The OTHER Big News Today

This is the first meeting of the signatories of the Paris Climate Agreement. “COP 22 Kicks off in Marrakech Today, world leaders and climate negotiators are reconvening in Marrakech, Morocco, less than a year after they hammered out the Paris Agreement to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions through the United Nations process. Over the next two weeks, they will work out the logistics of their climate goals at the 22nd Conference of the Parties (COP22). While celebrating what was accomplished in Paris, this year has also sobered negotiators under the realization that the real work of the Paris Agreement begins now — and delegates hope to keep up the momentum at COP22. ‘We’re calling this a COP of action,’ said Jonathan Pershing, the U.S. Special Envoy for Climate Change, in a press call on November 3.” (DeSmogBlog http://bit.ly/2fMSfyB)

Could this be the beginning of the end of the Cyprus Conflict? A deal to unify Cyprus is within reach, UN chief Ban Ki-moon said Monday as he opened talks aimed at resolving one of the world’s longest running political crises. The Mediterranean resort island has been split since 1974, when Turkish troops occupied its northern third in response to an Athens-inspired coup seeking union with Greece. The United Nations has launched several failed peace drives over the last four decades, but the latest bid between Greek Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades and his Turkish Cypriot counterpart Mustafa Akinci has been billed as the last best hope for an enduring truce. During five days of negotiations at a luxury Swiss resort overlooking the Alps, the two leaders were set to directly discuss the thorny issue of territorial adjustments for the first time.” (AFP https://yhoo.it/2ftpbsi)

Africa

South African President Jacob Zuma has lodged a complaint with the office of the Public Protector over a leaked audio recording of his meeting with the anti-graft watchdog, his office said on Monday. (Reuters http://bit.ly/2fhImVa)

Germany on Monday pledged a $67.44 million hike in funding for U.N. relief operations in Africa so that fewer of its people undertake perilous odysseys to Europe, which has struggled to absorb an influx of migrants since last year. (Reuters https://yhoo.it/2fw3Kcj)

An increasing number of South Sudanese will continue to face difficulty in meeting daily food needs in the coming months despite harvests, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization has warned. (FAO http://bit.ly/2fhFbx2)

Tanzania’s foreign minister says the country has signed a memorandum of understanding with Switzerland to help the East African country recover money illegally kept in Swiss banks by Tanzanian nationals. (AP https://yhoo.it/2fhESCi)

A South African opposition leader on Monday threatened the country’s white minority in a speech reflecting frustration among many in the black majority over a perceived lack of economic benefits since the end of apartheid. (AP https://yhoo.it/2fhImVx)

Victims of a rail crash that killed at least 79 people in Cameroon have filed a lawsuit against train operator Camrail and its French owner Bollore Group, accusing them of negligence and involuntary manslaughter, their lawyer said. (Reuters http://bit.ly/2fw3pGL)

South Africa’s agriculture ministry said on Monday the Treasury has provided $16 million in drought relief for animal feed to be allocated in the last three months of 2016 to help livestock farmers hard hit by a devastating drought. (Reuters http://bit.ly/2fwMRfJ)

Thousands of Ebola orphans, teenage mothers and children in charge of households in Sierra Leone are struggling to feed themselves and their families amid widespread food shortages in the West African nation, a British charity said on Monday. (Reuters http://bit.ly/2fatgDp)

For almost 20 years, Sierra Leone has avoided using the death penalty. But spurred by public outrage over ritual murders and gang violence, the government is moving once again to hang offenders. (AFP https://yhoo.it/2fwL0rm)

MENA

Yemen’s 20-month war has killed more than 7,000 people and wounded nearly 37,000, the World Health Organization said, as the UN envoy voiced alarm over the worsening humanitarian situation. (AFP https://yhoo.it/2fhIOCP)

A mountainous Palestinian community in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Al Jab’a differs in many ways from surrounding Israeli settlements but it shares one worry with its neighbors – a shortage of water. (Reuters https://yhoo.it/2fhCdbF)

The U.N.’s health agency says that half of Yemen’s medical facilities have either been shut down or are partially functioning because of the war and that nearly half of the country suffers from severe shortage of doctors. (AP https://yhoo.it/2fwHWLy)

More than one million children who have been living under ISIS in Iraq have either been out of school or forced to learn from an ISIS curriculum, some for more than two years. (Save the Children http://bit.ly/2fhIMeo)

Around 2,000 protesters took to the streets of Morocco’s capital Rabat on Sunday, in the latest in a week of rallies over a fish vendor crushed to death in a garbage compactor after a confrontation with police. (Reuters http://bit.ly/2fUE9ug)

An American citizen detained by Shiite Houthi rebels in Yemen for more than a year and a half has been released, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Sunday. (AP http://bit.ly/2faoFRO)

A Japanese freelance journalist detained by local authorities in Iraq was released Monday after being suspected of being a member of the Islamic State group. (AP https://yhoo.it/2fhLSPu)

