Anti-corruption measures for Afghan government, among other changes

The Afghan government pledged to combat corruption Monday, announcing legislation to create a major-crime task force and an anti-corruption unit. The announcement is seen as a response to criticism from U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown. U.K. Foreign Minister David Miliband said further changes are on the horizon, noting the country might someday see senior Taliban commanders as members of the government. Los Angeles Times (11/17), CBC.ca (Canada) (11/17)

• EU rejects Palestinian bid for statehood 
• Alliance hopes to reverse worldwide rise of chronic disease 
• Scientists question forest-preservation plan 
• Qaddafi seeks to convert Italian women to Islam 
• Somali pirates venture to far waters to hijack 

• EU rejects Palestinian bid for statehood
  The European Union rejected a bid by the Palestinian Authority to unilaterally create an independent Palestinian state without Israel's consent. Israel threatened to cancel all past agreements with the Palestinians if the bid was accepted by the UN Security Council. CBC.ca (Canada) (11/17)

• Ban elaborates links between hunger, climate policies
  UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says global food security is inextricably linked with global climate change, observing world leaders cannot end world hunger without first curbing carbon emissions. Ban's comments reflected an urgent shift in policy toward finding a coherent solution that addresses the convergent issues of global hunger, energy poverty and planetary warming. Ban says world leaders must develop a specific plan to fund efforts to curb hunger, noting 6 million children die of hunger every year. Financial Times (tiered subscription model) (11/16), The Christian Science Monitor (11/16)

• Alliance hopes to reverse worldwide rise of chronic disease
  Public health researchers have joined forces to battle chronic diseases. Researchers are set to spend tens of millions of dollars on studying chronic noncommunicable diseases such as hypertension and lung conditions. Experts say 388 million people are expected to die prematurely during the next decade because of noncommunicable conditions. AlertNet/Reuters (11/16)

• Other News

• WHO prepares yellow-fever vaccination campaign for Africa
  AlertNet/Reuters (11/17)

• Danish prime minister insists on emissions cuts at Copenhagen
  Bloomberg (11/17)

• Vietnam's ethnic minorities still lack proper maternal care
  IRINNews.org (11/16)

• Scientists question forest-preservation plan
  A United Nations plan to help save forests and fight climate change by paying poor countries to protect their trees might save some animal and plant species but also endanger many more, scientists warn in research. The plan could encourage the preservation of forests that are cheaper to protect but home to a less diverse number of species, they argue. AlertNet/Reuters (11/16)

• Qaddafi seeks to convert Italian women to Islam
  Some 200 women who answered a modeling agency advertisement were taken to a villa in Rome, where Libyan leader Muammar el-Qaddafi offered each a Koran and made an appeal for them to convert to Islam. The women were each paid $75 to attend. NYTimes.com (11/16)

• Saharan activist on hunger strike after deportation from Spanish airport
  Aminatou Haidar, the most prominent human-rights activist in Western Sahara, announced a hunger strike after being expelled from a Spanish airport for refusing to declare Moroccan as her nationality. Haidar -- who was returning from the U.S., where she was awarded the Train Foundation's Civil Courage prize -- has fought for self-determination for the indigenous Sahrawi population, many of whom live in refugee camps in southwest Algeria. Haidar has been arrested and tortured by Moroccan authorities in the past for her support for Sahrawi independence. The Guardian (London) (11/17)

• Switzerland mulls changes to assisted-suicide law
  Swiss authorities are considering changes to the country's assisted-suicide laws over concerns Switzerland is becoming a "suicide tourism" destination. About one-third of assisted suicides performed each year involve foreign patients. Changes under consideration include requiring opinions from two doctors and an officially confirmed terminal diagnosis. TIME (11/16)

• Other News

• U.S. to engage ICC but will not join
  The Washington Post (11/17)

• Somali pirates venture to far waters to hijack
  Somali pirates captured a Singaporean vessel manned by a North Korean crewed and attacked a Ukrainian vessel that escaped, marking an uptick in piracy and hijackings after the end of the monsoon season. Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said Somali pirates had released the Spanish crew of a tuna trawler that the pirates have held for six weeks -- with the pirates indicating they had been promised a ransom of $3.5 million. Somali pirates have been operating in the vicinity of the far-off Seychelles Islands, where they are free from harassment by U.S. and European Union forces. BBC (11/17), The Christian Science Monitor (11/17)

• U.S., Russia close to agreement on nuclear arms pact
  Russia and the U.S. will agree on terms for a follow-up nuclear arms reduction treaty by the end of the year, U.S. President Barack Obama said Monday. The nations are looking to craft a successor to the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty that expires Dec. 5. The Toronto Star/The Associated Press (11/16)

• Czech Republic celebrates fall of Communism
  Czech Republic President Vaclav Klaus and Prime Minister Jan Fischer were joined by former dissident leader Vaclav Havel in a celebration of the Velvet Revolution, ending Communist rule in the country just days after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Thousands of Czechs are expected to march in a replication of the nonviolent student protest that turned into a peaceful revolution 20 years ago after false rumors spread about the brutal killing of a mathematics student at the hands of the Communist regime. NYTimes.com (11/17)

• Problems emerge in Sudan's election preparations
  Sudanese opposition parties have asked the National Elections Commission to extend voter registration by two weeks after a lack of information and speedy preparations left many Sudanese unaware of the registration process. Sudan will hold its first multiparty elections in 24 years in 2010. Opposition parties have threatened to boycott the vote if democratic reforms are not enacted by Nov. 30. AlertNet/Reuters (11/16)

• Other News

• 13 slain in Baghdad, including Sunni politician
  The Washington Post (11/17)

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