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UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Sunday expressed “solidarity” with the families of the three kidnapped Israeli teenagers, but also hit out at Israel for arresting Hamas terrorists as part of its operation to locate the three teens. In a statement outlining Ban’s conversation with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu the day before, the UN chief stressed “the need to avoid an escalation of tensions in the wake of the recent abduction of three Israeli teenagers and the increased violence and mass arrests in the West Bank.” According to the statement, in Saturday’s phone call with Netanyahu, Ban “conveyed his sympathy for...

Excerpt - GENEVA (AP)--U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Tuesday that the U.S. was "trapped in Iraq," and urged Washington to carefully consider when would be the best time to pull out of the country so the withdrawal doesn't lead to a further deterioration of security. "The United States in a way is trapped in Iraq," Annan said. "It cannot stay and it cannot leave. There are those who maintain that its presence is a problem and there are those who say that if it leaves precipitously, the situation will get worse." (MORE TO FOLLOW)

Annan succession: first white vote Monday with the Security Council New York (the United Nations) - the Security Council of the United Nations was to hold Monday a first white vote on the four official candidates at the post of secretary-general of the Organization, who aim at succeeding Kofi Annan in January, one learned from diplomatic sources. The result of this white vote, envisaged towards 16H30 (20H30 GMT) in camera, was to be the subject the no official communication of, specified one of these sources. The four official candidates all are originating in Asia, of many countries estimating that...

Excerpts - WASHINGTON, Dec. 29 (UPI) -- By this time next year Kofi Annan will be packing his bags ready to hand over the United Nations to a new Secretary General, but choosing the seventh U.N. head since the world body's inception in 1945 may not follow the usual formula, and could produce a surprise. Although Annan does not leave office until Jan 2007, behind the scenes the campaign for the succession is getting into gear, and diplomats in the glass tower on the East River expect the appointment to be sewn up well ahead of time, probably by next...