International
Severe child malnutrition increasing in Tigray: UN
AFP
The number of young children admitted to hospital suffering for severe malnutrition in Ethiopia’s war-hit Tigray region has doubled this year over 2020, the UN said Thursday, as escalating fighting threatens to further hamper the aid response.
“Some 18,600 children under the age of five in Tigray have been admitted for treatment for Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) from February to August this year compared to 8,900 in 2020, a 100 per cent increase, according to UNICEF,” the UN’s humanitarian coordination office said in its weekly situation report for the 11-month-old conflict in northern Ethiopia.
Malnutrition among pregnant and lactating women also “continues to be very high at about 63 per cent”, the report said, while noting that only 897 aid trucks have reached the region of roughly 6 million people since mid-July — about 14 percent of the estimated need.
Tigray erupted in conflict last November after Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed sent troops to topple the region’s former ruling party, the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).
The 2019 Nobel Peace laureate said the move came in response to TPLF attacks on army camps and promised a swift victory.
But by late June the TPLF had regrouped and retaken most of the region including the regional capital Mekele.
Since then the region has been under a de facto humanitarian blockade, according to the UN, which estimates that hundreds of thousands face famine-like conditions.
The US has largely blamed Ethiopian government policies for the blockade, while the government has blamed TPLF incursions into neighbouring regions of Amhara and Afar.
In addition to food, the region is desperately short of medicines and medical equipment, something the UN has noted in several recent reports.
Thursday’s edition said nine trucks carrying medicines remained stuck awaiting government approval in Afar, currently home to the only functioning land route into Tigray.
Polio vaccines are needed for 887,000 children and measles vaccines are needed for 790,000 children, the report said, adding that failure to administer the shots “will result in an outbreak”.
The dire warnings over the humanitarian situation came one week after humanitarian and rebel sources first cited signs of a fresh government offensive against the TPLF, including air and ground strikes.
The government has not officially confirmed the offensive.
The UN said Thursday that reinforcements “by parties to the conflict” had been reported and that “areas along the border between Tigray and Amhara and Afar have seen clashes during the past week.”
International
U.S. and Mexico Reach Deal to Address Water Deficit Under 1944 Treaty
The United States and Mexico have reached an agreement to comply with current water obligations affecting U.S. farmers and ranchers and for Mexico to cover its water deficit to Texas under the 1944 Water Treaty, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a statement.
The department уточified that the agreement applies to both the current cycle and the water deficit from the previous cycle.
On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump accused Mexico of failing to comply with the water-sharing treaty between the two countries, which requires the United States to deliver 1.85 billion cubic meters of water from the Colorado River, while Mexico must supply 432 million cubic meters from the Rio Grande.
Mexico is behind on its commitments. According to Washington, the country has accumulated a deficit of more than one billion cubic meters of water over the past five years.
“This violation is severely harming our beautiful crops and our livestock in Texas,” Trump wrote on Monday.
The Department of Agriculture said on Friday that Mexico had agreed to supply 250 million cubic meters of water starting next week and to work toward closing the shortfall.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, quoted in the statement, said Mexico delivered more water in a single year than it had over the previous four years combined.
Trump has said that if Mexico continues to fall short of its obligations, the United States reserves the right to impose 5% tariffs on imported Mexican products.
Mexico’s Deputy Foreign Minister for North America, Roberto Velasco, said that a severe drought in 2022 and 2023prevented the country from meeting its commitments.
International
Several people shot in attack on Brown University campus
Several people were shot on Saturday in an attack on the campus of Brown University, in the northeastern United States, local police reported.
“Shelter in place and avoid the area until further notice,” the Providence Police Department urged in a post on X. Brown University is located in Providence, the capital of the state of Rhode Island.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social that he had been briefed on the situation and that the FBI was on the scene.
At 5:52 p.m. local time (11:52 p.m. GMT), Brown University said the situation was still “ongoing” and instructed students to remain sheltered until further notice.
After initially stating that the suspect had been taken into custody, Trump later posted a second message clarifying that local police had walked back that information. “The suspect has NOT been apprehended,” the U.S. president said.
International
Colombia says it would not reject Maduro asylum request as regional tensions escalate
The Colombian government stated on Thursday that it would have no reason to reject a potential asylum request from Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro should he leave office, as regional tensions persist over the deployment of U.S. military forces in the Caribbean since August.
“In the current climate of tension, negotiations are necessary, and if the United States demands a transition or political change, that is something to be assessed. If such a transition results in him (Maduro) needing to live elsewhere or seek protection, Colombia would have no reason to deny it,” said Colombian Foreign Minister Rosa Villavicencio in an interview with Caracol Radio.
However, Villavicencio noted that it is unlikely Maduro would choose Colombia as a refuge. “I believe he would opt for someplace more distant and calmer,” she added.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro also commented on Venezuela’s situation on Wednesday, arguing that the country needs a “democratic revolution” rather than “inefficient repression.” His remarks followed the recent detention and passport cancellation of Cardinal Baltazar Porras at the Caracas airport.
“The Maduro government must understand that responding to external aggression requires more than military preparations; it requires a democratic revolution. A country is defended with more democracy, not more inefficient repression,” Petro wrote on X (formerly Twitter), in a rare public criticism of the Venezuelan leader.
Petro also called for a general amnesty for political opponents and reiterated his call for forming a broad transitional government to address Venezuela’s prolonged crisis.
Since September, U.S. military forces have destroyed more than 20 vessels allegedly carrying drugs in Caribbean and Pacific waters near Venezuela and Colombia, resulting in over 80 deaths.
U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly warned that attacks “inside Venezuela” will begin “soon,” while Maduro has urged Venezuelans to prepare for what he describes as an impending external aggression.
Panama seizes over three tons of drugs hidden in Caribbean port container
U.S. and Mexico Reach Deal to Address Water Deficit Under 1944 Treaty
Several people shot in attack on Brown University campus
Tec de Monterrey honors one of its students for his contribution to nanotechnology in medicine
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