The agreement is expected to pass the required threshold during the UN Summit Next Week. “Brazil, one of the world’s largest emitters of heat-trapping gases, on Monday ratified the Paris agreement to fight global warming, joining top polluters United States and China and bringing the deal closer to implementation. Brazil’s President Michel Temer signed the ratification in Brasilia following approval by both houses of Congress. U.S. and China had ratified the deal on September 3. With Brazil’s ratification, the Paris climate agreement comes closer to the requirements to enter into force. It needs ratification by at least 55 parties to the United Nations Convention on Climate Change representing at least 55 percent of global emissions. The U.N. said that by September 7 it had 27 ratifications amounting to 39 percent of global emissions. Brazil accounts for around 10 to 12 percent of global carbon pollution.” (Reuters http://reut.rs/2czgCgp
Tough Start for Syria Ceasefire…”A Syrian cease-fire agreement backed by the United States and Russia went into effect Monday and was almost immediately violated, dashing hopes for an imminent halt to the relentless violence that has raged in Syria for the past five years. Residents and activists of the besieged rebel portion of Aleppo said Syrian government helicopters dropped barrel bombs on one neighborhood of the divided northern city and that forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad were shelling a route intended to be used for the delivery of humanitarian aid. Pro-government media accused the rebels of launching a new attack in the southern province of Quneitra, and there were reports of airstrikes and artillery shelling in other parts of the country.” (WaPo http://wapo.st/2czf1an)
Massive Floods Coming to Mali… “Mali’s Inner Niger Delta is expected to experience its highest level of flooding in 50 years in the coming months, putting lives, homes and animals at risk, an international conservation group has warned. Netherlands-based Wetlands International works with Mali’s National Water Directorate to produce regular forecasts for the annual flood on the Niger River, which usually begins in July. This year, the water level measured on Sept. 6 in the inland delta’s southern Mopti area was the highest since 1964. Flooding this year will reach its peak in November and December, and the area under water then is expected to be two and a half times larger than in dry years.” (TRF http://reut.rs/2czffhA)
Humanity Affirming Birth of the Day…”A healthy baby boy has been born to Nigerian parents on board a rescue boat in international waters of the Mediterranean Sea, according to the medical charity Doctors without Boarders (MSF). Newman Otas was delivered on Monday by an MSF midwife on the MV Aquarius vessel, just 24 hours after his parents Otas and Faith and their two elder sons were rescued from an overcrowded rubber dinghy.” (Al Jazeera http://bit.ly/2czfKIQ)
Africa
South Sudan’s leaders have amassed wealth abroad amid a conflict in which tens of thousands have been killed, a U.S.-based watchdog group said Monday, charging that the civil war is being fueled by competition among rivals over national resources such as oil. (AP http://yhoo.it/2clD9Lv)
African and European activist groups called Monday for an international inquiry into alleged “massacres” by troops and police after Gabon’s presidential election, narrowly won by incumbent Ali Bongo. (AFP http://yhoo.it/2czi43K)
Zambia’s Supreme Court has rejected an application by the main opposition party to stop President Edgar Lungu’s inauguration, set for Tuesday after last month’s contested election, a lawyer for the opposition leader said on Monday. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/2czh7rY)
Mali’s Inner Niger Delta is expected to experience its highest level of flooding in 50 years in the coming months, putting lives, homes and animals at risk, an international conservation group has warned. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/2c49XGI)
Democratic Republic of Congo’s U.N. mission on Monday warned that a failure to properly manage the influx of more than 750 supporters of South Sudan’s main opposition leader, who fled across the border last month, would threaten regional stability. (Reuters http://bit.ly/2clBkOy)
Betty Asha, a student in South Sudan, left her home and studies behind to help nearly 2,300 people escape violence and cross the border into Uganda. (Guardian http://bit.ly/2c5Soef)
MENA
Saudi-led airstrikes on a water well in northern Yemen have reportedly killed 30 people and wounded 17, a U.N. official said Monday, making it one of the deadliest attacks since peace talks collapsed a month ago. (AP http://yhoo.it/2czduT0)
Libya’s UN-backed unity government lost control Monday of a third oil port seized by rival forces, raising fears of a major outbreak of fresh violence in the chaos-ridden country. (AFP http://yhoo.it/2clzJs9)
