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Tuesday, April 11, 2017

Borussia Dortmund: Three explosions near German football team bus

Three explosions have gone off near the Borussia Dortmund team bus in Germany.

Spanish international Marc Bartra was taken to hospital after being injured and some of the vehicle's windows were broken.

He was said to have suffered a wounded hand after being hit by shards of glass.

Other players in the German side are thought to have been unhurt.

The blasts happened as the vehicle was leaving the team hotel in Dortmund ahead of the side's Champions League match against Monaco.

The explosions took place 10km from the Westfalenstadion stadium, where the team had been due to face the French side in the quarter-finals.

The game has now been postponed until Wednesday.

Borussia Dortmund said there was no danger at the stadium, where around 80,000 people would have been expected tonight.

The club thanked supporters Monaco for their "patience and understanding" and for chanting "Dortmund! Dortmund!" when the reason for the postponement was announced.

Starving to death

Our world produces enough food to feed all its inhabitants. When one region is suffering severe hunger, global humanitarian institutions, though often cash-strapped, are theoretically capable of transporting food and averting catastrophe.


But this year, South Sudan slipped into famine, and Nigeria, Somalia and Yemen are each on the verge of their own. Famine now threatens 20 million people — more than at any time since World War II. As defined by the United Nations, famine occurs when a region’s daily hunger-related death rate exceeds 2 per 10,000 people.

The persistence of such severe hunger, even in inhospitable climates, would be almost unthinkable without war.

Each of these four countries is in a protracted conflict. While humanitarian assistance can save lives in the immediate term, none of the food crises can be solved in the long term without a semblance of peace. The threat of violence can limit or prohibit aid workers’ access to affected regions, and in some cases, starvation may be a deliberate war tactic.

Entire generations are at risk of lasting damage stemming from the vicious cycle of greed, hate, hunger and violence that produces these famines. Children are always the most affected, as even those who survive may be mentally and physically stunted for life. And while this article focuses on the four countries most immediately at risk, ongoing conflicts in Congo, the Central African Republic, Libya, Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan has left millions hungry in those places, too.


War and famine along the White Nile, in South Sudan



Two children walk out of their shelter in Dablual in Mayendit County on March 23. Hundreds of people have recently fled Dablual, still under control of opposition troops, because of ongoing fighting and the food crisis.


(Albert Gonzalez Farran for The Washington Post)


In February, the United Nations declared a famine in South Sudan’s Mayendit and Leer counties. It was the world’s first famine declaration since 2011, in Somalia.

But even in these two counties, more people still die every day from bullets than from empty stomachs or disease. The state the counties are in, Unity, has seen some of the most ruthless violence since South Sudan became an independent country five years ago.

Unity is the home state of Riek Machar, former vice president and leader of a rebel army of mostly ethnic Nuer people that has been locked in violent confrontations with South Sudan’s army, controlled by President Salva Kiir of the Dinka ethnic group, since 2013. Kiir’s army and allied militias have swept through Unity time and again, razing and burning entire villages, slaughtering and raping as they go. Thousands of people have drowned in the state’s rivers and swamps as they fled.

Those rivers and swamps would otherwise provide Unity’s people with abundant fish and water for irrigation. But relentless war renders just about all aspects of daily life unsafe, with people too afraid to leave home, fish, plant or trade. Even fleeing can be risky. Many are eating grass and water lilies just to survive.



Conflict zone


Heavy


Less


Food insecurity


SUDAN


Famine


Emergency


Crisis


Stressed


Forced migration


White

Nile


Refugee camps


Internally displaced camps


SUDAN


ABYEI


Disputed


Malakal


Bentiu


UNITY


Aweil


Mayendit Co.


Leer Co.


ETHIOPIA


Famine


Famine


Wau


Rumbek


Bor


SOUTH SUDAN


C.A.R.


Juba


Mountain

Nile


KENYA


CONGO


UGANDA


Attacks between 2014-2017 were used to map the conflict zones.


