GENEVA: More than 20 million people — greater than the population of Romania or Florida — risk dying from starvation within six months in four separate famines, UN World Food Programme chief economist Arif Husain says.
Wars in Yemen, northeastern Nigeria and South Sudan have devastated households and driven up prices, while a drought in east Africa has ruined the agricultural economy.
“In my not quite 15 years with the World Food Programme, this is the first time that we are literally talking about famine in four different parts of the world at the same time,” he told Reuters in an interview.
“It’s almost overwhelming to comprehend that in the 21st century people are still experiencing famines of such magnitude. We’re talking about 20 million people, and all this within the next six months, or now. Yemen is now, Nigeria is now, South Sudan is now,” he said.
“Somalia, when I look at the indicators in terms of extremely high food prices, falling livestock prices and agricultural wages, it’s going to come pretty fast.”
The global humanitarian system is already struggling with a historic surge in migration, huge operations in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, and serious situations in Ukraine, Burundi, Libya and Zimbabwe.
“Then you have places like DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo), CAR (Central African Republic), Burundi, Mali, Niger, where people are chronically food insecure but ... there’s just not enough resources to go around.”
Humanitarian aid is at record high levels but demand is growing even faster, creating a huge gap. “In northeast Nigeria we’re feeding more than 1 million people and just a few months ago we didn’t even have an office there,” Husain said.
There is a glimmer of hope that Somalia’s drought will not be as severe as feared, but in the capital Mogadishu food prices have already risen by a quarter since January and forecasts for the rainy season from March to May are not optimistic.
TOO LATE
In 2011, Somalia suffered a famine that killed 260,000 people. The famine was declared in July, but most people had already died by May.
“When we declare famine, it means many lives have already been lost,” Husain said. “If we wait to find that out for sure, people are already dead.”
Moreover, the 2011 famine followed a good agricultural season. This year’s drought follows two bad seasons that have already sapped people’s resources.
In Yemen and South Sudan, economic collapse means people simply cannot afford the food that is available. Prices in South Sudan have risen two to four times in a year, and traders from Uganda and Kenya consider the local currency valueless.
Yemenis, whose family wealth may be stored in gold or silver or weapons, are being forced to sell off those assets.
“I was in Yemen just a couple of weeks ago. There is food in the markets. But people have not been paid, especially the urban population, which is about a third of the total population,” Husain said.
“Once they’ve lost their economic assets, it’s almost impossible for them to recover, and that just perpetuates long-term poverty.”
Yemen is officially still classed as an “emergency,” but famine could be declared within about three months, Husain said.
In Nigeria’s Borno state, where millions of people have fled Boko Haram militants, there is simply no commerce, no markets and no movement, leaving people dependent on emergency aid.
“They survive outside in camps, 50 degree Centigrade temperatures, living in huts with metal sheets on top, with one water point, with communal kitchens, with one meal per day,” Husain said.
“And there’s no end in sight.”
Four famines mean 20 million may starve in the next six months
Four famines mean 20 million may starve in the next six months
Bad weather set to hit UK New Year celebrations
- Edinburgh’s Hogmanay street party was canceled on public safety grounds
LONDON: Adverse weather on Monday looked set to hit UK New Year festivities, as the organizers of Edinburgh’s Hogmanay street party canceled the event on public safety grounds.
The Edinburgh celebrations, a major tourist draw which last year attracted some 30,000 people, had been due to feature a fireworks display and a concert headlined by Scottish band Texas.
But organizers said it would not be safe to go ahead with preparations for outdoor events scheduled for Monday and New Year’s Eve on Tuesday due to “ongoing high winds and inclement weather.”
Planned New Year fireworks in the holiday resort town of Blackpool in northwestern England were also canceled due to a forecast of high winds, the local council said.
The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) issued a rare severe flood warning of “danger to life” for parts of Scotland.
It said a heavy downpour was expected to burst riverbanks in Aviemore in northern Scotland and nearby areas of the Scottish Highlands.
“Due to persistent and heavy rainfall, river levels on the River Spey will rise throughout Monday night and into Tuesday morning causing serious flooding,” it said.
“Extensive flooding to properties and businesses is expected in and around Aviemore.”
The UK’s Met Office, meanwhile, said heavy rain and strong winds could be expected in parts of Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England.
Some snow was also forecast for parts of Scotland.
“A series of low-pressure systems will track across the UK over the next couple of days bringing some potentially disruptive weather,” said Met Office meteorologist Steve Willington.
“Almost the entire UK is covered by at least one weather warning” over the coming week, he added.
A Met Office amber warning for rain and snow — the second most severe weather notice, meaning there is a potential risk to life — is in place for Scotland.
A number of less severe yellow warnings for rain, wind and snow were also in place for Scotland and northern England.
US Treasury says was targeted by China state-sponsored cyberattack
- Breach accessed Treasury workstations and some unclassified documents
WASHINGTON: The US Treasury Department said Monday that a China state-sponsored actor was behind a cyber breach resulting in access to some of its workstations, according to a letter to Congress seen by AFP.
The incident happened earlier this month, when the actor compromised a third-party cybersecurity service provider and was able to remotely access the Treasury workstations and some unclassified documents, a Treasury spokesperson added.
Treasury contacted the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency after it was alerted of the situation by its provider BeyondTrust, and has been working with law enforcement partners to ascertain the impact.
“The compromised BeyondTrust service has been taken offline and there is no evidence indicating the threat actor has continued access to Treasury systems or information,” the department’s spokesperson said.
In its letter to the leadership of the Senate Banking Committee, the Treasury said: “Based on available indicators, the incident has been attributed to a China state-sponsored Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) actor.”
