News Breifs…
Kenya: A total of 3,704 people have fled the ongoing violence in Kenya, crossing the border into neighboring Uganda according to the Uganda Red Cross. Most of the refugees have sought shelter in schools which are closed for the holidays, their fate and futures remain unknown as the violence in Kenya continutes.
Iraq: According to the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) some 177 million euros is needed in 2008 in order to adequately help Iraqi refugees. The UN estimates some 2.2 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) remain in Iraq, with an estimated additional 2 million Iraqi refugees outside the country, residing mainly in Syria and Jordan.
South Asia: People across South Asia are struggling to cope with a severe shortage of affordable wheat and rice. The BBC reports there have been queues outside Pakistani shops in towns around the country, and flour prices have shot up. Global wheat prices are at record highs. Problems have been compounded by crop failures in the northern hemisphere and an increase in demand from developing countries. Last week Afghanistan appealed for foreign help to combat a wheat shortage while Bangladesh recently warned it faced a crisis over rice supplies.
Illiteracy among the Arab states has dramatically increased to some 99.5 million, 29.7% of the population, according to the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO). ALECSO stated that 75 million of which are between 15 and 45 years old, and that the increase could threaten the social development of all the nations.
Congo: On January 9th a major conference took place to target restoring peace and stability in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) Kivu provinces at the University of the Great Lakes in Goma. Civil war plagued the country between 1996 and 2003 and in North and South Kivu fighting has continued. The minister of social and humanitarian affairs, stated that the conflict led to the deaths of five million people, the internal displacement of six million, and the rape of half a million women.
Sudan: It was the Justice and Equality Movement, a Sudanese rebel group, and not Sudanese government soldiers who attacked a clearly marked UN/African Union supply convoy in Sudan’s war-torn Darfur region last week, Sudan’s UN ambassador said on Jan. 9. “They were not the government,” Ambassador Abdelmahmoud Abdelhalim Mohamed stated before a meeting of the U.N. Security Council.
Zimbabwe: The flooding across southern Africa has increased, causing more and more destuction of homes and livestock, displacement of families, as well as increased the spread of disease. In Zimbabwe the foods have caused a high level of potentially fatal illnesses in children and adults, with more cases of acute respiratory infection, bilharzias, diarrhea and skin conditions being reported. According to a World Vision Zimbabwe assessment team, diseases such as malaria and dysentery are on the increase, and fears of cholera are spreading.
United States: According to One Laptop Per Child‘s, Nicholas Negroponte, Intel has repeatedly destabilized the program by using underhand sales tactics and working to block sales contracts. Intel head Paul Otellini said the accusation was “hogwash.” (BBC)
Cambodia: Dengue fever in Cambodia has killed 407 people, mostly children. This is the highest death toll of the disease in almost a decade. Efforts to stop the diseases spread are underway; the World Bank, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Red Cross are providing pesticides to kill mosquitoes and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has given some $300,000 for anti-dengue programs.
Spain: A week long strike in has taken place by the private clinics that carry out more than 90% of legal abortions in Spain. Spanish law requires that a doctor diagnosis that pregnancy poses a mental health risk to the woman. The strike was held to call for better legal protection for both women and doctors. The strikes are in reaction to police raids on abortion clinics in Barcelona and Madrid late last year.