International

UNITED NATIONS (AP):

The United Nations (UN) turned to a Canadian woman yesterday, who was chief auditor for the World Bank, as its choice for the next head of the UN's internal watchdog agency. Carman Lapointe Young won approval from the General Assembly to become the under-secretary-general for oversight. She will be given the huge task of trying to quickly fix an agency that her predecessor says is in disarray.

The Manitoba native was appointed to the non-renewable, five-year term as head of the UN's Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, whose leadership was severely criticised in an end-of-assignment memo by outgoing OIOS head Inga-Britt Ahlenius of Sweden. Ban said in a statement that Lapointe-Young has the "breadth and depth of experience and expertise required for this demanding position". He said she will be expected to rebuild OIOS and fill its many vacancies as soon as possible.