The filmmaker has reportedly fled India for fear of arrest. “The documentary, “India’s Daughter,” features an interview with Mukesh Singh, now on death row for his role in the crime, who tried to justify the brutal attack by saying “a decent girl won’t roam around at 9 o’clock at night.” Excerpts from the interview were released on Tuesday as part of an advance publicity campaign. Things moved quickly after that. After a condemnation from the home minister, the Delhi police moved for a restraining order, and a court issued a stay banning broadcast of the film, which was set to be aired Wednesday night by the BBC. (NYT http://nyti.ms/1EhlvCv)
When malaria isn’t malaria…A new study warns that, in Africa, illnesses causing fevers are often misdiagnosed as malaria. For example, the study found that dengue fever is circulating in urban areas of Ghana, but is mistaken for malaria. The findings could trigger a reevaluation of anti-malaria efforts. (VOA http://bit.ly/1CxUCtv)
Still Breaking at Presstime: US Ambassador Attacked in Seoul…US ambassador to South Korea Mark Lippert has been injured by an attacker in Seoul, local media report. (BBC http://bbc.in/1Ehltua)
Child protection whistleblowers who alerted the Australian Human Rights Commission to child sexual abuse, violence and self-harm on Nauru are being investigated by the Australian federal police. (Guardian http://bit.ly/1zYSuoF)
Africa
A bomb planted and remotely detonated by Boko Haram militants near the southeastern Niger town of Diffa has killed two soldiers and wounded a third, Niger military sources said on Wednesday. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/1GUc61R)
United Nations sanctions aimed at bringing an end to South Sudan’s civil war would be counterproductive if imposed, the country’s foreign minister said on Wednesday. (AFP http://yhoo.it/1FYknRl)
Prosecutors in Ivory Coast asked judges Tuesday to sentence former first lady Simone Gbagbo to a ten-year prison term on charges of “undermining state security” during post-election violence in 2010-2011 that left nearly 3,000 dead. (AFP http://yhoo.it/1w4tdwW)
Lesotho’s main opposition party has formed a coalition government with other opposing parties after an election failed to provide an outright winner, it said on Wednesday. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/1w4tlwe)
Zimbabwe’s tobacco crop will fall to 190 million kilograms this year, down from 216 million kilograms in 2014, an official said on Wednesday, as late planting and heavy rains hit production of the country’s biggest exporter earner. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/1GUbTM7)
Flash floods have killed at least 38 people in north-western Tanzania after strong winds and hail battered villages, the president’s office said on Wednesday. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/1NhFR10)
Chadian President Idriss Deby on Wednesday vowed to “wipe out” Boko Haram and called on the group’s chief Abubakar Shekau to give himself up, warning that he knew where the militant leader was hiding. (AFP http://yhoo.it/1GUcbCw)
A team from the International Monetary Fund team leading efforts to re-engage Zimbabwe said on Wednesday it will “assess” whether the country has adhered to agreed reforms aimed at normalising its relations with the lender. (AFP http://yhoo.it/1NhFSC5)
Guinea’s economy is likely to take a $2 billion hit from a regional Ebola outbreak that has killed nearly 10,000 people, and the country is relying on mining to drive growth once the virus is contained, the finance minister said. (Reuters http://bit.ly/1DWkH3c)
A proposal by the South African government to limit farm size to 12,000 hectares is a “negotiating tactic” as it tries to press ahead with the redistribution of land to black farmers, the minister of agriculture said. (Reuters http://bit.ly/1DWkE7y)
Tanzania will get a $300 million concessional loan from the World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA) to help improve roads and other facilities in its commercial capital of Dar es salaam, the bank said. (Reuters http://bit.ly/1DWkEnX)
A pair of oil spills in 2008 and 2009 polluted the waters around the town of Bodo, in Nigeria’s southern Rivers State. A settlement between the Shell oil company and the affected community that was negotiated in January put cash in the pockets of townspeople, but it did not undo the environmental damage to the area around Bodo. (VOA http://bit.ly/1DWkzAK)
The shooting death of a top opposition-allied Mozambican lawyer has analysts concerned that this nation’s violent past has come back to haunt it. (VOA http://bit.ly/1CxUDgY)
MENA
Lebanon made an exception to its border restrictions on Syrian refugees Tuesday to allow in some 20 Assyrian Christians fleeing the Islamic State group, a priest said. (AFP http://yhoo.it/1w4tfVo)