50 MILES


Both the rebels and the government have made it difficult for aid workers to reach the most-affected counties. The Washington Post’s Africa correspondent, Kevin Sieff, recently reported on the government’s obstructionism.

“Some of their actions appear to be brute thuggery, like the theft by soldiers last summer of more than 4,000 tons of food from a warehouse in Juba, the capital, enough to feed 220,000 people for a month,” he wrote. “But aid workers fear the government is intentionally denying aid to regions where it believes residents support the rebels.”

Sieff described how, at more than 70 checkpoints on the road between Juba and Unity State, soldiers would often demand bribes or food from aid workers, and how the government refuses to let the United Nations operate flights that could drop food aid over areas at risk of famine. Dozens of aid workers attempting workarounds have been killed in the war’s crossfire.

The United States and others in the U.N. Security Council have proposed an arms embargo to limit the South Sudan government’s capacity for violence. But when it came to a vote last December, more than half of the council members, including China and Russia, abstained. Neighboring African countries have also discussed a coordinated armed intervention, but that has not garnered much support.


Soldiers of the Sudan People Liberation Army (SPLA) celebrate while standing in trenches in Lelo, outside Malakal on Oct. 16, 2016.


Agop Manut (11 months), who suffers acute malnutrition and respiratory distress, is assisted at the clinic run by Doctors without Borders (MSF) in Aweil. Images by Albert Gonzalez Farran/AFP/Getty Images



Civil war leaves Yemen splintered and under siege



A Yemeni woman inspects the damage at a factory allegedly targeted by Saudi-led airstrikes in Sanaa.


(Mohammed Huwais/AFP/Getty Images)


Since 2015, Yemen has been in a civil war. The fighting has divided control of the country along sectarian and ideological lines, and resulted in the deaths of more than 10,000. It has also decimated Yemen’s economy.

Yemen was fragile before the war, but its currency, industry, transport infrastructure and public services have all but been destroyed in the past two years. Millions are jobless, and food and fuel prices have shot through the roof. An estimated 17 million people, or 60 percent of the country’s population, are in need of urgent humanitarian assistance; about 7 million are living day-to-day, enduring until they wither away.

The physical destruction has mostly been the work of the Saudi Arabian-led coalition -- advised and supplied by the United States, Britain, and others -- that has sided with Yemen’s Sunni president against the Houthis, an armed Shiite militia that now controls the capital, Sanaa, and much of the country’s western coast.



Conflict zone


Food insecurity


Road conditions


Heavy


Less


Emergency


Crisis


Closed


Difficult to access


Forced migration


Territorial control


Internally

displaced site


Houthi

controlled

area


District where al-Qaeda in the

Arabian Peninsula has claimed

an attack since Nov. 2016.


SAUDI

ARABIA


Sadah


Jizan


YEMEN


Hajjah


Marib


Sanaa


Hodeida


Dhamar


Ataq


Red

Sea


Al Bayda


Taizz


Mocha


Zinjibar


Gulf of Aden


ERITREA


Aden


50 MILES


Bab el-Mandeb

Strait


DJIB.


Attacks between 2014-2017 were used to map the conflict zones.


One key piece of infrastructure that the coalition has made near-inoperable is the Houthi-controlled port of Hodeida, Yemen’s largest and most vital. Almost 90 percent of Yemen’s food is imported, and most of it came through Hodeida. Saudi ships are currently enforcing a near total blockade of the port, arguing that they can’t risk arms smuggling even though the United Nations inspects each ship on arrival.

Should the coalition move to take Hodeida’s city and port militarily, it could shut off what trickle of food is left to Sanaa and other highly populated inland areas, triggering a famine, according to aid agencies. Coalition officials, on the other hand, have argued that if they took the port, they could ensure the passage of aid without worrying about arms smuggling.

