May 23, 2013
The week's top five must-sees,
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The week's top five must-sees,
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Description
Ban Ki-moon is the eighth and current Secretary-General of the United Nations, after succeeding Kofi Annan in 2007. Before becoming Secretary-General, Ban was a career diplomat in South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and in the United Nations. He entered diplomatic service the year he graduated from university, accepting his first post in New Delhi, India. In the foreign ministry, he established a reputation for modesty and competence.
Ban was the foreign minister of South Korea from January 2004 to November 2006. In February 2006, he began to campaign for the office of Secretary-General. Ban was initially considered to be a long shot for the office. As foreign minister of South Korea, however, he was able to travel to all of the countries that were members of the United Nations Security Council, a maneuver that turned him into the front runner.
On 11 October 2006, he was elected to be the eighth Secretary-General by the United Nations General Assembly and officially succeeded Annan on 1 January 2007. Ban has led several major reforms regarding peacekeeping and UN employment practices. Diplomatically, Ban has taken particularly strong views on Darfur, where he helped persuade Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to allow peacekeeping troops to enter Sudan; and on global warming, pressing the issue repeatedly with former U.S. President George W. Bush. Ban has received strong criticism from OIOS, the UN internal audit unit, stating that the secretariat, under Ban's leadership, is "drifting into irrelevance".
(via Freebase)
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![UN chief calls for expanded monitoring mission in Syria [New TV, Lebanon]](/images/image_cache/base-3348000/3348004/thumbnail.width=304,height=171,grow=1,crop=center.jpg?sig=49340b441df13b2737ed3c86ac391db7 "A handout photograph released by Syria's national news agency SANA, shows Moroccan Colonel Ahmet Himmiche, leader of the first UN monitoring team in Syria, during a visit with his team to a Damascus suburb, one of the locations of protests against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad April 18, 2012: REUTERS/SANA/Handout")
![Syria UN observers begin work as fighting continues [BBC Arabic, UK]](/images/image_cache/base-3208000/3208806/thumbnail.width=304,height=171,grow=1,crop=center.jpg?sig=2276740cd4d0e1fba085a31feb8ad416)
![US and Europe clash with Russia at UNSC meeting on Syria [Oman TV, Oman]](/images/image_cache/base-1768000/1768816/thumbnail.width=304,height=171,grow=1,crop=center.jpg?sig=11352a7ac92275e18ce2dfaf2a0a2a02)
![Syrian fighters make 'tactical' withdrawal from besieged Homs district [BBC Arabic, UK]](/images/image_cache/base-1316000/1316257/thumbnail.width=304,height=171,grow=1,crop=center.jpg?sig=1b705121185b60a01f1014c109562d03)
![Syrian troops battle opposition fighters in Homs [BBC Arabic, UK]](/images/image_cache/base-1283000/1283047/thumbnail.width=304,height=171,grow=1,crop=center.jpg?sig=332cc0b7916baf479c351fd3c9893a8b)
![Kofi Annan appointed as UN-Arab League special envoy to Syria [IBA, Israel]](/images/image_cache/base-1173000/1173086/thumbnail.width=304,height=171,grow=1,crop=center.jpg?sig=fd64f9d3849b4c879633a20a3affbf49)
