- The General Assembly and Security Council will respectively meet this morning to vote to fill a seat on the International Criminal Court vacated by U.S. national Thomas Buergenthal earlier this week. His fellow American Joan Donoghue is the sole candidate and has been endorsed by 31 governments, including a majority of the Security Council (the P5 and 3 elected members). If elected, she will serve out the remainder of Buergenthal’s term, until 5 February 2015. Update: Ms. Donoghue received 159 votes in the GA and a unanimous vote in the SC.
- An official with the Permanent Mission for the Republic of Korea, which chairs the Asian regional group this month, tells Global Memo that there will be competition among Asian countries in the ECOSOC election next month. There are 4 seats and 6 candidates – Bahrain, China, Nepal, Pakistan, Qatar and the Republic of Korea. The election will take place in the General Assembly on 25 October.
- The new Under Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Valerie Amos, will give her first press conference via video conference today during the Noon Briefing.
- While a recent poll shows that Dominique Strauss-Kahn would “crush” Nicolas Sarkozy in a 2012 presidential run, thus requiring him to step down as IMF boss earlier than the end of this term in September 2012, he may not get the nomination.