NEW U.N. CHIEF OFF TO GOOD START

THIS IS A NICE CHANGE OF PACE.

New UN chief denounces Iran for denying Holocaust, threatening Israel (Haaretz). 

UNITED NATIONS - Incoming United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told Iran on Thursday it was unacceptable to deny that the Holocaust took place or to call for Israel to be wiped off the map. Ban was responding to a question asked at a news conference about Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who since coming to power in August last year has caused an outcry by terming the Holocaust a “myth” and calling Israel a “tumor” in the Middle East. Ahmadinejad just ended a two-day international conference on the Holocaust that was dominated by speakers who questioned the extermination of 6 million Jews by the Nazis in World War Two. “Denying historical facts especially on such an important subject as the Holocaust is just not acceptable,” Ban said. “Nor is it acceptable to call for the elimination of states or people,” Ban said. “I would like to see this fundamental principle respected in both rhetoric and practice by all the members of the international community.”