Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed veteran French diplomat Herve Ladsous as the new U.N. peacekeeping chief, as AP reported. Ladsous, who is currently chief of staff at the French Foreign Ministry, previously served as ambassador to China, Indonesia, East Timor and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, and as deputy ambassador to the United Nations in New York. Ban said Friday that Ladsous brings to his new job "an acute political judgment, strong crisis management capacities, especially in the area of peacekeeping (and) a profound understanding of the challenges facing the United Nations."