An APT refers to a cyberattack where an intruder establishes and maintains unauthorized access to a target, remaining undetected for a sustained period of time.
The department did not provide further details on what was affected by the breach, but said more information would be released in a supplemental report at a later date.
“Treasury takes very seriously all threats against our systems, and the data it holds,” the Treasury spokesperson added.
The official said that the department would continue working to protect the US financial system from threats.
Several countries, notably the United States, have voiced alarm in recent years at what they say is Chinese-government-backed hacking activity targeting their governments, militaries and businesses.
Beijing rejects the allegations, and has previously said that it opposes and cracks down on all forms of cyberattacks.
In September, the US Justice Department said it had neutralized a cyber-attack network that affected 200,000 devices worldwide, alleging it was run by hackers backed by the Chinese government.
In February, US authorities also said they had dismantled a network of hackers known as “Volt Typhoon.”
The group was said to be targeting key public sector infrastructure like water treatment plants and transportation systems at the behest of China.
In 2023, tech giant Microsoft said Chinese-based hackers seeking intelligence information breached the email accounts of a number of US government agencies.
The group, Storm-0558, had breached email accounts at approximately 25 organizations and government agencies.
Accounts belonging to the State Department and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo were among those hacked in that breach.
Argentine judge orders arrest of Nicaragua’s Ortega over human rights violations
- The warrant, lawyer Dario Richarte said, also applies to Ortega’s wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo
BUENOS AIRES: An Argentine judge has ordered the arrest of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega over his alleged “systematic violation of human rights,” a lawyer who filed a case against the leader told AFP on Monday.
The warrant, lawyer Dario Richarte said, also applies to Ortega’s wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, and is based on the principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows for nations to prosecute crimes against humanity outside their country of origin.
Federal Judge Ariel Lijo has also ordered the arrest of a dozen other people linked to Ortega’s rule.
The crimes Ortega and his wife are accused of include murder, forced disappearances, torture and “deportation or forced transfer of population,” Richarte said.
The complaint had been filed in 2022 by a group of prosecutors from the University of Buenos Aires.
Ortega, a 79-year-old ex-guerrilla, has engaged in increasingly authoritarian practices since returning to power in 2007, seizing control of all branches of the state.
His government has targeted critics, shutting down more than 5,000 non-governmental organizations since a crackdown on 2018 protests that the United Nations said left more than 300 people dead.
Most independent and opposition media now operate from abroad.
Around 450 politicians, businesspeople, journalists, intellectuals, human rights activists and religious figures have been stripped of their nationality since February 2023 under accusations of “treason.”
Amnesty International’s Americas director Ana Piquer warned earlier this month that nobody in Nicaragua was safe from Ortega’s “repressive machinery.”
“From indigenous leaders, journalists, human rights defenders and anyone seen as a risk to government policies, the authorities continue to consolidate the climate of fear,” she said.
Appeals court upholds verdict in Trump sexual abuse case
- Trump was ordered to pay $2 million for sexual abuse and another $3 million for defaming writer E. Jean Carrol
NEW YORK: A federal appeals court on Monday upheld a jury verdict ordering President-elect Donald Trump to pay $5 million for sexually abusing and defaming writer E. Jean Carroll.
A New York jury found after a nine-day civil trial last year that the former president had sexually abused Carroll at a Manhattan department store in 1996.
Trump was ordered to pay $2 million for sexual abuse and another $3 million for defaming Carroll, a former advice columnist for Elle magazine.
Trump denied the allegations and appealed the verdict on the grounds that two other women who said Trump had sexually assaulted them too should not have been allowed to testify.
The three-judge panel of the Second US Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed.
“We conclude that Mr. Trump has not demonstrated that the district court erred in any of the challenged rulings,” they said.
“Further, he has not carried his burden to show that any claimed error or combination of claimed errors affected his substantial rights as required to warrant a new trial.”
Carroll was awarded $83 million by another jury in a separate case she brought against Trump.
He has appealed that verdict and Steven Cheung, a Trump spokesman, said the Republican would lodge a further appeal against the $5 million damages awarded in the sexual abuse and defamation case.
“The American People have re-elected President Trump with an overwhelming mandate,” Cheung said in a statement.
“They demand an immediate end to the political weaponization of our justice system and a swift dismissal of all of the Witch Hunts, including the Democrat-funded Carroll Hoax, which will continue to be appealed,” he said.
Two federal cases brought against Trump by special counsel Jack Smith have been dismissed since he won the November 5 presidential election.
Trump was accused of mishandling classified documents after leaving the White House and seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 election but Smith dropped the cases under a Justice Department policy of not prosecuting a sitting president.
Trump was convicted in New York in May of 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.
Judge Juan Merchan recently rejected a bid by the president-elect to have his conviction thrown out but has postponed sentencing indefinitely.
US and foreign leaders praise Jimmy Carter’s legacy
Joe Biden led US presidents and other world leaders in paying tribute to Jimmy Carter, who died aged 100.
“America and the world lost an extraordinary leader, statesman and humanitarian,” Biden said in a statement released by the White House on Sunday.
He added later in a televised address that Carter “lived a life measured not by words, but by his deeds.” “We’d all do well to try and be a little more like Jimmy Carter.”
President-elect Donald Trump said Americans owe
Carter “a debt of gratitude.” “The challenges Jimmy faced as president came at a pivotal time for our country and he did everything in his power to improve the lives of all Americans,” he said on social media. Among former US presidents, Bill Clinton said his predecessor had “worked tirelessly for a better, fairer world.”
George W. Bush said Carter “dignified the office. And his efforts to leave behind a better world didn’t end with the presidency.”
Barack Obama hailed Carter for teaching “all of us what it means to live a life of grace, dignity, justice and service.”