Either way, vast swaths of Yemen are under constant bombardment from the coalition, which has reduced markets, factories, hospitals, roads and bridges to rubble. Three quarters of the residents of the city of Taizz and its surrounding areas, for instance, are facing an emergency food shortage because the area is effectively inaccessible. Saudi Arabia maintains that it does all it can to avoid civilian casualties, but human rights groups have documented countless strikes on seemingly nonstrategic targets.

Yemen’s food crisis is expected to deteriorate as international traders become less and less likely to do business in a country without a functioning central bank and currency. The fate of millions also hangs on what happens in Hodeida, which is likely to be the scene of a major battle in the near future.


Saida Ahmad Baghili, an 18-year-old Yemeni, sits in a wheelchair at the Al-Thawra Hospital in Hodeidah, where she is receiving treatment for severe malnutrition. (AFP/Getty Images)


The legs of a malnourished boy who was being treated last year at a medical center in Sanaa, Yemen. (Khaled Abdullah/Reuters)



Eight years of terror create a nightmare in northeastern Nigeria



A woman walks between tents erected by the International Organization for Migration in Gwoza.


(Jane Hahn for The Washington Post)


Boko Haram’s bloody reign of terror in northeastern Nigeria’s Borno State has been so intense over the past few years that aid groups have struggled to even enter the region. Reliable data on hunger is limited. Some aid workers speculate that Borno may have already passed through periods of famine, or may be in one now.

The fighting has displaced more than 3 million people, and left a previously fertile region desiccated and barren. Vast camps have sprung up within Nigeria, as well as across the borders in Niger and Cameroon. The population of the relatively safe capital of Borno, Maiduguri, has doubled because of the influx, and the city is now a hub for disease. Tens of thousands of Nigerians, meanwhile, have set their sights north, across the Sahara, toward Libya and ultimately Europe, attempting an expensive and dangerous trip that many do not survive.



Conflict zone


Forced migration


Heavy


Less


Internally displaced camps


Refugee camps


Food insecurity


Humanitarian aid


Emergency


Crisis


Stressed


Area inaccessible


CHAD


NIGER


Diffa


Lake Chad


Gashua


BORNO


Monguno


The risk of famine in inaccessible areas of Borno State will remain high over the coming year.


Ngala


Ndjamena


Maiduguri


Bama


Banki


A famine likely occurred in Bama and Banki towns during 2016 but could not be verified.


Damboa


Gwoza


CAMEROON


Gombe


NIGERIA


50 MILES


Yola


Attacks attributed to Boko Haram between 2014-2017 were used to map the conflict zones.


Almost as many as those who have fled Boko Haram-controlled areas have stayed behind. Those people are most at risk of starvation, because their villages are inaccessible to outside aid.

Nigeria’s military, even in cooperation with neighboring countries and U.S. and British advisers, has proved sorely inadequate in rooting out the insurgency, although they have made some progress. When they have succeed in liberating towns and villages from Boko Haram, they often find residents eating grass and insects because that’s all that’s left.

The United Nations. has warned that half a million children in northeastern Nigeria are so severely malnourished that 75,000 could die by June. A growing measles outbreak in the region could transform into an epidemic, too.

Trump administration 'to sell Nigeria planes' for Boko Haram fight

The Trump administration plans to sell military planes to Nigeria despite concerns over rights abuses and a botched air strike that killed scores of civilians in January, US media say.

Up to a dozen A-29 Super Tucano aircraft would be sold to Nigeria to help fight Islamist militant group Boko Haram, unnamed US officials said.

The deal, which is not yet official, will require approval from Congress.

Boko Haram's deadly insurgency has displaced more than two million people.
More on this and other African stories
Five views on Trump and Africa
Who are Boko Haram?

The deal, said to be worth up to $600m (£490m), was agreed by the Obama administration, but was reportedly halted on the day it was due to be sent to Congress, after a catastrophic incident involving the Nigerian military.

About 90 people, mainly women and children, were killed in January when the Nigerian Air Force mistakenly bombed a camp in the country's north-east, which was hosting thousands of those who had fled Boko Haram.

