Jerusalem—Israel’s Defense Ministry said Monday
it had approved construction of 50 new homes at
a West Bank settlement as part of a plan for
1,450 housing units, an expansion that defies a
U.S. call for a settlement freeze.
ANOTHER G-8 is upon us, this time courtesy of
Signor Berlusconi, and its chosen logo — a
turtle — is apt, for the G-8 is essentially an
early 19th-century form of ad-hoc international
organization that only the oldest turtles will
remember. But since the turtle is wise, will he
not frown on our leaders, who give such little
thought to our contemporary global institutions?
For while publications like these are a daily
catalog of global problems and challenges — from
swine flu to the Swat Valley, from climate
change to proliferation of weapons great and
small — the most conspicuous instrument of their
collective solution, the United Nations, is
neglected.
Bangkok—Burma’s highest court has rejected an
appeal by lawyers for opposition leader Aung San
Suu Kyi to allow two prominent dissidents to
testify in her defence.
United Nations— The U.N. General Assembly meets
in emergency session Monday afternoon to debate
the political upheaval in Honduras, a Latin
American country where the army overthrew
President Manuel Zelaya and sent him into exile
in Costa Rica, a spokesman said Sunday.
Melbourne— A swine flu vaccine developed using
caterpillar cells will be ready in just a few
months if clinical trials can be fast-tracked,
Australian researchers said Monday. As the
number of cases in the worst-hit Asia-Pacific
nation neared 4,000, University of Queensland
researchers said they had produced Australia’s
first batch of the US-developed FluBlok.
