World Status Report

This report intends to give the UTD Community a snapshot of international risks, and other issues as reported by the linked media and official sources from the U.S. and other countries. More health and security information for each country can be found in the travel advisories issued by the governments of the United States, Canada, the UK, New Zealand, and Australia, and the CDC, ECDC, and WHO sites. Not all advise in these sites will apply to US travelers. 

Please note the publication date of this report and go to the direct sources linked for the most up-to-date information. The information in this report may change without prior notice. 

Security 

• Finland school shooting: 12-year-old suspect held after one child is killed, two are wounded (Reuters). One child was killed and two seriously wounded in a shooting at a school outside the Finnish capital on Tuesday, police said, with a 12-year-old fellow pupil suspected of the attack taken into custody. 
• Ugandan court upholds anti-LGBTQ law but says some rights infringed (Reuters). Uganda’s constitutional court on Wednesday refused to annul or suspend an anti-LGBTQ law that includes the death penalty for certain same-sex acts, but voided some provisions it said are inconsistent with certain fundamental human rights. 
• Islamic State-linked fighters kill at least a dozen civilians in eastern Congo (AP). Congo’s army says extremist-linked rebels have killed at least a dozen people in a raid on a rural community in the east, in the latest violence near the border with Uganda.
• Mexico’s president mourns after 2 local candidates are killed shortly after starting their campaigns (AP). Mexico’s president said Tuesday he was saddened by the killing of a mayoral candidate just hours after she requested protection and started campaigning.

Ukraine-Russia crisis

• Ukrainian drone hits Russia’s third biggest refinery, damage not critical (Reuters). A Ukrainian drone struck Russia’s third largest oil refinery on Tuesday about 1,300 km (800 miles) from the front lines, hitting a unit that processes about 155,000 barrels of crude per day though an industry source said the damage was not significant. 
• Belarus conducts military drills near Ukraine, EU border (Deutsche Welle). Belarus on Tuesday began military drills in areas near the border of Ukraine, Lithuania and Poland, the Belarusian Defense Ministry said.

Haiti crisis

• Panic in Haiti’s capital as wild shooting fills streets (Reuters).  Panic set in around downtown Port-au-Prince on Monday as wild shooting filled the streets of Haiti’s capital, with heavy gunfire near the national palace.
• Haiti’s surge in gang violence has led more than 53,000 to flee the capital in less than three weeks (AP). More than 53,000 people have fled Haiti’s capital in less than three weeks, the vast majority to escape unrelenting gang violence, according to a United Nations report released Tuesday.

Israel-Hamas crisis 

• Israeli strike on NGO aid team widely condemned as humanitarians repeat calls for access (UN News). The killing of seven aid workers from the NGO World Central Kitchen in Israeli military airstrikes in central Gaza has been strongly condemned by senior UN humanitarian officials who on Tuesday reiterated repeated concerns that “there is no safe space left in Gaza”. 
• Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday an Israeli airstrike (Reuters) that killed seven people working for celebrity chef Jose Andres’ World Central Kitchen charity in Gaza was unintended and “tragic”, and the military pledged an independent inquiry. 
• Iran says Israel bombs its embassy in Syria, kills commanders (Reuters). Suspected Israeli warplanes bombed Iran’s embassy in Syria on Monday in a strike that Iran said killed seven of its military advisers, including three senior commanders, marking a major escalation in Israel’s war with its regional adversaries. 
• IDF says UN peacekeepers in Lebanon were hit by Hezbollah roadside bomb (Times of Israel). A group of United Nations peacekeepers wounded in a blast in southern Lebanon’s Rmeish on Saturday that Lebanese officials blamed on Israel were hit by a Hezbollah roadside bomb, the Israeli military said Wednesday.

