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

• Mali – Conflict, armed violence, protection risks (ERCC). Since mid-August 2023, clashes are scaling up between Malian military forces (FAMa) and NSAGs, including the signatories of the Alger Peace and Reconciliation Agreement. Curfews were declared in Gao and Timbuktu on 9 and 11 September.
• War crimes intensifying: Myanmar human rights investigators (UN News). UN-appointed independent human rights investigators told the Human Rights Council on Monday that Myanmar’s people continue to suffer deeply from the effects of horrific crimes committed by the country’s military, amid intensifying violence.
• Meth trafficking surges in and around Afghanistan (UN News). The drastic increase in meth seizures in Afghanistan and neighbouring countries indicates that trafficking is expanding, rapidly changing illicit drug markets traditionally dominated by opiates hailing from Afghanistan.
• Gunmen kill Mexico Attorney General’s delegate to southern state of Guerrero (AP News). Gunmen killed the representative of Mexico’s Attorney General’s office in the southern state of Guerrero on Tuesday, according to authorities.
• Wave of anti-immigrant hostility sweeps across Cyprus (Euronews on MSN.com). There are fears of a climate of hate is emerging amid rising violence against immigrants. In early September, rumours of an anti-immigrant demonstration were circulating in Limassol, southern Cyprus.
• Ten dead as clashes resume in Palestinian camp in south Lebanon (Reuters). Ten people have been killed and dozens wounded in renewed violence between rival groups in a Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon, with a senior Palestinian official flying in on Monday amid fears the bloodshed could spread.
• US moves troops and equipment within Niger as ‘precautionary measure’ (Yahoo! News). “We are hopeful that diplomatic talks will continue and that the situation in Niger will be resolved diplomatically,” Sabrina Singh, the Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary, said Thursday at a press briefing. “This is simply a precautionary measure.”

Demonstrations

• 3 wounded in southern Syria after shots fired at protesters at ruling party’s local headquarters (AP). Security guards from the Syrian president’s Baath party on Wednesday fired shots at protesters trying to raid its local headquarters in southern Syria, wounding at least three people, activists said.

Infrastructure

• Fire at Vietnam apartment block kills 30 — state media (CNBC). At least 30 people have been killed in a fire at an apartment block in Vietnam’s capital Hanoi, among them children, local media reported on Wednesday.
• The newly opened Delhi-Mumbai Expressway is raising concerns over safety (Economic Times). The expressway is a 246 km stretch, allowing speeds up to 120kmph, and has seen two fatal accidents over the past few weeks. There are various issues contributing, one of them the ongoing theft of lights and markers, pedestrians crossing the highway, and drivers parking on the side of the road or driving on the wrong side.
• At least 26 killed in Nigeria ferry accident (Reuters). At least 26 people died and several others were missing after a ferry capsized on a reservoir in north central Nigeria on Sunday, local officials said, the second such major accident to hit the region in three months.

Natural Disasters

• Canada – Wildfires, update (ERCC). Several wildfires continued to affect most of the British Columbia Province in western Canada, over the past weeks, resulting in further evacuations and damage.
• Libya – Floods, update (ERCC). Torrential rainfall and strong winds hit north-eastern Libya, particularly the Cyrenaica Region over the past few days, causing floods and flash floods that resulted in an increasing number of casualties and damage. According to UN OCHA, at least 5,000 people died, 10,000 others are still missing and 20,000 have been displaced. The worst-affected city is Derna where the death toll reached 2,300 people after floods triggered by two dams collapse, as reported by media.
• Morocco – Earthquake, update (ERCC). According to the latest report from authorities of Morocco, nearly 3,000 people have lost their lives after the 6.8 M earthquake of 8 September that struck Al Haouz Province.
• India – Monsoon rains, update (ERCC). Over the past few days, heavy rainfall continued to affect parts of the country causing floods and severe weather-related incidents that resulted in casualties and damage.
• Brazil – Severe weather, update (ERCC). The number of people affected by the severe weather conditions that started on 4 September has increased across southern Brazil, particularly in the States of Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul.
• Japan – Tropical Cyclone YUN-YEUNG, update (ERCC). The passage of the tropical storm YUN-YEUNG over the central Honshu Island, west of the Greater Tokyo area, on 8-9 September, caused very heavy rainfall, strong winds, floods and landslides that have resulted in casualties and damage

Health

• In the U.S., CDC recommends everyone 6 months and older get an updated COVID-19 vaccine to protect against the potentially serious outcomes of COVID-19 illness this fall and winter (CDC). Updated COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna will be available later this week. This is the first fall and winter virus season where vaccines are available for the three viruses responsible for most hospitalizations – COVID-19, RSV, and flu.
• India’s Kerala shuts schools and offices to curb deadly Nipah virus (Reuters on MSN.com). India’s southern state of Kerala shut some schools, offices and public transport on Wednesday in a race to stop the spread of the rare and deadly Nipah virus, which has killed two people. The virus is spread via contact with the bodily fluids of infected bats, pigs or people, a state health official said.

Humanitarian

• Namibia – Acute Food Insecurity – update (ERCC). About 579,000 people (22 % of the population) are facing high levels of food insecurity (IPC 3 or above) between July and September 2023, according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC). Twelve out of 14 regions are classified in Crisis level (IPC 3). The situation is expected to worsen from October 2023 to March 2024, with 695,000 people (26% of the population) likely to be in IPC Phase 3 or above.

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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