Off with their heads

Two heads of international agencies have been ousted from their posts in the past week. Under severe pressure from the US, member states of the Chemical Weapons Convention voted to dismiss Jose Bustani, the head of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, which enforces the treaty. Robert Watson, one of the world’s leading climate scientists, has also failed to secure a second three-year term as chairman of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change after the US withdrew its support (New Scientist, 20 April, p 16).