Foreign Policy Public Health Blog

Rick Warren finally speaks out against Ugandan anti-gay law

For the last few weeks influential U.S. pastor Rick Warren has been under fire from critics for refusing to condemn the proposed draconian anti-gay laws in Uganda -- which would punish homosexual behavior with jail time or even death and punish those...

Published Thu, Dec 10 2009 1:23 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Africa, Human Rights, Religion

Body of Cyprus president stolen from grave

Here's your freaky story for the day: Grave robbers stole the corpse of former Cyprus President Tassos Papadopoulos after digging up his coffin on the eve of the first anniversary of the statesmen's death, police said Friday. Papadopoulos was...

Published Fri, Dec 11 2009 7:40 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Europe

Indian court recommends legalizing prostitution

If you can’t beat ‘em, regulate ‘em -- that’s the Indian Supreme Court’s take on the country’s illegal sex trade. The court’s advice came in response to an NGO’s public litigation regarding child trafficking in the country. As of 2007, UNICEF estimates...

Published Fri, Dec 11 2009 1:30 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Drugs & Crime, Law, Southeast Asia, India, AIDS, Labor

Cuba's American prisoner

The arrest of a U.S. government subcontractor who was reportedly handing out laptops and cellphones to Cuban opposition groups may be a sign of U.S.-Cuban relations returning to their normal state of distrust and tension: Still, Mr. Vivanco and others...

Published Mon, Dec 14 2009 8:30 AM by FP Passport

Morning Brief: U.S.-China showdown looms in Copenhagen

U.S.-China showdown looms in Copenhagen Top story: The world's two largest polluters have reached an impasse that threatens to derail the climate change talks in Copenhagen. China pledged a 40-45 percent in "carbon intensity" -- a measurement...

Published Tue, Dec 15 2009 6:28 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Morning Brief

RIP: His Tremendousness Prince Giorgio

Microstates, self-declared ministates that declare themseles independent and act that way whether the world recognizes them or not, are something of an interest of mine. Which is why I saddened by today's news of the death of Giorgio Carbone, elected...

Published Tue, Dec 15 2009 3:45 PM by FP Passport

Lockerbie bomber breaks parole

The Times reports that the recently released Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi seems to have vanished, despite the fact that the terms of his release require him to stay in Tripoli and keep in contact with authorities in East Renfrewshire, Scotland: On Sunday...

Published Wed, Dec 16 2009 11:21 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Terrorism, Middle East

What do Copenhagen protestors want?

In the absence of real progress to report, news coverage of the ongoing U.N. climate summit in Copenhagen has lately begun to focus on the protestors. Here is what we know: There are a lot of them (estimates range from 50,000 to 100,000 ). They've...

Published Thu, Dec 17 2009 8:01 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Europe, Environment

I'm with stupid...

I'm not sure an appearance by Oklahoma Sen. James Inhofe was really needed to ensure that the U.N. climate summit in Copenhagen ends in failure. The delegates seem to be perfectly capable of taking care of that inevitability on their own. Inhofe is...

Published Thu, Dec 17 2009 12:00 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Global Warming, U.S. Congress

Obama's Copenhagen Speech

The prepared text of U.S. President Barack Obama's address at the Morning Plenary Session of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Oslo, Norway. Read More...

Published Fri, Dec 18 2009 9:09 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Default, Free, Document, Web Exclusive

What were we expecting from Copenhagen?

With all due respect to Bruce Bueno de Mesquita , I don't think you really needed an advanced computer model to predict that the Copenhagen conference wasn't going to end with binding emissions goals. But even so, the final deal is a crushing...

Published Fri, Dec 18 2009 2:59 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Environment

Has Clinton been reading her FP?

China: We just gave Cambodia $1.2 billion because we're nice

China is denying that the $1.2 billion in aid that Vice President Xi Jinping pledged during a visit to Cambodia yesterday had anything to do with the fact that just hours earlier, the country deported 20 Uighur asylum speakers -- a move that Xi praised...

Published Tue, Dec 22 2009 7:41 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Human Rights, China, Foreign Aid, Southeast Asia

Goldman always wins

Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein P.T. Barnum, the great American circus showman, may or may not have actually said of his customers, "there's a sucker born every minute," but it's a maxim that could just as well have applied to the...

Published Thu, Dec 24 2009 12:13 PM by FP Passport

Filed under: Financial crisis, Finance

That was quick: Russia makes nice with Ukraine

Just two days after President Viktor Yushchenko was ignominiously defeated in the first round of Ukraine's presidential election, Moscow has decided to send an ambassador to Kiev for the first time in five months. Yushchenko has been a thorn in the...

Published Tue, Jan 19 2010 10:51 AM by FP Passport

Filed under: Russia, Eastern Europe