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A Possible Replacement for UN Political Affairs Chief

• April 30, 2012

Jeffrey Feltman, assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs at the US State Department, is said to be replacing B. Lynn Pascoe, the United Nations’ under secretary-general for political affairs, who has served for five years. The announcement has not been made formally by the UN, but it was reported in UN Forum, …

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Romney’s New Adviser Provokes Reactions on Past UN Work

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• April 23, 2012

The appointment last week of Richard A. Grenell to Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign staff as national security and foreign policy spokesman has already caused a stir in political and journalism arenas, suggesting that Romney’s foreign policy will be hawkish with Grenell on board. Grenell, who is 45, joins the Romney camp with a solid …

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Three World Bank Nominees, Including an American

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• March 24, 2012

With only hours to spare before the deadline on Friday for nominating the next president of the World Bank, President Obama announced a surprise choice: Jim Yong Kim, the 52-year-old president of Dartmouth College and a global expert on HIV-AIDS. The World Bank is part of the United Nations system and its members have until …

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Annan Assembles a Veteran Team for Syria

Barbara Crossette

• March 22, 2012

Kofi Annan, with the Security Council now fully behind his mediation mission in Syria, has gathered a group of experienced former United Nations officials and diplomats to work with him as he seeks the end of hostilities and, ultimately, a political settlement in Damascus. The latest addition to the former secretary-general’s team is Jean-Marie …

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Ban’s Latest High-Level Appointments

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• March 12, 2012

Three new UN under secretaries-general have been chosen by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in his reshuffling of top posts for his second five-year term: Maged Abdelaziz, Egypt’s UN ambassador since 2005, as special adviser on Africa; Angela Kane of Germany as high representative for disarmament affairs; and Sven Alkalaj, a former foreign minister of Bosnia-Herzegovina, …

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Jan Eliasson Named Deputy Secretary-General

Barbara Crossette

• March 4, 2012

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has chosen Jan Eliasson, a former Swedish foreign minister with years of experience as a key United Nations mediator and humanitarian relief director, to be his new deputy secretary-general. Eliasson, 71, was twice ambassador to the United States and is well known is Washington. He takes office on July 1. Eliasson’s …

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Proposed US Foreign Aid Shows Slight Increase

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• February 24, 2012

In his recently released 2013 budget proposal, President Obama has increased funds for foreign aid to the State Department and the United States Agency for International Development, but the 1.2 percent rise over 2012 figures is still less than 1 percent of the entire federal budget. The total amount proposed for foreign aid is …

GOINGS-ON, Humanitarian Aid, US-UN Relations

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Graziano da Silva, New in Post, to Focus on Hunger and Rural Poor

Dulcie Leimbach

• February 20, 2012

José Graziano da Silva took up his three-year post as the new director-general of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, based in Rome, in January. The agency, which was founded in 1945, is tasked with eradicating hunger worldwide, particularly in rural areas. Graziano da Silva was the agency’s assistant director-general and regional representative …

Development, GOINGS-ON

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New Judges and a Presidential Vote at The Hague

Dulcie Leimbach

• February 17, 2012

The International Criminal Court will swear in six new judges on March 9 and elect, by absolute majority, a new president of the court and two new vice presidents. The court’s 18 judges will vote in the election, with several most likely to run for the three-year presidency themselves, though the incumbent, Judge Sang-Hyun …

GOINGS-ON, ICC

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In Their Own Words: A UN Oral History Project Moves Online

Barbara Crossette

• February 1, 2012

What goes on inside the United Nations as important issues are hashed out by officials and diplomats is rarely seen or heard by outsiders – consider the tense negotiations on Syria right now, done behind closed doors. But earlier this month, the opening of an archive of interviews with both insiders and others who …

GOINGS-ON, US-UN Relations

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Changes at the UN’s Upper Levels

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• January 27, 2012

The United Nations World Food Program has named Ertharin Cousin of the United States to replace Josette Sheeran, also American, when Sheeran’s five-year term as executive director ends in April. And Dr. Margaret Chan, director general of the World Health Organization, based in Geneva, has been nominated for a second five-year term by the …

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A Slovakian in the Economic and Social Council Presidency

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• January 22, 2012

Milos Koterec, permanent representative of Slovakia to the United Nations, was elected president of the Economic and Social Council earlier this month in its first organizational meeting this year. Koterec, 39, succeeds Lazarous Kampambwe of Zambia, after serving as the senior vice president of the council last year. The council is the main forum …

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R2P Monitor, a New Digest, Details Populations in Danger

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• January 21, 2012

The Global Center for the Responsibility to Protect has released its first issue of a bimonthly digest, the R2P Monitor, reporting on populations in countries that could be at risk to mass-atrocity crimes. The mission of the center, part of the CUNY’s Ralphe Bunche Institute for International Studies, is to enable the responsibility to …

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Getting to Know the Persian Gulf

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• January 18, 2012

American officials now rank Iranian threats to close the Strait of Hormuz as dangerous to American interests — or even more so in the short term — than Iran’s nuclear program. Where is this place, and why has it risen to the top of Washington’s concerns? Answers to such questions can be found in …

GOINGS-ON, Middle East

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The International Court’s New Prosecutor

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• December 13, 2011

Fatou Bensouda has been named the new prosecutor for the International Criminal Court, nominated by consensus by the Assembly of States Parties, which manages the court. She begins her nine-year term on June 16, 2012. Bensouda replaces Luis Moreno-Ocampo, an Argentine who seeks the spotlight and has served as the court’s first and only …