A bad situation is about to get worse. “Jan Egeland, the special adviser to the U.N. envoy for Syria, said the last time the over a quarter of million people inside east Aleppo received any humanitarian aid was at the beginning of July. “The reports we have now from within east Aleppo is that the last food rations are being distributed as we speak. There will not be more to distribute next week. Some families have not had any distributions, families in need of relief, have not had any distributions for several weeks already,” Egeland said.” (AP https://yhoo.it/2eO0jMR)
A Day of Protests in Egypt? “A little-known group calling itself Movement of the Poor called in recent months for Egyptians to protest on Nov. 11 against rising prices and deepening austerity. The call gained traction on social media after Egypt floated its pound and raised fuel prices last week, a move hailed by bankers but bemoaned by ordinary people as the latest blow to their dwindling spending power. But the Movement of the Poor said on its Facebook page on Wednesday it canceled the protests due to a police crackdown.” (Reuters http://reut.rs/2fAZYw4)
The Top Contenders for Trump’s Foreign Policy Cabinet…Some steady hands and some radicals included in this list. (Foreign Policy http://atfp.co/2fB0Fpd)
Reinstated celebrity U.N. ambassador…Maria Sharapova will be reinstated as a UN goodwill ambassador when her suspension from tennis expires next April. (Guardian http://bit.ly/2eO2C2C)
Africa
Some 30,000 residents of the Nigerian megacity Lagos have become homeless because of state-ordered demolitions and riots among slum dwellers competing for jobs and space, residents and a rights group said on Thursday. (Reuters https://yhoo.it/2fGan8D)
The Gambia’s controversial leader Yahya Jammeh on Thursday submitted his candidacy to seek a fifth term in December’s presidential election, saying he would listen only to God for guidance in governing. (AFP https://yhoo.it/2fGajFB)
Wider economic repercussions feared in Sudan as unexpected announcement to cut fuel and energy subsidies triggered a 30% price spike and opposition members are arrested for criticism of measures. (Guardian http://bit.ly/2fGcE3x)
Prosecutors have accused a Congolese rebel leader on trial at the International Criminal Court of tampering with witnesses, court documents published on Thursday showed, weeks after it found a former Congolese vice president guilty of the same. (Reuters https://yhoo.it/2eO1YCh)
It has been almost three years since Somali pirates successfully hijacked a large commercial vessel but they retain the capacity and intent to resume the attacks and have lately shifted to targeting smaller foreign fishing boats, according to U.N. report. (VOA http://bit.ly/2fFJlzG)
MENA
Miracle at sea…Cyprus police say a Syrian woman says she gave birth aboard a boat loaded with 128 other migrants as they made their way from Turkey to the eastern Mediterranean island. (AP https://yhoo.it/2fhE56W)
Russia’s defence ministry on Thursday dismissed as “counterproductive” a request from the United Nations to extend future pauses in fighting to allow aid into rebel-held eastern Aleppo as winter comes. (AFP https://yhoo.it/2eO0qIh)
More than 5,000 civilians have fled their homes since the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces launched an offensive on the Islamic State group’s Syrian bastion Raqa, an SDF spokeswoman said Thursday. (AFP https://yhoo.it/2fFMT7c)
The United Nations special rapporteur to the occupied Palestinian territories said Thursday he was “very concerned” by Israel’s use of live fire in dealing with Palestinian knife attackers. (AFP https://yhoo.it/2eO871t)
Asia
Millions of pounds of climate change aid to Bangladesh has been returned unspent to the British government following a long-running dispute over its delivery. (Guardian http://bit.ly/2fosZuj)
A World Bank investigation into a tea plantation project in India that it jointly finances with tea giant Tata Global Beverages has found that it has failed to tackle alleged abuses of impoverished workers, the group said on Wednesday. (Reuters https://yhoo.it/2fhzi57)