An aid distribution was taking place at the time of the attack, according to medical charity MSF.

The Nigerian government indicated last month that the deal might be back on, following the first phone call between President Muhammadu Buhari and President Donald Trump.

"President Trump assured the Nigerian president of US readiness to cut a new deal in helping Nigeria in terms of military weapons to combat terrorism," Mr Buhari's office said in a statement.

The US congressional source said human rights concerns remain, despite support for the sale from some lawmakers, Reuters news agency reports.

The US Air Force described the A-29 aircraft as a "game-changer" when they were deployed in Afghanistan in 2016.

They can be armed with two wing-mounted machine guns and can carry up to 1,550 kg of weapons.

But the aircraft that would be sold to Nigeria come with a "very basic armed configuration," one of the unnamed US officials told Reuters.

Kendrick Lamar enlists Rihanna and U2 for new album DAMN

Kendrick Lamar has revealed collaborations with Rihanna and U2 on his forthcoming album.

The rapper released the track listings for his fourth studio album, titled DAMN, on Tuesday, along with the cover artwork.

Rihanna and U2 feature on two separate songs, Loyalty and XXX.

The follow-up to 2015's To Pimp A Butterfly features 14 new tracks in total, including Blood, DNA, Fear, and Lamar's latest single, Humble.

Fans on social media were excited by the appearance of Rihanna on the record, but not as keen on U2.

Image:The star posted the cover for the album on social media

One user said: "Kendrick has a song featuring... U2. Okay," while another added: "I really do not need to hear U2 on a Kendrick album."

"Really excited about the new Kendrick album but that U2 feature... lol," wrote another user.

In a recent interview with Pitchfork, Lamar teased the album, saying: "My focus is ultimately going back to my community and the other communities around the world where they're doing the groundwork.

"To Pimp a Butterfly was addressing the problem. I'm in a space now where I'm not addressing the problem anymore."

DAMN will be out in stores 14 April.

Donald Trump says North Korea is 'looking for trouble'

Donald Trump has said North Korea is "looking for trouble" and warned the US would "solve the problem" - with or without China's help.

The President's defiant Twitter message came after Pyongyang promised a strong response if the US "dares opt for a military action", warning such a move would have "catastrophic consequences".

Washington has sent the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier and its battle groupto the region for annual US-South Korea war games, which Pyongyang views as a dress rehearsal for an invasion.

The US says it is aimed at maintaining "readiness and presence" in the region.

:: After Syria, could North Korea be next?

Tensions on the Korean peninsula are already high because of recent ballistic missile launches by the North, which violate UN resolutions.

Russia's foreign ministry said in a statement it was "really worried" about what the US "has in mind for North Korea", ahead of a visit to Moscow by US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.

At the weekend Mr Tillerson said missile strikes on a Syrian air base in retaliation for a chemical weapon attack should serve as a warning for any country operating outside of international norms.

In the aftermath of that thinly veiled threat, a spokesman for North Korea's foreign ministry said: "We will hold the US wholly accountable for the catastrophic consequences to be entailed by its outrageous actions."

He added: "If the US dares opt for a military action, crying out for 'pre-emptive attack' and 'removal of the headquarters', the DPRK (the formal name for North Korea) is ready to react to any mode of war desired by the US."

Pyongyang has long maintained the US is preparing some kind of assault against it and justifies its pursuit of nuclear weapons as defensive in nature.

A top US official said on Sunday that President Trump had asked his advisers for a range of options to rein in North Korea.

Mr Trump has previously threatened unilateral action against Pyongyang if China - the North's major ally - fails to help curb its neighbour's nuclear weapons programme.

But the North's latest response suggests the reclusive state is determined to continue on its current path, despite numerous rounds of UN sanctions.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un wants to develop a long-range missile capable of hitting the US mainland with a nuclear warhead.

Five nuclear tests have been staged so far, two of them last year, and there is speculation another test could be imminent.

