UN Agrees to Compensate Haiti Cholera Victims

The key question now is who will put up the funding? “With barely two months left in his term, Mr. Ban’s administration is scrambling to compensate, for the first time, those who have suffered, with a plan to give them or their communities cash payments from a proposed $400 million cholera response package. He also wants to make good on an unfulfilled promise to eradicate cholera from Haiti as the disease continues to claim lives. But the United Nations does not have the money it needs for the proposed package, and is facing criticism that it is still avoiding legal culpability for one of the worst calamities to ever befall Haiti, the Western Hemisphere’s poorest country.” (NYT http://nyti.ms/2f57oLm)

Al Shabbab Strikes Again… “Somalia’s al Shabaab Islamist group rammed a military base with a suicide truck bomb, shot dead an intelligence officer and killed 12 people in a Kenyan border town in a series of strikes over 24 hours, the militants said on Tuesday. The group, which once ruled much of Somalia, wants to topple the Western-backed government in Mogadishu and drive out African AMISOM peacekeepers made up of soldiers from Kenya, Djibouti, Uganda, Ethiopia and other African nations. The attacks mark the build up to elections in coming weeks for the Somali parliament, which will in turn pick a new president to continue slow reconstruction efforts in a nation racked by more than two decades of conflict. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/2dT4uXl)

Africa

Congolese overwhelmingly oppose changing the constitution to allow President Joseph Kabila to stand for a third term and believe he should step down at the end of his mandate in December, according to a opinion poll published on Tuesday. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/2e7xTus)

Nigeria’s anti-graft agency said Tuesday it was detaining and questioning ex-president Goodluck Jonathan’s spokesman as part of a wider probe into corruption. (AFP http://yhoo.it/2eIgmuB)

A judge in Zimbabwe has fined a Chinese national for selling the national flag without authorisation, the state-run Herald newspaper reports. (BBC http://bbc.in/2f59jzE)

Militiamen imposed passage fees on tankers bringing water to thousands of displaced in the Sortony camp in Kabkabiya locality in North Darfur. (Radio Dbanga http://bit.ly/2f56Y7S)

MENA

The United Nations has abandoned plans to evacuate patients from besieged rebel-held east Aleppo which it had hoped to accomplish during a three day lull in fighting last week, blaming all parties to the conflict for obstructing efforts. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/2e7vos5)

The United Nations envoy to Yemen has handed an outline for a peace plan to Houthi rebels in control of the capital which includes depriving their rival, President Abed-Rabbo Mansour Hadi, of his authorities and the withdrawal of militias from major cities, a Houthi-affiliated politician says. (AP http://yhoo.it/2eOzRBd)

The United Nations voiced concern on Tuesday that Kurdish authorities had forced 250 Sunni Arab families to leave Kirkuk after an Islamic State attack on the Kurdish-controlled city, saying the move could be seen as collective punishment. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/2eNLUxG)

Islamic State fighters have reportedly massacred scores of people around its Iraq stronghold of Mosul in the past week, U.N. human rights spokesman Rupert Colville said on Tuesday, citing preliminary information from sources in the area. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/2eIf56H)

A German aid group urged the European Union on Tuesday to reconsider its plans to train Libyan forces to conduct sea rescue operations after a vessel labeled as belonging to the country’s coast guard attacked a dinghy full of migrants last week. Dozens of people were feared dead in the incident. (AP http://yhoo.it/2dT4PcE)

Asia

Funerals have been held for those who died in the overnight assault of a police training college in Quetta that left at least 61 people dead and 170 others wounded. (Al Jazeera http://bit.ly/2f56xdL)

Renewed violence in Rakhine has renewed questions about the prospects for peace between Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar. (VOA http://bit.ly/2eNIYB0)

The U.S. Embassy in Islamabad has issued a last minute-visa to an ailing 6-year-old Pakistani girl desperately in need of surgery in the United States. (AP http://yhoo.it/2eIjR4f)

President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday urged foreign businesses in the Philippines worried about his deadly drug war to “pack up and leave”, as he launched another anti-American tirade before flying to Japan to attract investments. (AFP http://yhoo.it/2dT0gz5)

The United States wants to remain involved in the campaign to quell Islamic militancy in the southern Philippines, its ambassador to Manila said Tuesday after President Rodrigo Duterte threatened to kick out American forces. (AFP http://yhoo.it/2dT5PNX)