A Philippine law enforcement agency filed bribery, graft and drug-related complaints against a senator and former minister on Thursday, in the first step towards prosecuting the biggest critic of President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs. (Reuters https://yhoo.it/2fFNaFd)
Domestic violence is plaguing Cambodian communities beset by land conflicts linked to a mix of unclear ownership deeds, booming urban construction and large-scale agricultural investment, according to a report by the Cambodian Centre for Human Rights, echoing findings of an earlier U.S. study. (Reuters https://yhoo.it/2fhDdPE)
A state in western India has launched a mobile app for people to report child abuse, in an effort to protect children after a series of abuses came to light. (Reuters https://yhoo.it/2eO01WE)
Su Shan and her partner are raising 5-month-old twins together, but only one of the women is their legal parent. That could soon change as Taiwan appears set to become the first place in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage. (VOA http://bit.ly/2fhu1KU)
The Americas
A Mexican congressional committee voted to reject a bid by President Enrique Pena Nieto to legalize gay marriage in the country, marking a setback for the president and gay rights in the traditionally conservative country. (Reuters https://yhoo.it/2fFT773)
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump could use legal short-cuts to pull out of a global agreement for fighting climate change within a year, keeping a campaign promise and by-passing a theoretical four-year wait, lawyers say. (Reuters https://yhoo.it/2fG9qNo)
Mexico is willing to “modernize” the North American Free Trade Agreement with US President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration and Canada, but will not renegotiate the pact, the foreign minister said. (AFP https://yhoo.it/2fGanFA)
For the second time in a week, the Brazilian government has frozen the accounts of the state of Rio de Janeiro because of a large outstanding debt. (AP https://yhoo.it/2eO1CLT)
A U.S. government weather forecaster on Thursday said that previously predicted La Niña conditions have arrived and are slightly favored to persist into the Northern Hemisphere winter 2016-17. (Reuters https://yhoo.it/2fGgnhm)
…and the rest
People in some of the world’s worst conflict zones believe the presence of humanitarian organisations is declining even as their need for them increases, according to an investigation into the impact of violence and insecurity on relief efforts. (Guardian http://bit.ly/2fG8WGT)
Many Muslims around the world expressed dismay on Wednesday at Donald Trump’s election as U.S. president, saying they feared it might raise tensions between the West and Islam and contribute to radicalisation. (Reuters http://bit.ly/2fFQYYS)
A refugee shelter with beds for 400 single men opened in Paris on Thursday, part of an ongoing drive to take asylum-seekers off French streets after the demolition of the Calais “Jungle” camp. (AFP https://yhoo.it/2fhukW6)
Supermarket obsession with perfect-looking produce and the use of arbitrary “best before” labels are causing massive food waste that if reversed could feed the world’s hungry, a UN panel said Thursday. (AFP https://yhoo.it/2fhDGkX)
Opinion/Blogs
What Can We Expect from President Trump’s Foreign Policy? (UN Dispatch http://buff.ly/2fFPZpq)
Seeing past the shock of the Trump victory (Devex http://buff.ly/2eO1g80)
Changing Determinants of Global Income Inequality (IPS http://bit.ly/2eNVh3g)
What will be the impact of the Trump presidency on women’s rights? (TRF https://yhoo.it/2eFQkpP)
Will the UN become complicit in Pakistan’s illegal return of Afghan refugees? (IRIN http://bit.ly/2fFPn5e)
Why Africa Should Be Worried About Trump’s Win (Nation http://bit.ly/2fFMtxE)
The US election shows us why the SDGs are so important right now (ODI http://bit.ly/2fFYjYg)
Screening for Islamic State in Iraq: an inexact science (IRIN http://bit.ly/2foqYhE)
5 questions aid workers should be asking ahead of Trump (Aid Leap http://buff.ly/2eG5Kdv)
Can Africa’s current education policies help build the scientists of tomorrow? (Africa can end poverty http://buff.ly/2fGalgO)
A vote for the world’s health, absent from the headlines (Devex http://buff.ly/2fFPzPX)