World Status Report
April 1, 2025
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
- Pakistan says it killed 10 civilians during an anti-militant operation in the northwest (AP News) – Pakistan said it killed 10 civilians during an anti-militant operation in the country’s northwest and promised to investigate the circumstances. Authorities made the admission Saturday evening about the deaths, which occurred in the early hours of that morning in a remote hilltop area of Katlang, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
- Lebanon makes arrests over rockets fired at Israel (Arab News) – Lebanese authorities said Sunday several suspects had been arrested after rockets were fired at neighboring Israel earlier this month, testing a fragile November ceasefire.
- Convicted war criminal Lubanga announces new rebel group in east Congo (Reuters) – A convicted war criminal based in Uganda has announced a new rebel movement intent on toppling the government in eastern Congo’s Ituri province, creating another potential security threat in the war-scarred region.
- ‘Russians are sending way more drones than they used to’, Ukraine defence unit says (France 24) – Russia has ramped up the number of cheap kamikaze drones it fires at cities across Ukraine at night. Trying to shoot them down is the difficult task of Ukraine’s air forces.
- Israeli military orders the evacuation of Gaza’s southern city of Rafah (AP) – Israel’s military on Monday issued sweeping evacuation orders covering Rafah and nearby areas, indicating it could soon launch another major ground operation in the Gaza Strip’s southernmost city.
Demonstrations
- Turkish opposition leader calls for weekly rallies and deeper economic boycott (The Guardian) – Turkey’s anti-government protesters are weighing their options, amid calls by the main opposition leader for weekly rallies, a growing economic boycott and a groundswell of fired-up student demonstrators determined to stay on the streets.
Infrastructure
- Over 390,000 customers remain without power in Ontario due to ice storm (CBC) – The number of outages jumped on Sunday because of a problem with Hydro One’s outage map, with outages not previously accounted for now having been added to the total. Environment and Climate Change Canada says the areas hardest hit by the ice storm include Barrie, Orillia, the Kawartha Lakes, Peterborough and Kingston. Lindsay got 25 mm of ice buildup, the Peterborough area got 20 mm, Orillia received 19 mand Barrie got 15 mm.
Environment
- Myanmar quake: More than 1,600 reported killed (UN News) – Latest news reports indicate that over 1,600 have been killed in Myanmar with thousands injured following two powerful earthquakes on Friday which have left hundreds trapped under rubble. The earthquakes of 7.7 and 6.4 magnitude struck Myanmar in the centre of the country northwest of Sagaing.
- Pakistan – Landslide (ERCC) – As of 31 March, one fatality and one injured person in the area of the Astore city, southern Gilgit-Baltistan region due to the aforementioned landslide. In addition, media also report some blocked roads due to the same landslide event.
- Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia – Floods and landslides (ERCC) – Heavy rainfall affected central and northern Bosnia and Herzegovina and northeast part of Croatia, Slavonia region over the period from 26 to 29 March, causing floods and river overflows. Media report, as of 31 March, nearly 150 evacuated people and more than 1,000 flooded houses across Bosnia and Herzegovina, where the worst affected cities are Prijedor and Sanski.
Health
- New polio cases in 2 countries, imported clade 1b mpox in Brazil and UAE (CIDRAP) – World Health Organization (WHO) noted several new developments regarding the spread of different mpox clades, including the first imported cases involving the novel 1b clade in Brazil and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), raising the number of countries outside Africa reporting the clade to 15.
- PAHO warns of increase in yellow fever cases (CIDRAP) – Officials have confirmed 131 cases this year in four countries, 53 of them fatal.
- Drug-resistant gonorrhea cases rising in England (CIDRAP) – UK health officials say 17 cases of ceftriaxone-resistant gonorrhea were reported from January 2024 to March 20, 2025, compared with 16 in all of 2022 and 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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