Seeing a silver lining around the dark cloud of the W.H.O. director-general elections, the Lancet's Hannah  Brown blogs from Geneva that technology and growing press coverage have opened up the proceedings more than ever before.

Chinese government scientists reject the conclusion, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, that a new strain of bird flu is circulating in southern China. Of course, if the Chinese government was more open about sharing virus samples from infected poultry it might be easier to believe them.

Unsafe abortions kill 70,000 women each year around the world, according to the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics. Many women seek unsafe abortions because they have no alternatives--either to prevent pregnancy or end it safely.