UNITED NATIONS
Chief bids staff farewell
Ban Ki-Moon joked to hundreds of diplomats and U.N. staff as he left United Nations headquarters Friday for the last time as secretary-general that he feels “like Cinderella — tomorrow at midnight, everything changes.” Flanked by the presidents of the General Assembly and the Security Council, the native South Korean thanked U.N. workers for their hard work and commitment over the course of his 10-year tenure, which ends at midnight Saturday. “Keep the focus on people — on people’s rights and people’s dignity,” he told staffers. Ban will be succeeded by former Portuguese prime minister Antonio Guterres, who begins a five-year term on Sunday.
BRAZIL
Cops: Wife’s lover killed envoy
Police in Brazil believe that Greece’s ambassador to the country was killed by his wife’s lover under her orders in a house in the Rio area and have detained three suspects, authorities said Friday. Ambassador Kyriakos Amiridis went missing on Monday in Nova Iguacu, a city just north of Rio de Janeiro, where the ambassador had been vacationing. On Friday, police investigator Evaristo Pontes Magalhaes said police officer Sergio Gomes Moreira Filho, 29, had confessed to killing Amiridis, alleging self-defense. Investigators said Filho knew Amiridis, who wasn’t aware of the affair he was having with the ambassador’s 40-year-old wife, Francoise Amiridis. Magalhaes said Filho’s cousin, Eduardo de Melo, acknowledged taking part in the killing as a lookout.
SOUTH AFRICA
China phasing out ivory trade
China says it plans to shut down its ivory trade by the end of 2017 in a move designed to curb the mass slaughter of African elephants. The Chinese government will end the processing and selling of ivory and ivory products by the end of March as it phases out the legal trade, according to a statement Friday.
SOUTH KOREA
Fertility website is shut down
South Korea’s government closed its website that drew fury for showing the number of women in childbearing age by each city district and region. The Ministry of the Interior’s website featuring the pink birth map remained closed on Friday, a day after its launch, showing instead a notice that the site is undergoing corrections to reflect public opinion. The website had gone offline after just a few hours following criticism the government is trying to shame women for not having babies. South Korea’s birth rate is one of the lowest among rich countries.
Compiled from wire reports