Italian Diplomat Filippo Grandi

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday appointed Italian diplomat Filippo Grandi as the next head of the U.N. refugee agency, a position that Denmark's former Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt had been openly lobbying for.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday appointed Italian diplomat Filippo Grandi as the next head of the U.N. refugee agency, a position that Denmark's former Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt had been openly lobbying for.