Karin Giannone (born in 1974 in Johannesburg, South Africa) is a South African-born British television newsreader working in the United Kingdom. She returned from maternity leave on 6 February 2010 and is the London-based main presenter of the weekend daytime coverage on BBC World News.

Giannone's family moved from Johannesburg to the United Kingdom when she was aged two. She was raised in Edinburgh, Sussex and Kent. She studied modern languages at Cambridge University, where she graduated with a first class honours degree; she speaks French, German and Italian.

She was the editor of Cambridge University’s "Varsity" student newspaper in 1994-5, which led to work experience at Anglia Television. She joined the regional ITV station on graduation in Norwich as a news trainee in 1997, producing, reporting and presenting for regional news bulletins. In 1999 her language and broadcasting skills helped her land a role as a reporter and presenter for Channel 4’s Football Italia series, where she covered the Italian Soccer scene for a season, flying between the UK and Italy every week. She returned to Anglia in 2000 as a presenter and reporter, this time for the programme for the east of the region covering Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex. She also followed troops from the region for a series of reports from Afghanistan in 2002.

Ban Ki-moon (Hangul: 반기문; Hanja: 潘基文; born 13 June 1944) is the eighth and current Secretary-General of the United Nations, after succeeding Kofi Annan in 2007. Before going on to be Secretary-General, Ban was a career diplomat in South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and in the United Nations. He entered diplomatic service the year he graduated from university, accepting his first post in New Delhi, India. In the foreign ministry he established a reputation for modesty and competence .

Ban was the Foreign Minister of the Republic of Korea from January 2004 to November 2006. In February 2006, he began to campaign for the office of Secretary-General. Ban was initially considered to be a long shot for the office. As foreign minister of South Korea, however, he was able to travel to all of the countries that were members of the United Nations Security Council, a maneuver that turned him into the front runner.

On 11 October 2006, he was elected to be the eighth Secretary-General by the United Nations General Assembly and officially succeeded Annan on 1 January 2007. Ban has led several major reforms regarding peacekeeping and UN employment practices. Diplomatically, Ban has taken particularly strong views on Darfur, where he helped persuade Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to allow peacekeeping troops to enter Sudan; and on global warming, pressing the issue repeatedly with former U.S. President George W. Bush. Ban has received strong criticism from OIOS, the UN internal audit unit, stating that the secretariat, under Ban's leadership, is "drifting into irrelevance".