To the Point

International Reaction to New US Policy Decisions

If the Pentagon-s aborted disinformation campaign, tariffs on imported steel, and the Nuclear Posture Review have been controversial in the United States, they-ve produced nothing less than bewilderment and anger overseas. From Europe to the Middle East to Asia, countries are trying to understand the intentions of the world-s only super power. What-s America-s latest image in the eyes of the rest of the world? We sample that reaction and hear what-s being said about America-s policies and actions in Europe, Russia, the Middle East and Asia. Newsmaker: Palestinian Statehood Approved by UN Security Council After years of trying to keep the United Nations out of the Middle East, the United States stunned the Security Council last night with a resolution referring for the first time to a Palestinian state. Evelyn Leopold, UN bureau chief for Reuters news service, has more on the resolution that passed 14-to-0, and on Kofi Annan-s harsh condemnation of escalating Middle East violence. Reporters Notebook: Yates Verdict Raises Debate on Legal Treatment of Mental Illness Eleven doctors and other expert medical witnesses testified that Andrea Yates was insane when she drowned her five children in a bathtub last June, but a Houston jury took just four hours to find her guilty of two counts of murder. Loyola Marymount University law professor Laurie Levenson talks about sympathy, psychosis, and what the verdict says about the handling of mental illness in American courts.