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 

• Islamic militants kill 12 Cameroonian soldiers in an attack near Lake Chad (AP News) – At least 12 Cameroonian soldiers were killed Monday night in an attack by Islamic militants on the border with Nigeria, according to a statement from the Cameroonian Ministry of Defense. The attack also left over a dozen soldiers wounded and occurred in the Lake Chad area near the town of Wulgo, the ministry said Thursday.  
• Syria’s sectarian violence reached capital, terrorizing Alawites, residents say (Reuters) – Close to midnight on March 6, as a wave of sectarian killings began in western Syria, masked men stormed the homes of Alawite families in the capital Damascus and detained more than two dozen unarmed men, according to a dozen witnesses. 
• Israel’s military issued an evacuation order to residents of Hadath in Beirut’s southern suburbs (Reuters) Israel on Friday carried out its first major airstrike on Beirut’s southern suburbs in months, retaliating for an earlier rocket launch from Lebanon in the most serious test of a shaky ceasefire deal agreed in November. 
• Six Russians dead, 39 tourists rescued after submarine sinks in Red Sea off Egypt (Reuters) – Six Russians died on Thursday and 39 foreign tourists were rescued when a viewing submarine sank off the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Hurghada, the local governor’s office said on Facebook, adding that no passengers or crew were still missing. 
• Five people wounded in Amsterdam stabbing (AP News) – A knife-wielding assailant in Amsterdam seriously wounded five people — including two from the United States, one from Belgium and one from Poland — in a stabbing attack Thursday on a busy shopping street, Dutch police said. The attack lasted several minutes before the assailant was stopped by a passerby near the city’s Dam Square in the late afternoon. Police cordoned off the area and several ambulances and a trauma helicopter were called to the scene. 
• UN warns of ‘severe’ human rights abuses in Haiti as illegal weapons proliferate (AP News) – A steady stream of illegal weapons smuggled into Haiti is fueling an increase in gang violence and leading to severe human rights abuses, according to a U.N. report released Thursday. 

Demonstrations 

• Police use force to break up protests at a university in Turkey’s capital (AP News) – Police used pepper spray, plastic pellets and water cannon against protesters in Turkey’s capital early Thursday, the latest clash in the country’s biggest anti-government protests in over a decade. 
• Thousands protest cancelled Romanian election ahead of repeat vote (Reuters) – Thousands of Romanians gathered in the capital Bucharest on Wednesday to protest the December cancellation of a presidential election and the banning of its far-right frontrunner from standing for office again. 
• More journalists detained by Turkey in dawn raids after covering anti-government protests (Associated Press) – Two journalists were detained in dawn raids in Istanbul early Friday as part of a crackdown on media workers covering Turkey’s largest protests in more than a decade, their outlets reported. 

Environment 

• South Korea – Wildfires (ERCC) – According to media, 24 people died, more than 20 others have been injured, and some 27,000 were evacuated. The authorities have deployed thousands of firefighters, 5,000 military personnel and 146 helicopters to contain the fires. 
• Philippines – Severe weather and floods (ERCC) – As of 27 March, the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD DROMIC) reports 383 displaced people, including 250 in Northern Mindanao in three evacuation centres, and 133 in Davao regions. A total of 26,974 people have been affected, of whom 7,785 are in Mindanao and 19,189 in Davao regions. 
• Uganda – Severe weather and floods (ERCC) – As of 27 March, at least seven people died, including three children, in the Kampala capital, several homes have been destroyed or flooded and roads were closed mainly due to flooding of the Nsobe river. 
• Costa Rica – Volcanic unrest (ERCC) – As of March 25, the volcano has maintained a continuous eruption with small but frequent pulses. Moreover, strong odours and, in some cases, ash fall have been reported across several surrounding communities, affecting 460,000 people. 
• Argentina’s deadly rains more likely in a warming world (Reuters) – The heavy rains that led to catastrophic flooding in central Argentina and killed 16 people earlier this month were partly fueled by climate change and could become more frequent in a warmer world, a team of international scientists said on Thursday. 

Humanitarian 

• Gaza: No aid has reached war-torn enclave for more than three weeks (UN News) – It has now been three and a half weeks since Israel imposed a complete blockade on all aid into Gaza, despite daily efforts by UN humanitarians to secure fresh access, they said in an update from the shattered enclave. And as supplies of food, medicine and other supplies run low, aid teams are increasingly concerned about growing anxiety in bread lines outside the enclave’s remaining bakeries. 

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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