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- Syria truce short-lived; 420 dead since Friday
The Syrian military and opposition rebels are blaming each other for violating the cease-fire brokered by United Nations-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi. By the end of the truce, more than 420 people were reported killed. Despite the truce's failure, "[i]t will not discourage us because Syria is very important and the people of Syria deserve our support and interest," Brahimi said. Bloomberg (10/28), Reuters (10/29), Reuters (10/29), AlertNet/Reuters (10/28)      - World Bank to open books on public contracts
The World Bank plans to release more information about its estimated $13 billion in annual public contracts as part of a campaign to increase transparency and reduce corruption. "It's inherent in our DNA that we cannot tolerate corruption, we cannot tolerate any kind of blemish to the reputation of the bank on the fiduciary side," said Sanjay Pradhan, vice president of the bank's World Bank Institute. The Guardian (London) (10/26) - Ending Ghana deaths from inefficient cookstoves
A program in Ghana seeks to provide universal access to cleaner energy for cooking by 2020 in an effort to reduce the estimated 6,500 deaths each year caused by air pollution from inefficient fuels and cookstoves. The plan also would double Ghana's use of renewable energy. Ghana News Agency (10/26) - Malala attack emblematic of wider schools crisis
More than two schools each week, on average, have been destroyed or damaged this year by militants in Pakistan, according to Human Rights Watch. While the gun attack on schoolgirl Malala Yousufzai has drawn attention to the Taliban campaign against secular government education, hundreds of thousands of Pakistani children are being forced to miss one school year or more. Reuters (10/26), Los Angeles Times (tiered subscription model) (10/26) - Saudi move to curb religious police could ease lives of women
The Saudi Arabia cleric in charge of the country's religious police -- notorious for harassing women in public for behaviors and dress they believe to be in violation of Islamic law -- intends to distribute guidelines re-iterating that police are not empowered to make arrests or interrogate citizens. The force "was created as a guidance body and we want to make sure it is just a guidance authority," said Sheik Abdulatif al-Sheikh, whose remarks are seen as an effort by the monarchy to improve the position of women. The Wall Street Journal (10/26) - Is free speech last victim of L'Aquila quake?
Scientists could be dissuaded from providing independent analysis of the risks of natural disasters after the prison terms handed down in Italy to six seismologists and one government official convicted of misleading residents of L'Aquila before the 2009 earthquake that destroyed the city. "It would be terrible if we started practicing defensive science and the only statements we made were bland things that never actually drew one conclusion or another," said David Spiegelhalter, a professor at Cambridge University. BBC (10/27), The Economist (10/27) - Mali: The next Somalia?
Instability, a war with Islamist militants and dangers to the outside world have plagued Somalia for decades and are being cited as a fear for Mali. Experts worry that a military intervention led by African troops could turn the analogy into reality. Los Angeles Times (tiered subscription model) (10/27) Top five news stories selected by UN Wire readers in the past week. - Results based on number of times each story was clicked by readers.
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