United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today appointed Albert Gerard (Bert) Koenders of the Netherlands as his Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Operation in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI). He will replace Choi Young-jin of the Republic of Korea, who will complete his assignment on 31 August 2011.

An exhibition of the best press photographs of 2010 will open in the Main Gallery of the Visitors Lobby at United Nations Headquarters in New York at 6 p.m. on Thursday, 4 August. This traveling exhibition of winning images selected at the fifty-fourth annual World Press Photo Contest in Amsterdam will be on display until 28 August.

The new Permanent Representative of Qatar to the United Nations, Meshal Hamad Mohamed Jabr Al-Thani, today presented his credentials to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Mr. Al-Thani joins the United Nations following seven years at the Embassy of the State of Qatar in Brussels, Belgium, where he has served as Ambassador since 2007.

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon:

Following are UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s remarks at the UN 21 Awards, as prepared for delivery:

The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Hardeep Singh Puri (India):

Expressing “profound regret” over the many hundreds of deaths in Syria and condemning what it called widespread violations of human rights against civilians by Syrian authorities, the Security Council today called for an immediate end to violence in the Middle East country and urged all sides to act with utmost restraint.

The following is a statement by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon:

The following statement was issued on 6 August by the Spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon:

Following are UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s remarks at a breakfast hosted by Chiaki Takahashi, State Secretary for Foreign Affairs, and Yuhei Sato, Governor of Fukushima Prefecture, in Fukushima, Japan, today, 8 August: