments. Russia will remain in charge of U.N. European operations in Geneva and China is to get the undersecretary-general post for economic and social affairs, diplomats reported.

However, the Western powers are lobbying Ban for the political affairs department, now held by Nigerian Ibrahim Gambari, and peacekeeping, sought by Britain, France and the United States.

Peacekeeping now is being run by Frenchman Jean-Marie Guehenno, who may stay on in his post for at least several months.

Some officials have suggested splitting the peacekeeping department in two -- a move its staff believes would be operationally unfeasible -- in order to have enough posts for the United States, Britain and France.

Nambiar, a professor and former deputy national security adviser to the Indian government, is a former ambassador to the United Nations, Pakistan, China, Malaysia and Afghanistan.

Barcena, Annan's chief of staff since June, has been involved in environmental affairs in Latin America and holds a master's degree in public administration from Harvard University.

Montas, a journalist, was the wife of murdered Haitian radio broadcaster Jean Dominique and featured in the 2004 Jonathan Demme documentary, ``The Agronomist.'' Montas kept alive the radio station they ran until threats against her life and her staff made it impossible.

She left for the United States in 2003. She has had posts in the U.N. public information department for the past few years, including spokeswoman for the General Assembly in 2004.

With strong support from the United States and China, Ban Ki-moon, 62, was chosen secretary-general over six rivals by the 15-nation Security Council, a decision confirmed by the 192-nation General Assembly in October. Ban, 62, South Korea's former foreign minister, will be the first Asian secretary-general head in 35 years.

Annan, 68, who officially ends his 10 years in office at midnight on Sunday, intends to leave New York for Geneva on Monday and take a long rest with his Swedish wife, Nane, and then organize a foundation for African agriculture.

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