Much, but not all of the suffering is attributed to ISIS. “Nearly 19,000 civilians were killed in Iraq between January 2014 and October 2015 — a toll the United Nations calls “staggering” in a new report. The report, released Tuesday, outlined the horrific impact that Iraq’s ongoing conflict is having on its civilian population…Other numbers in the report are mind-boggling. In the 21-month period in Iraq: At least 18,802 civilians were killed, about half of them in Baghdad. Another 36,245 were injured. About 3.2 million people were internally displaced, including a million school-aged children. The actual figures could be much higher, the report said.” (CNN http://cnn.it/1PE9GqB)
Full report from the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights → http://bit.ly/1PE9url
CDC Issues New Zika Guidelines…”Pregnant women who feel sick and have visited countries in which the Zika virus is spreading should see a doctor soon and be tested for infection even though the tests are imperfect, federal health officials said on Tuesday. That advice was at the core of interim Zika-related guidelines for pregnant women issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The authors are specialists in emerging diseases and reproductive health. The guidelines included a “testing algorithm” to show doctors how to proceed with a worried patient who is pregnant and has recently lived in or traveled to an area where the virus is being transmitted.” (NYT http://nyti.ms/1PE8PWY)
Event of Note: Top priorities in Africa for 2016….Mark is moderating the Foresight Africa panel at Brookings today. Some of the top Africa scholars and practitioners discuss the big trends that will be driving the agenda on the continent this year. Event kicks off at 3 EST. Watch the live stream here and follow along on twitter using the #ForesightAfrica. http://brook.gs/1P4fDAV
Africa
RIP…Leila Alaoui, a French-Moroccan photographer whose hauntingly beautiful photographs explored themes of migration, cultural identity and displacement, died on Monday night from injuries sustained during a terrorist attack in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. She was 33. (NYT http://nyti.ms/1PE99F3)
Thousands of civilians in a remote area of Sudan’s war-hit Darfur could be affected by fresh fighting between rebel and forces nearby, the United Nations said on Tuesday amid ongoing clashes. (AFP http://bit.ly/1PEamfB)
At least 640,000 people in Uganda’s northeastern Karamoja region – more than half its population – are facing food shortages as a result of a drought-affected harvest. (IRIN http://bit.ly/1PEaA6C )
The UN Refugee Agency and its partners are struggling to help an estimated 100,000 people driven from their homes in recent weeks in south-east Niger’s Diffa region in attacks launched by Nigeria’s Boko Haram insurgency group. (UNHCR http://bit.ly/1PEaFah)
A new cholera outbreak has been reported in Migori County, Kenya. (Kenya Daily Nation http://bit.ly/1PEaqMq )
MENA
Russian airstrikes hit Islamic State militants Tuesday in the eastern Syrian province of Deir al-Zour, in the village where the extremist group had been accused of massacring as many as hundreds of people over the weekend, the Russian military said.(NYT http://nyti.ms/1PE8WSc)
The Israeli military is temporarily banning Palestinian workers from Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, following two stabbings in two days. (BBC http://bbc.in/1PEa8VG)
An estimated 3,500 people, mainly women and children, are being held as slaves in Iraq by Islamic State militants, the United Nations said on Tuesday. (Reuters http://reut.rs/1PE9fMZ )
Libya’s Presidential Council announced a new government on Tuesday aimed at uniting the warring factions, though two of its nine members rejected it in a sign of continuing divisions over its U.N.-backed plan for a political transition. (Reuters http://reut.rs/1PE9JTd)
Asia
A young woman has been hospitalized in northern Afghanistan and is hoping to travel to Turkey for reconstructive surgery after her husband cut off her nose, the police and the woman’s family said on Tuesday. (NYT http://nyti.ms/1PE9iZc)
Almost seven years after the end of Sri Lanka’s decades-long civil war, the majority of former Tamil Tiger rebels are struggling to find jobs despite billions of dollars of extra investment in their regions. (IRIN http://bit.ly/1PE8GCR)
North Korea’s Jan. 6 nuclear test did not expand its technical capability, but the U.S. government is keeping a close eye on Pyongyang’s efforts to develop a thermonuclear warhead capable of reaching the United States, the head of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency said on Tuesday. (Reuters http://reut.rs/1PE9M1p)
The Americas
A pregnant woman has been diagnosed with Zika in Bolivia, authorities said Tuesday, the first time the mosquito-borne virus, which has been linked to birth defects, has been transmitted here. (AFP http://bit.ly/1PEadJf)
Police in Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince fired tear gas at opposition demonstrators Tuesday who rallied in their thousands, five days before a presidential vote runoff is scheduled. (AFP http://bit.ly/1PEa4FJ)
Colombia’s government and FARC rebels said Tuesday they have asked the United Nations to monitor the eventual end of their five-decade conflict, raising hopes they are close to a peace deal. (AFP http://bit.ly/1PEaj3r)
The first of several thousand Cuban migrants stranded in Costa Rica have crossed into the United States under a plan agreed to among Central American leaders. (VOA http://bit.ly/1PEaw6R)
Opinion/Blogs
Remembering what else Martin Luther King Jr. fought for (Humanosphere http://bit.ly/1Koyp0i)
Why the rich should do more to save the world (The Conversation http://bit.ly/23bM5Yk)
The slowing China economy: How worried should we be? (The Interpreter http://bit.ly/23bM5HC)
Gender and Widowhood in Africa (Afrianist Perspective http://bit.ly/23bM5HF)
Putting Children at The Center of the end of AIDS (Policy Innovations http://bit.ly/23bM5Yh)
They herded us into the aircraft like cattle (Africa is a Country http://bit.ly/1ZxYtgo)
Broken System: The Failure to Punish High Level Corruption at the UN (Global Anticorruption Blog http://bit.ly/23bM5Yb)
Aid in contested areas – reflecting diversity in staffing and measurement (Devpolicy http://bit.ly/23bM3zr)
The Tyranny of Distance (Foreign Policy http://atfp.co/1ZxYsJm)
The Trevor Noah phenomenon: young, black South Africans are standing up (The Conversation http://bit.ly/23bM5Yn)
The $100 billion AIIB opens for business: Will China’s multilateral ambitions soar or sour? (The Interpreter http://bit.ly/23bM5HL)