U.S. officials sought Wednesday to tamp down expectations of a substantial preliminary nuclear deal with Iran by the March deadline while working to move past the political dust kicked up by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s criticism of an emerging agreement’s contours. (AP http://yhoo.it/1w4tnUS)
The apparent disintegration of a key Syrian rebel group has dealt a major blow to US efforts to build up a force of moderate fighters to take on the Islamic State group. (AFP http://yhoo.it/1NhFO5s)
Asia
India’s home minister said on Wednesday he would investigate how a film crew managed to interview a death row convict who expressed no remorse for his part in the fatal gang rape of a woman in New Delhi in 2012, an attack that sparked outrage. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/1FYknke)
Polio vaccinators across Pakistan are facing increasing resistance and threats as they seek to prevent a growing caseload of sick children. (IRIN http://bit.ly/1DWkq01)
India’s central bank on Wednesday unexpectedly cut a key interest rate by a quarter percentage point, the second such reduction this year as the bank lends support to government efforts to boost economic growth. (AP http://yhoo.it/1FYkkEZ)
A Bangladeshi court on Wednesday upheld arrest warrants against opposition leader Begum Khaleda Zia and called her a fugitive after she again failed to appear to face graft charges that have stoked political tensions. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/1NhFP9m)
China needs to better regulate foreign non-governmental organizations operating in the country for national security reasons, an official said on Wednesday, as the government drafts a law that has unnerved many aid groups. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/1FYkmNi)
India expects higher rainfall from the monsoon this year after patchy rains affected farm output last season, weather office sources said. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/1GUbWYg)
The Americas
Brazil’s attorney general on Tuesday asked the Supreme Court for permission to investigate 54 people, the majority top political figures, for alleged involvement in what prosecutors say is the country’s largest corruption scandal yet uncovered. (AP http://yhoo.it/1FYkfkO)
Results for El Salvador’s bungled legislative and mayoral vote will not be available for another 14 days, the president of the country’s electoral authority said on Wednesday, blaming the delay on “sabotage.” (Reuters http://yhoo.it/1NhFYts)
The United States expects a global deal to cut customs red tape and streamline import procedures to come into force this year, a senior trade official said. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/1NhFRxT)
…and the rest
Slovenia’s parliament voted Tuesday to legalise same-sex marriages and grant such unions equal rights to those of heterosexual couples. (AFP http://yhoo.it/1w4tyQc)
New guidelines from the World Health Organization are enough to kill anyone’s sugar high. The U.N. health agency says the world is eating too much sugar and people should slash their intake to just six to 12 teaspoons per day — an amount that could be exceeded with a single can of soda. (AP http://yhoo.it/1NhFMdD)
Deaths, economic damage and other negative impacts from disasters have caused losses equivalent to 42 million life years annually since 1980, a measure that is comparable to the burden of tuberculosis worldwide, the United Nations said. (TRF http://yhoo.it/1GUc6im)
Opinion/Blogs
Meet a 2015er: Emilia Saiz is the deputy secretary general of United Cities and Local Government. (UN Dispatch http://bit.ly/1ElsCs4)
A murderer and rapist’s views reflect those of many in India (AP http://yhoo.it/1NhFALu)
SDGs in need of rescue: Part 2 (Open The Echo Chamber http://bit.ly/1NhMKPV)
What would persuade the aid business to ‘think and work politically’? (From Poverty to Power http://bit.ly/1GUljXU)
Let’s Grant Women Land Rights and Power Our Future (Inter Press Service http://bit.ly/1DWkvRw)
What ‘cultural cleansing’ looks like under the Islamic State (GlobalPost http://bit.ly/1Fb73ZC)
Sustainable development goals must fulfil Beijing’s vision for women (Guardian http://bit.ly/1Fb7lQ9)
Reforming Mental Health in India (Inter Press Service http://bit.ly/1CxUABG)
Tea Tuesdays: Kenyan Farmers See Green In The Color Purple (NPR http://n.pr/1CxUytE)
Bill Easterly’s take on the SDGs (Devex http://bit.ly/1wIBmYp)
The Real World: Developing countries (WhyDev http://bit.ly/1M6Lmw0)
Is this the maturation of politics in Lesotho? (Africa is a Country http://bit.ly/1NhM2Cf)
New developments with the pitfalls and the promise of subjective welfare (Impact Evaluations http://bit.ly/1NhMtfN)