The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Monday formally appointed Japanese diplomat Yukiya Amano as its new director-general. Amano is replacing Egypt's Mohamed ElBaradei, who is ending a 12-year term as head of the U.N. nuclear monitoring agency. Amano has held increasingly senior positions in the Japanese Foreign Ministry since 1972. He has served as Japan's ambassador to the IAEA since 2005, and he has served in the Japanese embassies in Washington, Brussels, and Vientiane, Laos.
