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 

• Two Israeli soldiers killed in West Bank shooting (Reuters). Two Israeli soldiers were killed and eight wounded when a gunman opened fire on troops in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, setting off a gunfight in which the shooter was killed by Israeli soldiers, the military said. 
• Uganda Sends 1,000 More Soldiers to East Congo Near M23 Conflict (US News) – The Rwandan-backed M23 recently captured regional capital Goma in an anarchic and mineral-rich part of Democratic Republic of Congo where wars in 1996-1997 and 1998-2003 drew in outside nations and killed millions, mostly from hunger and disease. The extra Ugandan deployment north of Goma would raise its numbers there – officially to back Congo President Felix Tshisekedi’s army against another rebel force – to about 4,000-5,000, according to U.N. sources. 
• Iraqi-led air strikes kill five Islamic State operatives (Reuters) – Precision airstrikes led by Iraqi security forces (ISF) killed five Islamic State (ISIS) operatives near Iraq’s Kirkuk on Jan. 31, the U.S. Central Command (Centcom) said in an X post on Tuesday. An initial post-strike clearance found multiple explosive suicide belts and other materials, Centcom said, adding that the airstrikes were enabled by Centcom forces. 
• Russian attacks near Ukrainian nuclear infrastructure heighten scrutiny of Kyiv’s preparedness (ABC News) – Moscow’s renewed attacks on Ukraine’s electricity infrastructure this winter have heightened scrutiny over the Ukrainian Energy Ministry’s failure to protect the country’s most critical energy facilities near nuclear power sites. Despite more than a year of warnings that the sites were vulnerable to potential Russian attacks, the Energy Ministry failed to act swiftly, current and former Ukrainian officials in Kyiv told The Associated Press. 

Demonstrations 

• Argentines protest President Milei’s speech against ‘wokeism’ at Davos (Associated Press) – Thousands of demonstrators gathered in Argentina’s capital Buenos Aires and in cities across the country to protest President Javier Milei’s speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos last week, during which he slammed ‘wokeism,’ feminism and other progressive ideals. 

Infrastructure 

• Hospitals in eastern Congo are crowded with wounded and exhausting their supplies (AP) – Hundreds of wounded people have poured into overcrowded hospitals in Goma, a major city in eastern Congo, as fighting rages on between government forces and the Rwanda-backed rebels who seized the city of around 2 million people. 

Environment 

• ‘It won’t come back’: Argentina farmers battle drought and a shrinking harvest (Reuters) – Standing in his fields among tall, dry corn plants, farmer Dario Sabini inspects the smaller-than-usual corn cobs before taking the yellowing leaves of the crop that should be green at this time of the season, to crinkle them between his fingers. “We are seeing here corn that’s already gone. The plant is already yellow, it will not come back,” said the farmer from the town of Veinticinco de Mayo, some 200 kilometers (125 miles) west of Buenos Aires. The town has been hit by a recent drought. 
• Zambia – Drought and displacement (ERCC) – Zambia is currently facing one of its most severe droughts, affecting some 9.8 million people. The drought was officially declared a national disaster, with rural areas in  Southern and Western provinces being hit the hardest. As of January 2025, this crisis and other climate-related factors has caused significant displacement, impacting over 202,000 individuals in the affected areas. 
• Indonesia – Floods (ERCC) – Heavy rainfall has been affecting eastern Indonesia. As of 4 February, three fatalities, five missing persons, approximately 100 displaced and a total of more than 125 affected people in the Bima regency, West Nusa Tenggara province. In addition, reports show 12 damaged houses, and three damaged bridges across the same area. The same source also reports over 100 displaced people, around 3,160 affected people, and 874 damaged houses across the Luwu Utara regency, South Sulawesi province. 
• Malaysia – Floods, update (ERCC) – As of 4 February, the death toll stands at five fatalities. IFRC also reports nearly 12,500 evacuated people in 62 temporary relief centers across the Sarawak State. In addition, around 5,200 evacuated people in 33 temporary relief centers were reported across the Sabah State. 
• Dangerous flooding and intense rainfall to continue in north Queensland (ABC) – Intense flooding is continuing in parts of Queensland with authorities predicting the peak for the north’s most populated city of Townsville to hit on Tuesday morning. 

Health 

• Uganda begins Ebola vaccine trial after new outbreak (BBC) – Uganda has launched a trial of a vaccine against the Sudan strain of the Ebola virus, following an outbreak in the country that has killed one person and infected two others. The first patient, a 32-year-old male nurse, died last week. 

Humanitarian 

• UNRWA delivers bulk of aid in Gaza, as destruction mounts in West Bank (UN News) – Some 30,000 residents from Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank have fled their homes after large swathes of it were destroyed in a series of controlled detonations by the Israeli security forces (ISF), the UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) said on Tuesday. 

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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