New York  - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon rode a Swiss-made, fully solar-powered vehicle to work at UN headquarters on Friday as part of his efforts to raise awareness of dangers of climate change.

He has already raised the thermostat by 3 degrees Celsius at UN headquarters during the summer to set an example of UN responsibility to save the climate by lowering emissions of carbon dioxide from the old UN structure built in the early 1950s.

New York  - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called on Bolivian parties on Friday to seek a political settlement to their conflict, which has caused deaths and damage to the country's economic infrastructure.

New York - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon rode a Swiss-made, fully solar-powered vehicle to work at UN headquarters on Friday as part of his efforts to raise awareness of dangers of climate change.

He has already raised the thermostat by 3 degrees Celsius at UN headquarters during the summer to set an example of UN responsibility to save the climate by lowering emissions of carbon dioxide from the old UN structure built in the early 1950s.

Ban rode the so-called "Solartaxi" from his residence just a few blocks from his office on the 38th floor at the UN.

Madrid- United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will shortly appoint US diplomat Christopher Ross his new personal envoy to Western Sahara, the Spanish daily El Pais reported Wednesday.

The daily quoted sources close to the negotiations between Morocco, which annexed Western Sahara after the colonial power Spain pulled out of there in 1975, and the Saharawi independence movement Polisario Front.

Ross will succeed Dutch diplomat Peter van Walsum, whose mandate will not be renewed. Van Walsum has confirmed that he is leaving the job in an article he wrote for El Pais.

New York  - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday expressed "deep concern" over the increased hostilities in northern Sri Lanka, warning that this would have grave humanitarian consequences for civilians.

The Sri Lankan government had requested the relocation of UN humanitarian staff in areas affected by the fighting between government and rebel forces.

Abu Dhabi - The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has filed a complaint to the United Nations against Iran for establishing offices on disputed islands in Gulf waters, the official Emirates news agency reported on Friday.

The agency reported that the UAE government has sent a letter to UN Secreatary General Ban Ki-Moon protesting the Iranian move, which it regards as one that would negatively affect bilateral relations.