Levels of violence are increasing. “Kenya’s biggest donors and the UN on Tuesday warned against violence after three died as police suppressed opposition demonstrators demanding a change of leadership at the electoral commission ahead of next year’s polls. Police said two people died of gunshot wounds in the western town of Siaya on Monday, and one from a head injury after falling over while running from tear gas in Kisumu, also in the west. The opposition CORD party claimed several people were killed. The opposition protests, in their fourth week, are organised by the CORD party and aimed at forcing a change of leadership at the country’s Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) ahead of polls due next year.” (Daily Mail http://dailym.ai/1OLKZJq)
Quote of the day…”“The event had its successes: it supported momentum for local leadership and included the voices of local civil society organizations and activists; there was recognition of women’s empowerment as a right; some richer countries including Norway and Germany increased financial commitments while Denmark renewed its humanitarian strategy; there was notable progress on education, efficient humanitarian financing, and the ‘Grand Bargain’ which will give more power and funds to local frontline NGOs. But governments have continued to only pay lip service to accountability – their actions on international humanitarian law and gender equality fail to match their words.” — Oxfam chief (Oxfam http://bit.ly/1OLJUBb )
Quote of the day. II …”Our colleagues in ICRC and MSF have said it’s unprecedented what has happened with the medical facilities in Syria. The notion seems to be that the doctor of my enemy is my enemy. Well it’s wrong. The doctor of my enemy is doing his job.” Jan Egeland. (UN Dispatch http://bit.ly/1OLkeom )
Stat of the day… Of those identified as refugees or internally displaced persons by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, only 50 percent are enrolled in primary school, from the report Providing Hope, Investing in the Future: Education in Emergencies & Protracted Crises. (Jesuit Refugee Service http://bit.ly/1NKM9df)
Africa
Mozambique was heading toward a default after the government failed to honor a sovereign guarantee behind a $535 million loan taken out by a state-run company to build shipyards that have not materialised, a Finance Ministry source said. (Reuters http://bit.ly/1TJBhwx)
Uganda said four policemen patrolling on its side of Lake Albert had been killed by Congolese troops and demanded Kinshasa punish those responsible. (Reuters http://bit.ly/1syLsd2)
Anti-slavery campaigners in Mauritania say two court victories last week could be significant in the fight against the practice. (Guardian http://bit.ly/1YV3tN3)
A combination of renewable energy sources off the national grids could be a solution to supplying electricity to rural areas across Africa, a report by PricewaterhouseCoopers showed. (Reuters http://bit.ly/1TJBmAl)
South African authorities say two people have died in violent protests by residents opposing plans to evict them from makeshift homes in an area north of Pretoria. (AP http://yhoo.it/1syLCBh)
Operations have ground to a halt at South Sudan’s largest hospital thanks to a week-long power outage, owing to a massive fuel shortage in the capital city. (VOA http://bit.ly/1TJAYSt)
MENA
A suicide bomber who targeted a hospital in a Syrian coastal city the previous day killed 43 people, the World Health Organization said Tuesday, as an activist group raised the overall death toll from the day’s unprecedented wave of attacks on government strongholds to 154. (AP http://yhoo.it/1TJBhww)
A U.S.-backed alliance of Syrian militias launched a new offensive against Islamic State fighters near their de facto capital of Raqqa city on Tuesday, a monitoring group and an official said. (Reuters http://reut.rs/1OLKZck)
The international community has reacted with outrage after Narges Mohammadi, the ailing Iranian human rights activist already serving a six-year jail term, was given a further 16-year sentence by a revolutionary court in Tehran. (Guardian http://bit.ly/1syLG3P)
Since a spate of attacks against Israelis began in October, authorities have arrested dozens of Palestinians for “incitement” of violence — based on their Facebook posts. (USA Today http://usat.ly/1OLL6Vm)
Asia
After two decades of work, the French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi Pasteur has licensed a dengue vaccine to Mexico and the Philippines. Last month, Sanofi Pasteur rolled out its first ever dengue mass-vaccination programme. Fourth graders are being vaccinated in three areas in the Philippines where dengue cases were highest last year. (IRIN http://bit.ly/1TJAVWV)
A human rights group urged Indonesia to involve forensic experts in exhuming mass graves linked to massacres a half-century ago to ensure the preservation of crucial evidence and allow for the identification of bodies. (AP http://yhoo.it/1TJAMmd)
A landslide in Myanmar’s northern jade mining region has killed at least 12 people and many more are missing, officials said Tuesday, the latest deadly accident to hit the shadowy but lucrative industry. (AFP http://yhoo.it/1TJBiAC)
The strongest El Nino in nearly 20 years, which damaged crop production in Asia and caused food shortages, has ended, the Australian Bureau of Meteorology said on Tuesday. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/1s6RIZt)
The Americas
An Argentine court jailed two former top security officials for the deaths of five demonstrators in a 2001 crackdown on protests that brought down then president Fernando de la Rua. (AFP http://yhoo.it/1Tu6RAl)
Peru’s President Ollanta Humala has declared a 60-day state of emergency in a large remote area of the Amazon jungle because of extremely high levels of mercury poisoning from illegal gold mining. (VOA http://bit.ly/1s6RUYI)
Venezuelan bottlers will stop producing Coca Cola due to a lack of sugar available in the country, the company announced. (VOA http://bit.ly/1s6RSQH)
Mexican authorities and independent experts began the exhumation of more than a hundred bodies buried in pits in the central state of Morelos. (AFP http://yhoo.it/1s6RDoG)
Venezuela expects to rejoin the global watchdog established to stop trade in conflict diamonds as it seeks to resume diamond exports, its central bank director said on Tuesday. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/1syLrFP)
…and the rest
Greek police on Tuesday started moving some of the 8,000 migrants and refugees stranded in a makeshift camp on the sealed northern border with Macedonia to state-run facilities further south. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/1syLH7T)
Germany wants to divert 10% of the EU budget towards dealing with the refugee crisis, after a lack of joined-up thinking exacerbated the challenges posed by irregular migration to Europe. (Guardian http://bit.ly/1syLT6Y)
Fewer migrants are dying as they try to cross the Mediterranean Sea, which may reflect better policies for managing the flow of people, the International Organization for Migration said on Tuesday. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/1TJB3ps)
Opinion/Blogs
Is the Grand Bargain a Big Deal? (IRIN http://bit.ly/1NJ4hEp)
Secret aid worker: ‘It is time to pass the UN leadership baton to a new generation’ (Guardian http://bit.ly/1YV0Hrc)
Why It Doesn’t Matter Who Next Chair of AU Commission Is (African Arguments http://bit.ly/1s6Q3mT)
When/Why do countries improve the management of their natural resources? New 4 country study (From Poverty to Power http://bit.ly/20uXT4I)
Can Johannesburg reinvent itself as Africa’s first cycle-friendly megacity? (Guardian http://bit.ly/1NJ5A69)
4 ways for the private sector to support women’s health (Devex http://bit.ly/1TAZ3cQ)
Why is there a funding blind spot for disasters in fragile states? (TRF http://tmsnrt.rs/1TAYQ9z)
The Cash Bargain: aspirations & possibilities at the WHS (WhyDev http://bit.ly/1NJ8mZh)