There are a lot of rumors coming out of Ukraine right now about a new form of swine flu, a brand new illness, or some kind of virulent pneumonia. I suspect it’s no more than swine flu with complications, but it’s causing some major panic in Kiev.
Big news for the cause of international justice, human rights, and deterring war crimes: the United States has agreed to participate, as an observer, in a meeting of state parties to the International Criminal Court. The news emerged from a press conference in Nairobi, Kenya with the U.S. Ambassador at Large for War Crimes Issues, Stephen Rapp. Via Reuters:
In this edition of UN Plaza, I chat with Peter Hakim of the Inter-American Dialogue about what has happened in Honduras since the coup. In the clip below, Hakim outlines what he describes as a few American-missteps in handling this crisis.
Bearish on the prospects for a legally binding comprehensive climate deal in Copenhagen next month, world leaders have decided to put off a full treaty until at least next year and instead aim for a less sweeping, "politically binding" agreement in Copenhagen.
Afghanistan's first death from swine flu was reported on October 18. Since then, at least ten more people have died in Kabul, the LA Times reports. The news gets worse; the Afghanistan ministry of health has estimated that swine flu could infect up to 22% of the country’s population. That’s 6.6 million people, of which 330,000 are likely to develop severe complications. That’s more than Afghanistan’s struggling health system can handle.