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on Monday the state was determined to recover all areas from terrorist groups, the presidency said in a statement on its social media accounts, hours before a U.S.-Russian ceasefire deal was due to take effect. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/2c5TdE2)
UN aid deliveries are consistently failing to reach the vast majority of the 590,200 Syrians living in besieged areas, and convoys have been stripped of almost 50 tonnes of potentially lifesaving medical equipment in the past eight months. (Guardian http://bit.ly/2c4c2T9)
Italy will set up a military hospital and deploy 300 doctors, nurses and soldiers in Libya at the request of the United Nations-recognised government in Tripoli, a government source said on Monday. (Rauters http://bit.ly/2clAa5U)
Asia
Pakistani police say gunmen have killed a physician who was instrumental in an anti-polio drive in the northwestern city of Peshawar. (AP http://yhoo.it/2c4cAsa)
Flooding from heavy rain in North Korea has killed 133 people in its northeast while 395 are missing, with many homes and critical infrastructure destroyed, a U.N. agency said on Monday. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/2czdX7G)
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said on Monday a peace agreement with one of the country’s most notorious Islamist warlords is close to being concluded, offering hope of progress toward ending decades of conflict. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/2cDHgmS)
India’s top court on Monday ordered the southern state of Karnataka to release water from a disputed river to neighboring Tamil Nadu after violence erupted in both states over water sharing. (AP http://yhoo.it/2clyjOt)
An American who has been a frequent visitor to Nepal has been arrested in the capital’s tourist district on charges of sexually abusing children. (AP http://yhoo.it/2cDGp5r)
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday called for the withdrawal of U.S. military from a restive southern island, fearing an American troop presence could complicate offensives against Islamist militants notorious for beheading Westerners. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/2c5ShiT)
Thailand’s military government said on Monday it will prosecute cases concerning national security and royal insult in civilian courts instead of military courts, a change a rights group said was window dressing before a U.N. review. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/2c5TG92)
A gay Chinese student activist on Monday lodged a suit against the Ministry of Education over school textbooks describing homosexuality as a mental disorder, the latest step by China’s small but growing gay rights movement. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/2c4ci4x)
The Americas
The United Nations agricultural agency today signed a $15 million agreement with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to boosting the capacity of developing countries to track key agricultural data – information considered essential to good policy-making and that will help track progress toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). (UN News Center http://bit.ly/2czft8E)
…and the rest
The world’s poorest countries could lose more than £320m a year if their existing trade agreements with the UK market are not maintained in the event of Brexit, a new series of essays published by the Overseas Development Institute and the UK Trade Policy Observatory has warned. (Guardian http://bit.ly/2clzPzQ)
Britain could save $6.64 billion a year by 2050 if it invests now in technology to capture and store emissions underground, a government advisory body report said on Monday. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/2c5R0Zh)
Romanian border police have questioned 30 migrants who are suspected of illegally entering Romania from Serbia. (AP http://yhoo.it/2c5TzKU)
Opinion/Blogs
Yemen is sinking deeper and deeper into a never-ending civil war (UN Dispatch http://buff.ly/2c4fLA5)
Breaking down the complex crisis in Yemen (Humanosphere http://buff.ly/2cRnXtH)
The New York refugee summits – what to expect (IRIN http://bit.ly/2c5SH8O)
Five myths about global women’s economic empowerment (Guardian http://bit.ly/2czgvmi)
Who’s who in Syria’s ceasefire (AFP http://yhoo.it/2cRkKu2)
Corporate tax is a feminist matter (Africa is a Country http://buff.ly/2c5WxPm)
The true impact of the food crisis on people’s lives has been masked (Guardian http://buff.ly/2c5Y2Nw)
Lessons in bond financing for stronger health systems (Devex http://buff.ly/2c4g9yF)
Ethical Foundations for Aid: Duty of Rescue and Mutual Benefit (ABC http://buff.ly/2cqywSd)
Refusals in Kenya (GiveDirectly http://buff.ly/2cRoSpW)