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- UN is close to naming new climate chief
The process to select a replacement for departing United Nations climate chief Yvo de Boer is reportedly focused on two candidates from the developing world, South Africa's Marthinus van Schalkwyk and Costa Rica's Christiana Figueres. South Africa's aggressive stance on climate change and van Schalkwyk's experience as a government minister, have made him the front-runner, diplomats say. AlertNet.org/Reuters (5/6)       - HBO shows new documentary on Sergio Vieira de Mello
HBO is debuting a documentary on the life and death of Sergio Vieira de Mello, the UN's special representative to Iraq who died in the terrorist attack on the UN compound in Baghdad in 2003. The movie, which is based on Samantha Power's book "Chasing the Flame," explores Vieira de Mello's life, as well as the frustrations of serving an international mission in Iraq. The Washington Post (5/6)  - Africa unites to fight malaria
Authorities in 26 African countries announced a joint push to eliminate malaria deaths by 2015. To meet that goal, the program would need to provide bed nets, insecticides and medicine to every person on the continent by the end of 2010. Reuters (5/5) - China, India scuttled mini-summit at Copenhagen
Secret recordings from the UN climate conference in Copenhagen reveal that India and China stonewalled an agreement during a meeting involving U.S. President Barack Obama, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and others. The meeting collapsed in frustration when French President Nicolas Sarkozy accused the Chinese delegation of maintaining standards that applied to Western countries but not developing countries. The 25-member summit-within-a-summit was assembled in hopes of producing a document that would serve as a follow-up to the Kyoto protocol. Der Spiegel (Germany) (English online version) (5/5) - Pan-African mining countries ponder OPEC-like mineral bloc
A multinational mining conference in Senegal has raised the prospect of a pan-African, OPEC-like cartel among the continent's mineral-rich countries. The bloc would be able to drive the cost of cobalt, which is used to manufacture cell phones and laptops batteries, among other resources. African mining countries extract 30% of the mineral resources used by the U.S. and China. One skeptic warns that in the past investors have pulled out from countries that attempted to organize cartels around the extraction of minerals. The Christian Science Monitor (5/4) - Tracking of mHealth gains is insufficient
 The practice of measuring outcomes associated with the use of mHealth technologies lags far behind the application of emerging technologies, researchers from Columbia University report. Use of mobile and wireless technology as a means to provide health services and increase access has spread across the globe in recent years. ZDNet (U.K.)/Tech for Change blog (5/5) - mHealth technologist makes Time's list of big thinkers
Time magazine included Technology Director Matt Berg of ChildCount+, a text-powered mobile health service in Africa, among its list of the year's 100 most influential leaders and thinkers. ChildCount+ employs text messages to monitor the health, screenings and nutrition of tens of thousands of children -- a group that is particularly vulnerable to diseases such as malaria. Berg is expanding ChildCount+ to monitor the health of some 100,000 children under 5. MobiHealthNews.com (5/4) , TIME (4/29) - Engage men to empower Ugandan women
 Efforts to help rural Ugandan women earn livelihoods and contribute to development goals for their communities are limited by traditional values that leave women little room to make decisions without approval from their husbands. More robust engagement with men on the value of female empowerment would help women take on greater role, experts note. The Guardian (London)/Katine Chronicles blog (5/5) - Art thieves go after secular sculpture in Iran
Authorities in Iran suspect that art-thief vigilantes are targeting and stealing secular statues -- public art whose subject matter is abstract or depicts national themes. Nearly a dozen bronze sculptures and busts have disappeared from Tehran. Hostility toward secular culture is abundant among Iranian radicals, who have interrupted films, concerts and other aspects of public life that do not explicitly portray Islamic themes. The Washington Post (5/6) - Permanent Security Council members say Middle East should be nuclear-weapons-free
The five permanent United Nations Security Council members issued a joint statement Wednesday backing full implementation of a 1995 resolution that calls for the creation of a nuclear-weapons-free zone in the Middle East. Diplomats indicated the move was designed to secure Arab support for U.S.-led efforts to curtail Iran's nuclear program. Implementing such a plan would require Israel to get rid of any nuclear weapons it may have. Reuters (5/5) - Seychelles prepares for Somali pirate trials
Seychelles will join Kenya in hosting a United Nations-backed regional prosecution center for pirates caught by European Union naval forces operating off the Somali coast. Australia, Canada and Germany have helped fund security forces training, while the EU and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime have worked to ensure the Seychelles' criminal justice system is prepared. Google/Agence France-Presse (5/5)
- Reader Poll: To achieve Millennium Development Goal #5, improving maternal health, international organizations should focus their efforts on which of the following:
 | Improving emergency obstetric care. | | Improving prenatal care. | | Helping girls to stay in school. | | Preventing mother-to-child HIV transmission. |
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