"If he (Ban) is available and running we will endorse him for a second term," the diplomat said, adding he did not want to comment and dismissed as speculative that former UN Under Secretary General and sitting Lok Sabha member Shashi Tharoor might contest for the election.
During talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Principal Secretary T K A Nair, Ban inquired about India's views on climate change both in terms of the developments at the national level and the climate summit to be held at the headquarters, next week, Indian authorities said on Thursday.
In a letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and all member nations, Pakistan's Ambassador to the world body Abdullah Hussain Haroon has said, building up circumstantial evidence has resulted in some of the costliest mistakes by mankind, the latest example being the US intervention in Iraq.
In a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and the President of the UN Security Council Ruhakana Rugunda, Israel accused an Indian contingent of United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) of having done nothing to prevent the demonstrators from crossing the border and even cooperating with the group, The Jerusalem Post reported.
Terming India a "leading voice" in the developing world, the UN today said both India and Pakistan should continue their composite dialogue process to maintain peace in the subcontinent but ruled out withdrawal of its observer mission in both countries.
"I made clear to President (Mahinda) Rajapaksa that I intend to move forward on a Group of Experts which will advise me on setting the broad parameters and standards on the way ahead on establishing accountability concerning Sri Lanka," Ban told media-persons I New York, referring to a conversation he had with Sri Lankan President on Thursday.
Accusing the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon of "failing" to release the Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and political prisoners in Myanmar, a rights group has dubbed his recent trip a "complete failure."
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has expressed concern over the escalating violence between government forces and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam rebels in northern Sri Lanka and reminded the two parties of their obligation to ensure the safety of civilians.Ban's statement comes in the wake of Sri Lankan government's request that United Nations relief workers relocate from conflict affected areas.
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon on Saturday witnessed the conditions of tens of thousands of displaced Tamil civilians in northern Sri Lanka as he appealed to a triumphant government to 'heal the wounds' left by three decades of ethnic conflict. The Secretary General visited the camps in Vavuniya district today, where more than 300,000 people are staying, after escaping from the battle lines between government forces and Tamil Tigers.
The Federation of Indian American Christian Organisations of North America on Friday staged a protest outside the United Nations headquarters and urged Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to look into the 'naked violation' of human rights of Christians in Orissa.Holding placards with slogans that read 'Ban VHP,' 'Stop Burning Christians alive in Orissa,' and 'Deploy Army to Orissa to Christians,' the FIACONA activists staged a three-hour protest outside the UN.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday said getting a binding agreement sealed on climate change was among his top priorities for the year after the Copenhagen conference that marked "an important step forward".
"India will continue to play a constructive and positive role, along with like-minded countries, to this end," External Affairs Ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna said while briefing on the talks Gambari had with Dr Singh, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon during his two-day visit to New Delhi since Monday.
Union Minister for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh has been selected as a member of the United Nations' high-level panel on global sustainability.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has agreed to Pakistan's request to constitute an independent commission to inquire into the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.
Welcoming the $1.1 trillion package committed by the world leaders at the G-20 Summit in London, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has said the developing and poor countries must get the "crucial" funds to avert a human development crisis.
The US asked the Sri Lankan government to "take advantage" of the opportunity and accept an offer of a UN team that is probing alleged human rights abuses in the final months of the war with the Liberation Tigers of the Tamil Eelam. The UN on Tuesday announced that Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon had set up a three-member panel to look into alleged human rights violations during the final stages of the war against the LTTE in Sri Lanka.
US President Barack Obama will meet UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon next week in Washington to discuss a host of issues, including the global economic crisis, Sudan conflict and situation in Afghanistan and West Asia
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has promised the United Nations that his forces would protect Tamil civilians as it pushes ahead with its offensive to defeat the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Rajapaksa gave this assurance over telephone to UN Secretary General Ban ki Moon, as his forces overran the last base of the sea Tigers near Mulaittivu, cutting off all their escape routes.
India is expected to share details of the Mumbai terror attacks with United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon on Thursday when he meets External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and urge him to press Pakistan to cooperate.
Iran has complained to the United Nations about the remarks of Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton, who had said that the United States would totally obliterate the Islamic Republic, if it were to launch a nuclear attack on Israel. In a letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Iranian Deputy Ambassador to the UN Mehdi Danesh-Yazdi described the statement as "provocative, unwarranted & irresponsible". "Iran would not hesitate to act in self-defense," he warned.
