EX-PORTUGUESE PM ON COURSE TO BECOME NEXT UN CHIEF:

 Portugal’s former prime minister Antonio Guterres was poised to become the next secretary-general of the UN following a sixth straw poll by the Security Council, diplomats said on Wed. 5 Oct. 2016. Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters that Guterres was the "clear favorite” and announced a formal vote by the council on Thurs. 6 Nov. to confirm the choice of nominee. Guterres, who would succeed current general secretary Ban Ki-moon on 1 January 2017, served as Socialist prime minister of Portugal from 1995 to 2002. He was president of the European Council from January to July 2000 and UN High Commissioner for Refugees between June 2005 and December 2015. Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon welcomed Guterres’s likely nomination, saying Israel hoped and expected that the UN under his leadership would "act in the spirit of its founding principles as a fair body able to differentiate between good and evil” and would "end its obsession with Israel.” He added, "I hope that this change in leadership will bring an end to the organization’s hostility towards the Jewish state.” Danon called on the next general secretary to appoint a special envoy to combat anti-Semitism. (Times of Israel)