Morning Coffee - 16 November 2009

Welcome to Morning Coffee, brought to you by Lindsay Beyerstein with additional links from the UN Dispatch team. Every morning we survey foreign affairs and foreign policy news so you don't have to. We begin with the "Starting Five" items of the day -- these may not always appear on A-1, but they *are* the kinds of stories that will be buzzing in foreign capitals, the UN and wherever foreign policy minds roam.
Starting Five
DEAD IN THE RISING WATER - President Obama acknowledged today at a summit in Singapore that a full binding climate deal will not happen in Copenhagen this December. He also expressed support for a Danish plan to restructure the negotiations into a two-stage process, aiming for a political deal in Copenhagen and binding emissions agreements at least a year later, most likely in Mexico City. Link
CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE - Mexico has shuttered is embassy in Pakistan for budgetary reasons, after only having been open for two years. Mexico, in the throes of an economic crisis, is expected to close more embassies around the world and downsize other diplomatic outposts. Link
JUNK-FILLED PONDS POISON MILLIONS OF BANGLADESHIS - Millions of Bangladeshis are suffering from arsenic poisoning, and scientists aren't entirely sure why. Twenty-five million people have been exposed to excessive arsenic, and two million have symptoms of arsenic poisoning. Experts call it the worst mass poisoning of a population in history. A new study in journal "Nature Geoscience" may have solved the tragic mystery. The authors point the finger at junk-filled ponds. Poison leaches out of the garbage and into the water table. Link
OBAMA: FREE SUU KYI - On his trip to Singapore, Barack Obama called on the Burman junta to free imprisoned dissident Aung San Suu Kyi. Afterwards, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs confirmed that the president had broached the issue of freeing Suu Kyi "directly with that government." Since taking office, the Obama administration has increased the U.S.'s engagement with the Burmese regime. Senator Jim Webb (D-WV) visited earlier this year. The senior U.S. envoy to Southeast Asia recently met with Suu Kyi and high ranking government officials. Link
REPRIEVE FOR BERLUSCONI - Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi's tax fraud trial has been postponed until January so that he can attend to pressing matters of state. The PM has a pretty good excuse: Berlusconi is currently presiding over the UN Food and Agriculture summit in Rome. Berlusconi, a media mogul in private life, is accused of fudging corporate taxes. Link
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