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 

• At least 40 farmers killed in Nigeria’s Borno state (Reuters) – Suspected Islamist militants killed 40 farmers in an attack on the Dumba community in Nigeria’s Borno State on Sunday, a senior state official said on Monday. Initial reports indicate the farmers strayed outside a security corridor set up by the military, venturing into an area known for insurgent activity and strewn with landmines, state commissioner of information Usman Tar said. The militants were believed to belong to the armed group Boko Haram and its offshoot Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), who have been waging a long-running insurgency in northeast Nigeria. 
• Six EU nations call for temporary Syria sanctions relief (Reuters) – Six member states of the European Union have called for the bloc to temporarily suspend sanctions on Syria in areas such as transport, energy and banking, according to a paper seen by Reuters. EU foreign ministers are set to discuss relaxing Syria sanctions during a meeting in Brussels on Jan. 27. European leaders began reassessing their policy toward Damascus after the ousting of president Bashar al-Assad by insurgent forces led by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which is designated as a terrorist group by the United States and most other countries, as well as the United Nations. 
• Russian strike kills 13, injures 113 in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia (Reuters). A Russian guided bomb attack killed at least 13 people and injured 113 in Ukraine’s southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, authorities said. 

Infrastructure 

• South Korea plans to overhaul airport structures after fatal Jeju Air crash (Reuters) South Korea said it planned to improve the structures housing the antennas that guide landings at its airports this year after December’s fatal crash of a Jeju Air plane, which skidded off the runway and burst into flames after hitting such a structure. 
• Rescuers in southwestern Pakistan recover the bodies of 11 workers who died in coal mine blast (AP News) – Rescuers recovered the bodies of 11 coal miners who died last week after a methane gas explosion caused a coal mine to collapse in southwestern Pakistan, officials said Monday. An operation is still underway to find a 12th worker who has been missing since Thursday, when the mine collapsed in Singidi city in Balochistan province, said Abdul Ghani, a mines inspector. Two more coal miners were killed on Sunday when another mine collapsed in Harnai, a district in Balochistan. 

Demonstrations 

• Nationwide strike in Belgium hits air and train traffic (Reuters) – A nationwide strike in protest against possible pension reforms crippled air and rail traffic in Belgium on Monday and many schools remained shut. Almost half of all flights at Brussels airport were cancelled as luggage handlers, security and other ground staff went on strike, while national train operator NMBS said it was running only a limited number of trains throughout the country. Public transport in the capital Brussels was also heavily impacted. 
• Thousands of students protest in Serbia against violation of civil rights, spy agency crackdown (Associated Press) Serbia’s striking university students protested outside the Balkan country’s top court on Sunday to draw their attention to what they say have been violations of their civil rights under the populist authorities, including pressure from the secret service. 
• Romanian protesters demand cancelled presidential election should go ahead (Reuters). Tens of thousands of Romanians angered by the cancellation of a presidential election marched through Bucharest on Sunday to demand that the ballot should go ahead and that outgoing centrist President Klaus Iohannis should resign. 

Environment 

• Ethiopia – Seismic and volcanic activity (ERCC) – As of 11 January, at least two people have been injured by the seismic activity, more than 60,000 people have been evacuated, including 51,456 registered and partially evacuated in Afar and 20,325 in Oromia, and emergency shelters have been set up. Significant damage has also been recorded, with 16 schools severely damaged, and 21 partially. 
• South Sudan – Food insecurity contributes to malnutrition (ERCC) – While December-January is supposed to be the best period of the year in terms of food security in South Sudan, 6.1 million people face crisis level of food insecurity or worse. In parallel, the rapid spread of the cholera outbreak is driven by the deplorable WaSH conditions, particularly in camps and settlements and the weakness of the health system, while the country faces still more new arrivals from Sudan. 78,000 people officially registered in December 2024, twice the 2024 monthly average arrival).  
• Malaysia – Floods (ERCC) – Heavy rainfall has been affecting Peninsular Malaysia since 10 January, causing floods that have resulted in population displacement and damage. As of 12 January, 3,844 people have been displaced in 38 evacuation center, of whom  3,779 people in Johor, 34 in Perak, and 31 in Terengganu states, in southern Peninsular Malaysia. 
• Tibet hit by two powerful aftershocks of last week’s earthquake (Reuters) – A rural county in the Chinese region of Tibet, still feeling tremors from last week’s magnitude 6.8 earthquake, was jolted on Monday night by two powerful aftershocks barely a minute apart. A magnitude 4.9 quake struck Tingri county at 8:57 p.m. local time (1257 GMT), according to China Earthquake Networks Center. That was followed by a magnitude 5.0 aftershock a minute later whose epi-center was just 9km from last week’s quake. 

Health 

• Cambodian man dies from H5N1 avian flu, possibly after eating sick chickens (CIDRAP) – A 28-year-old man from Kampong Cham province in Cambodia has died from an H5N1 avian flu infection after being exposed to and possibly consuming sick chickens. This is the 19th human H5N1 case identified in Cambodia since early 2023. Most recently, in September 2024, the country reported a fatal H5N1 case in a teen girl, caused by a novel reassortant that included internal genes from the newer 2.3.4.4b clade. The 15-year-old girl had handled sick birds in her village in the week prior to her death.  
• Polio cases reported in 3 countries (CIDRAP) – Three countries reported new polio cases this week, according to the latest update from the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI). In Pakistan, one wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) case was reported Kyhber Pakhtunkhwa province, with onset of paralysis occurring on November 9. The case brings Pakistan’s 2024 case count to 68. The United Kingdom reported another cVDPV2-positive environmental sample, which was collected on December 15. In late 2024, the country reported similar wastewater detections in samples collected in November from London, Leeds, and East Worthing. 
• Chinese scientists say they have identified a potentially novel tickborne virus (CIDRAP). The virus was obtained from 252 patients with fever and recent tick bites from May through July 2023.  

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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