United Nations chief Ban Ki Moon on Friday came out strongly in support of the Nobel Peace Prize for United States President Barack Obama and termed the Norwegian Committee's decision 'a very wise' one. "The Nobel Peace Committee has made their decision, and this should be respected, and I wholeheartedly support it," he told journalists. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said, "He has done nothing for peace in Afghanistan. We condemn the award."
External Affairs Minister S M Krishna has said that the country has taken a 'principled' stand on the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) and there is no scope for change in its position unless a number of other developments take place to address the concerns.This comes after a high-level conference on disarmament in the United Nations on Thursday, addressed by UN General Secretary Ban Ki Moon, asked India and eight other countries to ratify the agreement.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed Ajay Chhibber of India as United Nations Development Programme's assistant secretary-general, assistant administrator and director of its Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific.Chhibber replaced Hafiz Pasha, who finished his assignment in December last year.
Talking about helping countries meet the Millennium Development Goals, he said, "This is not charity. It is solidarity." In an interconnected world, it is also an expression of enlightened self-interest since we are all in this together.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Saturday left for New York where she is going to participate in the International Yoga Day event being organised by the Indian Mission at the United Nations.
A special United Nations envoy to Crimea, who was threatened by 10 to 15 armed men, is safe and will return to Ukrainian capital Kiev to continue his mission, the United Nations has said.
United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon on Sunday vowed to work towards a world free of weapons of mass destruction noting that there is a 'new window of opportunity for disarmament and non-proliferation.'
With countries like the US restricting hiring of foreign workers on H-1B work visas, the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday opposed imposition of restrictions on international migration.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has sent his Chief of Staff Vijay Nambiar, a veteran Indian diplomat, to Colombo to speak with the government there about the humanitarian situation in war zones of Sri Lanka's north and to express the world body's concern over the matter.
There are now one billion hungry people on the globe, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said recently.
United Nations chief Ban Ki-Moon has criticised Zimbabwe's presidential run off election, in which President Robert Mugabe won another term, saying the outcome does not reflect the true and genuine will of the people nor produce a legitimate result.The observers, Ban said, confirmed that conditions were not in place for a free and fair election and the process was deeply flawed.
The theme for this year parliamentary hearing is to chart out methods of dealing with the global economic crisis.
Myanmar has agreed to allow all aid workers to participate in relief efforts for cyclone survivors, United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon said after meeting leader Than Shwe in Naypyidaw on Friday.
The rich world continues to give lectures on energy conservation. But what is it doing itself?
Three years back they were rivals for the same job. Today, they were shaking hands in a meeting which, at least on surface, looked quite warm. United Nations Secretary-General Ban ki Moon shook hands with Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor in UN headquarters in New York on Wednesday.
India on Friday said that the United Nations should ensure that Pakistan fulfills its commitment to end the terrorism emanating from its soil.External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said he had apprised UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday about the details of the Mumbai attacks, which were carried out by elements based in Pakistan. "I requested the UN Secretary General to look into those aspects and ensure that Pak fully implements its own commitments," he said.
The three-member international commission that the United Nations plans to appoint to probe the assassination of former Pakistan premier Benazir Bhutto will be a fact-finding panel and will not carry out any criminal investigation. In a letter to the Security Council released on Thursday, Secretary-General Ban ki Moon said the life of the commission will be of six months. "You will note that the commission's mandate would be of a limited duration (a maximum of six months).
Jamaat-ud-Dawah, the frontal organisation of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba, which is blamed for the Mumbai attacks, has written to the United Nations claiming that it was not associated with the Al-Qaeda and Taliban and that the Security Council's sanctions on it were 'unjustified'.
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will visit India next week to attend a four-day summit on sustainable development, after visiting Pakistan, where he is expected to discuss terrorism among other issues.His programme in New Delhi is not yet known but his visit is mainly to attend the Sustainable Development Summit beginning on February 4.Prior to going to Delhi, he will pay an official visit to Pakistan, where he is expected to discuss the situation in the region.
The UN says that if permission is granted by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, and if a lull in fighting permits, the convoy will cross the frontline on Thursday noon, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson said.
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