The head of the International Monetary Fund has praised Pakistan for “successfully completing” a three-year program under which Islamabad received $6.7 billion after signing a bailout package with the fund amid fears of default. (AP http://yhoo.it/2eNODHs)

The first, voluntary repatriation of 68 Myanmar refugees from camps along the Thai-Myanmar border began on Tuesday with the United Nations refugee agency calling the movement a “milestone” while underscoring it would not lead to an exodus. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/2dT4l6o)

U.N. human rights experts have called on Myanmar to investigate allegations that security forces have killed unarmed civilians, burned villages and made arbitrary arrests in a Muslim-majority region where a crackdown has followed attacks on border police. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/2dT2Dly)

Pollution from drugs factories, many in India and China, is causing the spread of antimicrobial resistance. Pharma companies are under pressure to act  (Guardian http://bit.ly/2eOBwXo)

China has been given a political promise by Western countries that they will not become havens for corrupt fugitives, a senior official told state television, though he offered no assurances to assuage concerns about mistreatment of suspects. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/2eImGSN)

The Americas

Brazilian authorities said Tuesday they are investigating whether the victim of a gang rape was previously attacked by members of the same drug-dealing group. (AP http://yhoo.it/2dT3XF3)

Colombia’s second largest rebel group, the National Liberation Army, has accused the Colombian government of “torpedoing” peace talks between the two sides due to start on Thursday. (BBC http://bbc.in/2dT3C5g)

Hurricane Matthew’s destruction in Haiti triggered fears of a huge rise in maternal deaths, alongside danger of fresh cholera outbreak. (Guardian http://bit.ly/2eIg32H)

A sharply divided Venezuela may be on the track to reconciliation with the help of a highly respected, neutral third party — the Vatican. (CNN http://cnn.it/2erAnHn)

…and the rest

French workers began demolishing the “Jungle” shanty town in Calais on Tuesday, wielding sledgehammers to tear down makeshift dwellings as former residents – migrants seeking entry to Britain – were moved out. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/2dT3vXg)

About 2,200 migrants were plucked to safety in the central Mediterranean in 21 rescue missions on Monday and 16 bodies were recovered, the Italian Coast Guard said. (Reuters http://bit.ly/2dT1JVY)

Plans to cut greenhouse gas emissions by big companies represent only a quarter of the amounts needed to limit global warming under targets agreed last year by almost 200 nations, a study showed on Tuesday. (Rauters http://yhoo.it/2dT2Dlx)

A human rights group said Tuesday that Turkish police have tortured or abused detainees following the failed coup attempt in July, a claim that Turkish officials deny. (AP http://yhoo.it/2eCbWJj)

UK funding to major multi-lateral organisations that deliver aid, such as the World Bank, could be cut unless they provide “value for money”, the international development secretary has said. (Guardian http://bit.ly/2eNN107)

Asylum seeker numbers in Sweden are set to drop by around 80 percent this year from a record 163,000 in 2015 as a result of tighter borders and tougher immigration rules, a government agency said on Tuesday. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/2eIeD8y)

The death toll on the Mediterranean has nearly matched that of all last year, with more than 3,740 migrants and refugees having drowned on their way to Europe, and perilous winter months still to come, aid agencies said on Tuesday. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/2eIi8Mj)

Opinion/Blogs

Where Risk of a “Rigged” Election is Very Real, Major Unrest Expected (UN Dispatch http://buff.ly/2eD8lq7)

16 of the worst bits of jargon – and a few possible alternatives (Guardian http://bit.ly/2e7iVEY)

The Politics of Measuring Inequality: What gets left out and why? (From Poverty to Power http://buff.ly/2eD62Ds)

The real impact of a female president? More women in politics (PRI’s the World http://bit.ly/2eIfshK)

Social Media Becomes Mugabe’s Nightmare (Inter Press Service http://bit.ly/2eIeEcF)

The point of no return in Ethiopia (Africa is a Country http://buff.ly/2eD4RUi)

Heroin Users Getting Younger on Kenya’s Coast (VOA http://bit.ly/2eOzLK7)

Justice is long overdue for the widows of South African mineworkers (Guardian http://bit.ly/2eBYUeL)

Calais child refugees: UK government needs less hysteria and more support (ODI http://buff.ly/2dTbC5Z)

What do you do when the government refuses to pave the local road? (Africanist Perspective http://buff.ly/2eChzqQ)

Humanitarian aid in a global system under stress (Devex http://buff.ly/2eD5Vb0)