First, the Maldives held an underwater cabinet meeting, now the Nepalese government will show the perils of climate change to the Himalayan glaciers by convening the cabinet at 17,500 feet.
From the UN News Center:
by Abhishek Nayak
This week at the Barcelona Climate Change talks, Yve de Boer, UN's top climate change official, will attempt to decrease the growing rift between the developed and the developing nations that threatens to sabotage all hopes of reaching an interim agreement at Copenhagen.
Ed note: This post is from Abhishek Nayak, who is part of the Indian Youth Delegation to the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. Abishek recently deferred a semester to work as a researcher and analyst at the India office of New Energy Finance, world's leading provider of information and analysis in clean technology and carbon markets. He was also part of the founding team of Dhanax 's business to introduce retail investment in microcredit. He was a speaker at the FORTUNE Global Forum, 2007 and a student delegate to the 39th St Gallen symposium.
T. Christian Miller and Dafna Linzer write in ProPublica that the United Nations cannot account for "tens of millions of dollars provided to the troubled Afghan election commission." They cite two audits and interviews with current and former UNAMA staff to back up these claims.
These are clearly troubling accusations. Exclusive to UN Dispatch, UN Development Program spokesperson Stephane Dujarric sent the following letter to ProPublica last night:
Spencer Ackerman says:
there’s no doubt that diplomatic outreach to Iran on the nuclear question suffers tremendously if Iran rejects the Vienna deal. Desired strategies have to bow to emergent realities, in the final analysis, and Iran just doesn’t appear like it will accept an eminently reasonable deal that would buy time for a diplomatic thaw. If this is indeed Iran’s formal response to Vienna, than sanctions look more likely now, and, frankly, appropriate.
The General Assembly today will endorse a landmark agreement to fight the illegal and irresponsible trade of small arms and conventional weapons. Now, the General Assembly resolution is not an agreement itself, but it does set out a timetable for negotiations on an agreement on ways to curb arms sales to insurgent groups, volatile regions, or irresponsible governments. The vote tomorrow is very significant, however, for the fact that for the first time
A new article at The Daily Beast highlights the risks of motherhood in India in a striking way. Every year, half a million women die as a result of pregnancy. And for every death, there are 20-30 cases of maternal injury. At the same time, high-end private clinics support surrogate mothers bearing children for infertile couple from the wealthy world. It’s an ugly dichotomy, and it points to financial inequalities and health sector weakness.
The saga of the potential Iranian low-enriched uranium export deal continues. The New York Times reports that Iran is preparing a counter-offer, which may or may not include sending partial shipments of its low-enriched-uranium outside the country for further processing. This sort of back and forth is to be expected. But what caught my eye was this: