Ban Ki-moon unanimously elected for second term as UN chief

The 192-nation UN General Assembly has voted unanimously to elect Ban Ki-moon for a second five-year term as the global body's secretary-general. The assembly unanimously backed the former 67-year-old South Korean foreign minister by acclamation on Tuesday. Ban's second term will commence from January 1 2012.

With no contenders to throw a challenge for the post, the assembly approved the new term by consensus. Ban declared his candidacy two weeks ago and had the formal backing by the Security Council on Friday. All regional groups at the UN also endorsed him.

Ban has termed his re-election as a "very great honour beyond expression."

The UN chief's first term has been a mixed bag of sorts.

Ban has faced criticism for not adequately addressing human rights violations in countries like Sri Lanka and China, but has been seen as championing the cause of climate change, women's rights and more recently speaking out against the crackdown on protesters in the Middle East and North Africa.

His role in backing decisive action by the Security Council in Libya and Ivory Coast has also gone down well with the international community.

Ban's re-election was welcomed by US envoy to the UN, Susan Rice.

"No one understands the burden of this role, better than he and my government is grateful that he willing to continue to take them on," she said.

"Secretary-General Ban is a leader who listens to the voices of the voiceless," she said.

Among other agendas, the UN chief will oversee 'Rio+20' next year, which is being dubbed as the most important environmental summit in recent times.

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Ban Ki-moon says regrets continued W. Bank building

UN Sec.-Gen. urges Israel to "fulfill its Road map obligation to freeze all settlement activity"; says encouraged by determination of US efforts.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed regret that "Israel will not heed the united call of the international community...to extend the settlement restraint policy," in a statement issued by his spokesman early Thursday morning.

In the statement, Ki-moon reiterated his "urging Israel to fulfill its Road map obligation to freeze all settlement activity in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem."

The spokesman continued, "In spite of this setback, the secretary-general believes it is more important than ever to promote a negotiated end-game for a two-State solution."

Ki-moon added that he "is encouraged that the United States has indicated its determination to continue its efforts in this direction and he urges the full cooperation of the parties towards that end." The secretary-general, the statement noted, "is looking forward to these matters being discussed in the days to come among all members of the Quartet."

The US earlier this week, announced that it was giving up on securing an extended settlement freeze as a move to bring the two parties back to the negotiating table. Israel has resisted calls to implement an additional West Bank building moratorium and the Palestinians have said they will not return to direct negotiations without a freeze in place.

Washington said its new approach on the Israeli- Palestinian peace process will be to focus on the final-status issues.

“We’re going to focus on the substance and try to make progress on the core issues themselves. We think that will create the kind of momentum we need to get to sustained and meaningful negotiations,” US State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said Wednesday.

“I would describe this as a change in tactics rather than a change in strategy. It’s not a change of our objectives at all,” he said.

He said that he didn’t anticipate the Israelis and Palestinians meeting together in Washington in the coming days, but avoided characterizing the process as returning to the proximity talks that were held before the launch of direct talks.

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