South Sudan has deported a journalist working for the international Associated Press news agency, and the reporter said on Wednesday that it was because his reporting was critical of the government. Presidential spokesman Ateny Wek Ateny said he was not aware of such a deportation and could not comment. Journalists in South Sudan have often complained of harassment by the authorities during the civil conflict. In 2015, five journalists were killed in South Sudan, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. “Yesterday I was arrested and deported by members of South Sudan’s National Security Service. The officers did not officially present me with a reason for my arrest and deportation, but repeatedly said that my reporting was too critical of the government. This is a violation of press freedom,” Justin Lynch said on his Twitter account. “As an international journalist, it is an unfortunate reality that I am privileged compared to my brave South Sudanese colleagues, who are frequently the victim of intimidation or even death.” (Reuters https://yhoo.it/2gb8nd7)
Yellow Fever, beaten…. Four months have passed without a single case of yellow fever related to the outbreak in Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, thanks to the joint response activities of national health authorities, local health workers, WHO and partners…The outbreak, which was first detected in Angola in Dec. 2015, had caused 962 confirmed cases of yellow fever across the two countries (884 in Angola 78 in DRC) by Nov. 16, 2016, with more than 7300 suspected cases. The last confirmed case reported in Angola was on June 23 and DRC’s last case was on July 12. (WHO http://bit.ly/2gbejCF)
Pope weighs in on fake news…Francis told the Belgian Catholic weekly “Tertio” that spreading disinformation was “probably the greatest damage that the media can do” and using communications for this rather than to educate the public amounted to a sin. (Reuters https://yhoo.it/2gboMte)
Top Stories
Four African migrants drowned and 34 were rescued after their boat sank in the Mediterranean on Wednesday, Moroccan authorities said. (Reuters http://bit.ly/2gb8vcw)
Nearly 100 people were killed early Wednesday and more were feared dead after a powerful earthquake struck the Indonesian island of Sumatra, with many of the victims crushed to death in their homes as they slept. (NYT http://nyti.ms/2h7eIDu)
More Syrians have fled eastern Aleppo, with reports of about 800 arriving in the past 24 hours at a disused cotton factory in the Jibreen district of west Aleppo and 1,260 in Hanano district, retaken by government forces, a U.N. official said on Wednesday. (Reuters https://yhoo.it/2gUGaWZ)
The mayor of a small Puerto Rican municipality has been arrested by FBI agents on public corruption charges related to telecommunications project that officials say turned out to be a Ponzi scheme. (AP https://yhoo.it/2gbd32E)
Poverty, conflict and climate change will leave 15 million people across Africa’s Sahel belt in need of life-saving aid next year, the United Nations said on Wednesday as it launched a record $2.7 billion humanitarian appeal for the region in 2017. (Reuters https://yhoo.it/2gbbjGy)
Insurers should pay more heed to climate risk in their investment strategies to plug an annual $100 billion “protection gap” of uninsured losses from natural catastrophes, a network of 29 global insurance players said in a report on Wednesday. (Reuters https://yhoo.it/2gUKVzI)
A U.N. agency says Iran is no longer in violation of its nuclear agreement with six world powers because it has reduced its store of heavy water. (AP https://yhoo.it/2h6WiFh)
A prominent Egyptian human rights activist and lawyer was arrested on Wednesday in connection with an ongoing investigation of the country’s top rights campaigners for illegally receiving foreign funds. Her arrest has had a chilling effect on Egyptian rights activists who fear they will be next. (AP https://yhoo.it/2gbtR4t)
India has registered nearly an 800 percent spike in the number of so-called honor killings reported last year, leading state officials and women’s rights groups to urge investigations into how such crimes persist. (AP https://yhoo.it/2gbvf7m)
A U.N. rights watchdog called on Sri Lanka on Wednesday to investigate “routine torture” of detainees by security forces and rebuked its government for failing to prosecute war crimes committed during the country’s 26-year conflict. (Reuters https://yhoo.it/2gbqlai)
Ohio’s Legislature has passed a bill that would ban abortion once a fetal heartbeat can be detected, which is typically around six weeks after conception – before many women even realize they’re pregnant. (NPR http://n.pr/2h6Ha8K)
Opinion/Blogs
Zika is no longer a global health emergency – it’s worse (UN Dispatch http://bit.ly/2h6J20X)
China has climate change deniers, too. But they’re mostly shunned. (PRI’s the World http://bit.ly/2gCP20p)
Britain champions female refugees abroad only to fail them here (Guardian http://bit.ly/2h6Npf3)
India Steps Up Citizen Activism to Protect Women (Inter Press Service http://bit.ly/2gbpaIc)
Charts: Crime is getting even worse in post-Olympics Rio (GlobalPost http://bit.ly/2h6QifW)
The Lawyers’ Role in Perpetuating Corruption in Nigeria (Global Anticorruption Blog http://bit.ly/2gbf7b2)
Using mobile tech to influence behavior and improve maternal health (Devex http://bit.ly/2gl3OLR)
Living up to its Reputation – Complementing Justice and Achieving Accountability in Nigeria (Justice in Conflict http://bit.ly/2h3ECYl)
