Bulgarian diplomat Irina Bokova has become the first woman to head Unesco, the UN culture and education agency, beating the controversial Egyptian favourite, Farouk Hosni, who sparked a row over censorship and his comments on book-burning. Bokova, 57, a former Bulgarian foreign minister, will be the first eastern European to run the Paris-based cultural body. She was chosen after deep divisions, a flurry of back-room diplomacy and allegations of attempted bribery over votes, which saw the secret ballot go to a knife-edge fifth round for the first time in Unesco's history.