The United Nations has announced an international ban on cluster bombs could be ratified later this year. On Wednesday, the UN said it had received the twenty-ninth and thirtieth signatories from Burkina Faso and Moldova. Clusters bombs are packed with bomblets that spread out over a large area and often don’t explode on first impact. They have been particularly lethal to children who pick them up off the ground, sometimes years down the line. The US, Russia and Israel have all refused to sign on to the ban.