The North is set to mark the 105th birthday of its late founding leader on Saturday, an occasion sometimes celebrated with a display of military might.

South Korea's prime minister and acting president has also warned of a "grave provocation" by Pyongyang to coincide with other anniversaries, including the 25 April foundation day for its army.

Charlie Gard: Doctors can withdraw life support from sick baby

Doctors can withdraw life support from sick baby Charlie Gard against his parents' wishes, a High Court judge has ruled.

The eight-month-old's parents, Chris Gard and Connie Yates, of Bedfont, west London, wanted permission to take him to a hospital in the US for a trial treatment.

But doctors said the boy, who suffers from mitochondrial disease that causes progressive muscle weakness and brain damage, should be moved to a palliative care regime.

Mr Justice Francis made the ruling following a three-day hearing in the Family Division of the High Court in London. He also visited Charlie at Great Ormond Street Hospital.

Image:Chris Gard and Connie Yates, the parents of the eight-month-old boy

He said he had come to the decision with the "heaviest of hearts", but with "complete conviction" for Charlie's best interests.

"It is with the heaviest of hearts, but with complete conviction for Charlie's best interests, that I find it is in Charlie's best interests that I accede to these applications and rule that Great Ormond Street may lawfully withdraw all treatment save for palliative care to permit Charlie to die with dignity," he said.

"I want to thank the team of experts and carers at Great Ormond Street, and others who cannot be named, for the extraordinary care that they have provided to this family.

"Most importantly of all, I want to thank Charlie's parents for their brave and dignified campaign on his behalf, but more than anything to pay tribute to their absolute dedication to their wonderful boy, from the day he was born."

Image:His parents had wanted to send him to the US for treatment

Solicitor Laura Hobey-Hamsher said Charlie's parents were "devastated" by the decision and are struggling to understand why the judge had not "at least given Charlie the chance of treatment".

She said: "Lessons do however need to be learned about how medical professionals face decisions such as this, how they act with sufficient speed, and how they communicate with the families of desperately ill children, such as Charlie.

"It is regrettable and inexplicable that much of the reasoning for their decisions only came to light after proceedings had been issued.

"It is too simplistic to say that had matters been handled better, Charlie would be well, but undoubtedly, it did not assist."

She added that Charlie's parents wanted to thank the media and the public for their generosity and support.

Charlie was born on 4 August, 2016 with the rare genetic condition.

His parents launched a GoFundMe appeal to raise funds for his treatment two months ago, and reached their £1.2m target on Sunday following donations by more than 80,000 people.

A spokesman for GoFundMe said it would have talks with Charlie's parents over what will happen with the money raised for his treatment.

He added: "We'll be speaking privately to the family in the next few days about what they want to do and how we can support them."

US is planning new missile strikes on Damascus, claims Putin

Vladimir Putin has claimed he has information that the United States is planning a fresh wave of airstrikes in Syria.

The Russian president said Moscow had also received intelligence about planned fake chemical weapons attacks with the sole purpose of pinning the blame on Bashar al Assad's regime.

Russia has rejected suggestions from the outset that the Syrian government was behind a gas attack in Idlib province which killed more than 80 people, including many children.

The US retaliated with airstrikes on a Syrian airbase from which it believes the chemical attack in the rebel-held town of Khan Sheikhoun was launched.

Both the Syrian regime and Russia have denied they were involved.

Mr Putin appealed to the United Nations to launch an official investigation into the attack.

He compared the allegation levelled at Mr Assad to how the US justified its intervention in Iraq in 2003.

Claims that Saddam Hussein's regime had weapons of mass destruction were never proven.

His comments came as Turkey confirmed sarin gas was used in the attack in northern Syria - and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson arrived in Moscow for crucial talks on "a solution which will deliver a lasting political settlement" in Syria.

G7 foreign ministers earlier rejected British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson's calls to broaden sanctions against Russia and Syria.

Italian foreign minister Angelino Alfano said Russia must not be "pushed into a corner" over Syria.