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 

• Rwanda-backed rebels try to expand control after capturing east Congo’s largest city (AP News) – Rebels backed by Rwanda captured more towns in eastern Congo on Wednesday, as fighters moved beyond the key city of Goma in an apparent attempt to expand their control in the conflict-battered region. 
• Plane crash in South Sudan kills at least 20 people (Al Jazeera) – At least 20 people have been killed in a plane crash in the north of South Sudan, Unity state’s minister for information said. They includes 16 South Sudanese people, two Chinese nationals and one Indian are among the passengers. 
• Dozens killed in India’s Kumbh festival stampede (Reuters) – Dozens of people were killed in a pre-dawn stampede at the Maha Kumbh Mela in northern India on Wednesday as tens of millions of Hindus gathered to take a dip in sacred river waters on the most auspicious day of a six-week festival. Reuters counted 39 bodies in the morgue of the local hospital, where bodies were still being brought in 12 hours after crowds surged towards the confluence of rivers where immersion is considered especially sacred. 
• Australian police foil antisemitic attack involving explosives (Reuters) – Australian police said on Wednesday they had foiled a planned antisemitic attack after discovering a caravan containing explosives, in an escalation of threats against the Jewish community that authorities called terrorism. The caravan was discovered on Jan. 19 in Dural, a suburb some 36 kms (22 miles) northwest of the centre of Sydney, New South Wales Deputy Police Commissioner David Hudson told a news conference. 
• At least 14 killed in Syria in attacks by Turkish-backed forces (Arab News) – At least 14 civilians were killed and 29 wounded in attacks by Turkish-backed forces in northern Syria on Monday and Tuesday, the US-backed Kurdish militia group said. The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said Turkish-backed forces targeted a market in the city of Sarrin with drones on Tuesday, killing eight civilians and injuring 20 others. Some of the wounded were in critical condition 

Demonstrations 

• Demonstrators attack foreign embassies in Congo’s capital to protest rebels’ advance in the east (AP) – Dozens of demonstrators attacked several foreign embassies, including those of Rwanda, France and Belgium, on Tuesday demanding that they oppose the advance of Rwanda-backed M23 rebels into a major city in the country’s conflict-battered east. 

Infrastructure 

• Four years after the coup, Myanmar remains on the brink (UN News) – Four years after the military coup which plunged Myanmar into turmoil, the country is facing an unprecedented “polycrisis,” marked by economic collapse, intensifying conflict, complex climate hazards and deepening poverty, according to a new report by the UN Development Programme 

Environment 

• Philippines – Flash flood (ERCC) – According to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD-DROMIC), 1,110 people have been affected in five districts of Matium municipality. The authorities provided help and assistance for those affected. 
• Australia – Wildfires (ERCC) – As of 29 January, that a total of 260 residents in Dimbola and Wail towns, in the Little Desert National Park, in the Shire of Hindmarshand of the Wimmera region of western Victoria, have been sheltered, of whom 50 remain at the centre. In addition, three structures have been destroyed by the bushfires in the Little Desert National Park, which have burnt an area of approximately 70,000 ha so far. National authorities deployed 400 firefighters, 120 vehicles and 30 aircraft to control the bushfires. 

Health 

• Children killed in Darfur hospital attack (UN News) – At least one girl and three boys were killed, and three boys injured, during an attack on the Saudi Hospital in the besieged Sudanese city of El Fasher, North Darfur, on Friday. In Sudan, over 70 per cent of hospitals in conflict-affected areas are currently non-operational due to damage, destruction, lack of supplies, or being used as shelters. 
• UNAIDS welcomes US decision to keep funding life-saving HIV treatment (UN News) – UNAIDS has welcomed Wednesday’s emergency waiver from the United States Secretary of State that will allow the continuation of life-saving HIV treatment funded by the US across 55 countries worldwide. The move from the UN agency dedicated to ending the disease came in response to an immediate 90-day funding pause for all foreign assistance laid out in an executive order by President Trump, including the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief 
• UK reports another imported clade 1b mpox case (CIDRAP) – In other developments, the WHO says violence in the eastern DR Congo complicates the country’s mpox response and that Azerbaijan has reported its first case. 

Migration 

• More than 376,000 return to north Gaza since Monday (Arab News) – More than 376,000 Palestinians displaced by the war between Israel and Hamas have returned to northern Gaza, the UN’s humanitarian body OCHA said 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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