At least 570 suspected cases of cholera have surfaced in war-torn Yemen in the past three weeks, sparking fears of a potential epidemic, Doctors Without Borders said. The Shiite Huthi rebels put the number of cases at 1,681 in 12 provinces, including in the north and west of the country, according to the Sabanews.net website which cited their health minister, Mohamed bin Hafedh. Healthcare has dramatically deteriorated in Yemen as conflict between the Iran-backed rebels and the Saudi-supported government continues to escalate, leaving hospitals destroyed and millions struggling to find access to food and clean water…”There are fears that the disease could turn into an epidemic. Two years into the war, the healthcare system has collapsed, hospitals are destroyed… and government employees’ salaries have not been paid,” Abou Chaar said. He said MSF had seen a marked hike over the past week in suspected cholera cases in five provinces across the country.” (AFP https://yhoo.it/2pof0IL)
Trouble Brewing in Cote D’Ivoire? Demobilized rebel fighters blocked a main road into Ivory Coast’s second city, demanding the payment of bonuses and jobs in the army and state institutions. The former fighters, some wearing balaclavas or their faces blackened with ashes, set up barricades, sealing off the main road south from Bouake, the center of a wave of army mutinies that paralyzed the world’s top cocoa grower earlier this year. A witness and a soldier, who was not part of the group, said they saw several hundred demobilized fighters, some armed. “We’re asking for President Alassane Ouattara to have a thought for his sons, who have suffered for 15 years,” said Amadou Ouattara, who described himself as the spokesman for the group.” (VOA http://bit.ly/2prtxUW)
Top Stories
More than 200 migrants are feared to have died in the Mediterranean over the weekend, to testimony from survivors, and several bodies, including that of an infant, have washed up on a Libyan beach. (VOA http://bit.ly/2pUcNbD)
Syria’s foreign minister dismissed the idea of foreign forces patrolling four safe zones that are to be established under a deal struck by Russia, Iran and Turkey, suggesting Damascus would only settle for Russian “military police” who are already on the ground in the so-called de-escalation zones. (AP http://apne.ws/2pdpbVc)
A Filipino senator briskly defended the human rights record of President Rodrigo Duterte’s government before a U.N. body, saying his government always “seeks to uphold the rule of law” while critical Western nations aired concerns about deadly vigilante justice and extrajudicial killings in the country. (AP http://apne.ws/2pdaFwQ)
Jailed opposition Venezuelan politician Leopoldo Lopez is well and is urging street demonstrators to keep up massive anti-government protests, his wife said on Sunday after her first visit with the former presidential hopeful in over a month, putting to rest rumors of his ill health. (VOA http://bit.ly/2pTMTEW)
India is set to legalize the mining of mica, a sparkly mineral used in eyeshadows and car paint, in a bid to cut the number of children who labor – and often die – to produce it. (Guardian http://bit.ly/2pU3o3u)
Thousands of meningitis cases have been reported by the health ministry in the northern states Zamfara, Kebbi, and Sokoto since November 2016, in Nigeria’s worst outbreak of the disease since it killed more than 2,000 people in 2009. (Reuters http://bit.ly/2pYLH19)
The United Nations says Southeast Asia’s economic success has been marked by an expansion of organized crime and terrorism challenges, especially in areas of weak governance and limited capacities. (VOA http://bit.ly/2pU59h9)
The Pentagon endorsed a plan to invest nearly $8 billion to bulk up the U.S. presence in the Asia-Pacific region over the next five years by upgrading military infrastructure, conducting additional exercises and deploying more forces and ships. (WSJ http://on.wsj.com/2prpUhD)
Despite uncertainties about whether the United States will remain committed to the Paris climate accord under President Donald Trump, envoys convened talks in Germany on implementing the details of the deal to combat global warming. (AP http://apne.ws/2pdbm9b)
Opinion/Blogs
Journalist Lisa Palmer examines the implications of our hot hungry planet. (Global Dispatches Podcast http://bit.ly/2poj4J5)
The hope and (over-)promise of Ghana’s new government (African Arguments http://bit.ly/2prtNmL)
The Real Reason Trump Shouldn’t Meet With Duterte (Foreign Policy http://atfp.co/2pTVBmi)
Global Climate Policy in an Uncertain State of Flux (IPS http://bit.ly/2pYKXsQ)
Seeds of rural renewal sown in Senegal (IRIN http://bit.ly/2pUfsC3)
Cutting Europe’s lifelines to coal: tracking subsidies in 10 countries (ODI http://bit.ly/2prOi2y)
Australia’s budget redirects aid spending to security (Devex http://bit.ly/2qTgFb3)
