The 193-member United Nations General Assembly unanimously appointed former Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres on October 13 as the ninth secretary-general of the world body for five years beginning Jan. 1, 2017.
Guterres, 67, will replace Ban Ki-moon, 72, of South Korea. Ban will step down at the end of 2016 after serving two five terms. Guterres was Portugal’s prime minister from 1995 to 2002 and U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees from 2005 to 2015.
