UN chief not to attend Olympics opening ceremony

New York: UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has informed the Chinese government that he will not attend the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Beijing in August, a spokeswoman said on Thursday.

Marie Okabe said Beijing was told of the decision "some months ago".

She said the move was a result of scheduling issues and was unrelated to the widespread call to boycott the opening ceremony to protest China's alleged human rights abuses in Tibet.