Venezuelans in poor areas blocked streets and lit fires during scattered protests across the country and two people were killed during the growing unrest in the midst of a crippling economic crisis. In a worrying sign for leftist President Nicolas Maduro, groups in Caracas’ traditionally pro-government hillside slums and low-income neighborhoods took to the streets, witnesses and opposition lawmakers reported. Maduro foes were galvanized by footage of a crowd in the southeastern Bolivar state heckling and throwing objects at the closely-protected leader during a rally, before state television cut off the broadcast.” (Reuters http://reut.rs/2p7rDM5)
Russia once again blocks UNSC resolution on Syria…Russia blocked a Western effort at the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday to condemn last week’s deadly gas attack in Syria and push Moscow’s ally, President Bashar al-Assad, to cooperate with international inquiries into the incident. It was the eighth time during Syria’s six-year-old civil war that Moscow has used its veto power on the Security Council to shield Assad’s government. In the latest veto, Russia blocked a draft resolution backed by the United States, France and Britain to denounce the attack in the town of Khan Sheikhoun and tell Assad’s government to provide access for investigators and information such as flight plans. (Reuters http://reut.rs/2p78bzi)
Top Stories
Somali security forces rescued nine seamen who were kidnapped from their Indian cargo dhow and taken ashore by pirates, said Hirsi Yusuf Barre, the mayor of Galkayo town in the state of Galmudug. (Reuters http://bit.ly/2o6psnF)
Five Sudanese soldiers were killed while fighting for the Saudi Arabia-led coalition against Houthi forces in Yemen, a spokesman for Sudan’s armed forces said on Wednesday. (Reuters http://bit.ly/2nF8BNn)
Zambia’s outspoken opposition leader was charged with treason after allegedly blocking the president’s motorcade recently, police said. (VOA http://bit.ly/2p6BGBe)
A Mexican mother of four U.S.-born children faced imminent deportation after a federal appeals court refused to block her removal. (AP https://yhoo.it/2p6iVOs)
Chinese President Xi Jinping called for a peaceful resolution of rising tension on the Korean peninsula in a telephone conversation with U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday, as a U.S. aircraft carrier strike group steamed towards the region. (Reuters http://reut.rs/2p7rN69)
An Associated Press investigation of U.N. missions during the past 12 years found nearly 2,000 allegations of sexual abuse and exploitation by peacekeepers and other personnel around the world – signaling the crisis is much larger than previously known. More than 300 of the allegations involved children, the AP found, but only a fraction of the alleged perpetrators served jail time. (AP http://bit.ly/2o6neEA)
A Brazilian judge revealed the names of dozens of politicians to be investigated over alleged involvement in a huge bribery scandal. (BBC http://bbc.in/2o67y4i)
As South Sudan reels from conflict, famine and food insecurity, neighboring Sudan, in collaboration with the World Food Program and the government of South Sudan, opened a second humanitarian corridor to help deliver food and nutrition support. The first convoy of 27 trucks carrying about 1,200 tons of cereal went through earlier this month. (VOA http://bit.ly/2o6lPhv)
The United Nations Security Council is due to vote today to close a 13-year-long peacekeeping mission in Haiti this year and replace it with a smaller police operation, which would be drawn down over two years as the country boosts its own force. (VOA http://bit.ly/2p8Oqo6)
Kenya needs to build two million affordable city homes to meet its housing deficit and stem the growth of its sprawling slums, already home to six out of 10 urban households, the World Bank said on Wednesday. (Reuters http://bit.ly/2o6tJrg)
Opinion/Blogs
Finally, a breakthrough alternative to growth economics – the doughnut (Guardian http://bit.ly/2o6flz6)
At-risk countries worry what ‘America first’ means for climate change (GlobalPost http://bit.ly/2o6ehLF)
Surprising And Sobering: 7 Facts About Global Health (NPR Global Health http://n.pr/2p8TXuD)
The Unbearable Cost of Drought in Africa (Inter Press Service http://bit.ly/2p8TMQ7)
West African children rescued from slavery – in pictures (Guardian http://bit.ly/2p6zhXg)
Eight years after a coup, a heated election in Honduras (The Economist http://econ.st/2o6vbK1)
Why calling for a ceasefire in South Sudan can be a bad idea (African Arguments http://bit.ly/2o6xQDH)
