The General Assembly of the United Nations (UN) selected the next five non-permanent members of the Security Council on 17 October for a two-year term starting on 1 January 2008. The five are Austria, Japan, Mexico, Turkey, and Uganda and will replace Belgium, Indonesia, Italy, Panama, and South Africa on 31 December.

Bolivia will have a new constitution if voters approve it in a referendum on 25 January. After a near-crisis and demonstrations against the opposition, both sides agreed on a compromise—essentially that the president will give up on a third term--and Congress approved the draft constitution on 21 October. Under the new constitution a new bill of rights will give autonomy to indigenous groups over ancestral lands and grant them a share in national natural resources. The presidential election will be held one year earlier, in December 2009, and the new presidential term is lengthened by one year to five years.

The National Assembly of the Serb Republic (RS) of Bosnia and Herzegovina adopted a non-binding resolution on 15 October expressing the conviction that it has the right to secede. The continuing challenges to the 1995 Dayton Peace Accords are intensifying since Kosovo declared its independence. The High Representative has rejected those moves and pointed out that the Serb Republic is not a state but a component of B&H and that nationalist maneuvers are blocking the country’s path to the European Union (EU).

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is again tackling the issue of agriculture and the income gap between farmers and urban dwellers. At the 3^rd plenary session of the 17^th Central Committee on 9-12 October in Beijing a land reform plan was approved which emphasizes the creation of large-scale industrial farms to safeguard self-sufficiency of grain production, allows farmers to trade and mortgage their land rights, and double per capita rural income by 2020. The plan will be submitted to the next session of the National People’s Congress in March 2009 and is expected to be approved.

 

Viewing the World

The financial crisis is still with us and when other events become the day’s prominent news, drops in stock prices and takeover of banks in a number of countries around the world bring back the problems of credit and stability. For Americans especially, the significant event was the outcome of the presidential election on 4 November with the Barack Obama-Joe Biden team claiming a substantial majority of votes. The supporters of the new US president were jubilant while others sighed in relief that eight years of disastrous conduct and policy of the administration were about to end. While the election of a black president is certainly a historical feat, ... more

UN warns coastal cities of future threat of submergence

International organizations, governments, and scientists are increasingly concerned with a threatening side effect of climate change: submerging of coastal cities. Urban centers not physically affected by global warming would still suffer when thousands of “environmental refugees” arrive and overburden communities. The term used to locate the vulnerable cities is low elevation coastal zones (LECZ) which account only for two percent of the earth’s landmass but contain 10 percent of the world’s population or about 634 million people. ...more

 Mauritius, Seychelles, and Cape Verde rank tops in African governance

The second annual survey tracking the quality of government in 48 African countries places Mauritius (2007: no. 1), Seychelles (no. 2), Cape Verde (no. 4), Botswana (no. 3), and South Africa (no. 5) in the top five places. ...more