Asia

The sickening air pollution that led the Indian capital to shut schools and construction sites this week has prompted similar measures in nearby cities. (AP https://yhoo.it/2ewZfcQ)

Myanmar is allowing the first food deliveries for more than four weeks to the troubled north of Rakhine state, the UN humanitarian agency announced on Monday, amid an ongoing military lockdown of the area. (Reuters https://yhoo.it/2fwbevR)

The gleaming towers of Shanghai belie the Chinese commercial hub’s vulnerability to climate change, and the city is spending billions to try to protect itself, but experts say the country’s authoritarian system is a hidden weakness. (AFP https://yhoo.it/2fUHx8A)

Vietnam and Ireland agreed Monday to increase their cooperation in education, renewable energy, information technology and health care, during a visit to the Southeast Asian country by Irish President Michael Higgins. (AP https://yhoo.it/2fUCa9u)

Britain should not wait until it leaves the European Union to develop deeper trade ties with India, Prime Minister Theresa May said in New Delhi on Monday, promising to ease access for Indian business travelers but not for its students. (Reuters https://yhoo.it/2eGcUlg)

China’s parliament has banned private, for-profit schools that teach first- through ninth-graders, a move to tighten government control over education that may cool a fast growing but poorly regulated sector. (Reuters https://yhoo.it/2fw8yOT)

Floods in Vietnam’s central, central highland and southern provinces have left 15 people dead and six missing and displaced thousands, the Department of Natural Disaster Prevention and Control said on Monday. (Reuters https://yhoo.it/2eg4fYa)

Australia’s bid to hold a national vote on whether to legalize same-sex marriage was defeated on Monday in the upper house of parliament, or Senate, potentially delaying legal unions for years. (Reuters https://yhoo.it/2favrH3)

The senator who initiated an investigation into Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s deadly anti-drug campaign asked the Supreme Court on Monday to stop verbal attacks against her by Duterte, who has described her as a “dirty woman” for allegedly having an affair with her driver. (AP https://yhoo.it/2eP3ykM)

The Americas

Authorities in Haiti say flooding has killed at least 10 people in three northern provinces as heavy rain falls across the region. (AP https://yhoo.it/2fav678)

Federal scientists have launched another test in human volunteers of a Zika vaccine. This one uses a more traditional approach than an experiment that started in August. (NPR http://n.pr/2fhGhsj)

One month after Hurricane Matthew pummeled Haiti, nearly 600,000 children remain in need of humanitarian assistance, stalked by disease, hunger and malnutrition. (UNICEF http://bit.ly/2fwE6Ca)

…and the rest

Britain’s cost-cutting welfare reforms gravely or systematically violated the rights of disabled people, according to a United Nations inquiry published on Monday that was rejected by Britain. (Reuters https://yhoo.it/2fw2Dtn)

A German court Monday put on trial two Syrian men who say they are refugees but face charges of being human traffickers responsible for eight deaths on the high seas a year ago. (AFP https://yhoo.it/2fhIfJi)

African nations are seeking to suspend the work of the first UN independent expert charged with investigating violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. (AP http://bit.ly/2fw7GK0)

Almost 700 migrants arrived at the Italian port town of Augusta on Monday after being rescued from their perilous boat journey across the Mediterranean Sea. (Reuters http://bit.ly/2fw5aU9)

A deal to unify Cyprus is within reach, UN chief Ban Ki-moon said Monday as he opened talks aimed at resolving one of the world’s longest running political crises. (AFP https://yhoo.it/2fwHwVF)

From hurricane-ravaged Haiti to drought-parched southern Africa, the world’s poorest countries are battling increasingly extreme weather being thrown their way as the planet warms. But the aid on offer globally to help them cope is still a pittance compared with what they need, experts say. (Reuters https://yhoo.it/2fwH2Pt)

Opinion/Blogs

Here is how the UN is fighting Hunger in Somalia (Global Dispatches Podcast http://buff.ly/2ePdhrl)

Secretary-General Guterres will ‘insist’ on gender parity for senior UN positions (Devex http://buff.ly/2ewVioQ)

Beyond Calais: A Perspective on Migration, Agriculture and Rural Development (IPS http://bit.ly/2fa48g0)

Migration: What if Trump does win? (IRIN http://bit.ly/2eG83R1)

Why do public sector reforms fail? (DevPolicy http://buff.ly/2ewXpJa)

Can Ireland’s biggest humanitarian agency beat a corruption scandal? (IRIN http://bit.ly/2fhK9d9)

Why markets should matter to health advocates (Devex http://buff.ly/2ex1xJ3)

All you need to know about Ghana’s December 7, 2016 elections (Africa is a Country http://buff.ly/2eg8bbo)

Dams raise global warming gas (SciDevNet http://buff.ly/2eg5OoZ)

Scholars’ letter of support for Ricardo Hausmann (Dani Rodrik’s Weblog http://buff.ly/2eg3azL)