Demonstrations

• Kenyan doctors reject government’s offer to end strike (Reuters). Kenyan public hospital doctors rejected a government offer aimed at ending a weeks-long strike that has severely disrupted health services, their union chairman said late on Tuesday.
• South Korea’s Yoon hints at flexibility in doctors’ strike as election looms (Reuters). South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol showed the first signs of flexibility in his medical reform plan as a prolonged standoff with doctors is ramping up pressure ahead of next week’s parliamentary elections which are expected to be close.

Infrastructure

• Hunger grips southern Africa as Zimbabwe declares drought a disaster (Reuters).  President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Wednesday declared Zimbabwe’s drought a national disaster and said the country needed more than $2 billion in aid to feed millions facing hunger. 
• Austria stepping up police checks in border areas after Germany liberalizes cannabis rules (The Associated Press). Austria will step up police checks near its border with Germany after its neighbor legalized the possession of limited amounts of cannabis for recreational use, the country’s top security official said Tuesday.

Environment

• Afghanistan – Floods (ERCC). Heavy rainfall has been affecting northern, central and eastern Afghanistan (in particular Faryab, Daikundi and Nangarhar Provinces) since 29 March, causing floods and flash floods that have resulted in casualties and damage. 
• Poland – Severe weather (ERCC). Severe weather, mainly strong wind, has been affecting southern Poland (in particular the Malopolska Province, Poland) over the last 24 hours, causing several severe weather-related incidents (due to the strong wind) that have resulted in casualties and damage. 
• France – Floods (ERCC). Heavy rainfall has been affecting western, central and eastern France (mainly Centre-Val de Loire, Nouvelle-Aquitaine and Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Regions) since 30 March, causing floods and rivers overflow (in particular Creuse, Gartempe and Vienne Rivers) that have resulted in population evacuation, casulties and damage. 
• Switzerland – Snow avalanche (ERCC). A huge snow avalanche occurred in the Valais Canton (southern Switzerland) on 1 April, causing casualties. 
• Taiwan – Earthquake and tsunami (ERCC). An earthquake of 7.4 M at a depth of 35 km occurred in Taiwan on 2 April at 23.58 UTC (3 April at 7.58 local time). The epicentre was located 18 km south of Hualien City, in Hualien County, north-western Taiwan. The main earthquake was followed by a series of aftershocks, ranging between 5.5 M and 6.4 M. Taiwan’s strongest earthquake in 25 years kills 9 people, 50 missing (Reuters). Taiwan’s biggest earthquake in at least 25 years killed nine people on Wednesday and injured more than 900, while 50 workers travelling in minibuses to a hotel in a national park were missing. 
• Pakistan – Severe weather (ERCC). Heavy rainfall and heavy hailstorms have been affecting north-western Pakistan (in particular the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province) since 31 March, triggering landslides and causing floods and a number of severe weather-related incidents (particularly due to hailstorms) that have resulted in casualties and damage. 
• Madagascar – Tropical cyclone GAMANE (ERCC). Very heavy rainfall, associated to the passage of the tropical cyclone GAMANE, affected north-eastern and central-eastern Madagascar on 26-29 March, causing several severe weather related incidents that have resulted in casualties and widespread damage. The most affected regions are Analanjirofo (the most affected), Atsinanana, Diana and Sava. 
• Kazakhstan – Floods (ERCC). Massive floods, mainly caused by snowmelt due to warm weather, have been affecting northern and eastern Kazakhstan, bordering Russia, in the last few days. They resulted in people displacements and damage. 
• Violent storms kill 7 people in eastern China including 3 who fell from their apartments (AP News). Violent rain and hailstorms have killed seven people in eastern China’s Jiangxi province this week, including three people who fell from their apartments in a high-rise building.
• Record wildfires hit Venezuela during climate-driven Amazon drought (Reuters). Venezuela is battling a record number of wildfires, according to data released on Monday, as a climate change-driven drought plagues the Amazon rainforest region.

Please note the publication date of this report and go to the direct sources linked for the most up-to-date information. The information in this report may change without prior notice. 

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