This latest outbreak seems to be spreading. “A fifth person has died of Ebola in southeast Guinea since March 17, a health official told Reuters on Tuesday, raising concerns that a recent flare-up of the deadly virus could spread. The latest case was detected in Macenta prefecture, about 200 kilometers from the village of Korokpara where the four other recent Ebola-related deaths occurred, said Fode Sylla Tass, spokesman for National Coordination of the Fight against Ebola in Guinea. The man, who has not been identified, had recently visited Korokpara and had been in direct contact with the first patients, Tass said. He was buried in the village of Makoidou without any sanitary precautions.” (Reuters http://reut.rs/1WGwmLO)
The Uber Wars Come to Jakarta…Thousands of taxi drivers caused traffic chaos in the Indonesian capital Tuesday in a violent protest against what they say is unfair competition from ride-hailing apps such as Uber.TV footage showed long lines of taxis and three-wheel minicabs blocking a central expressway, men setting tires alight and jumping on vehicles that refused to join in the protest. Green-jacketed drivers for Go-Jek, an app used to hail motorcycle taxis, retaliated by hurling rocks and other objects. An Associated Press reporter saw drivers surround one taxi, forcing its terrified female passenger on to the road with her luggage.Tt was the second major protest by taxi drivers in Jakarta this month and was large enough to halt the motorcades of Indonesia’s president and vice-president. (SL Trib http://bit.ly/1WGxbEx)
Photo of the Day: Two refugees self-immolate in protest at the Greek-Macedonia border. (Reuters http://reut.rs/1WGxijx)
Brussels Attacks
Manhunt underway…”Belgium launched a huge manhunt Tuesday after a series of bombings claimed by the Islamic State group ripped through Brussels airport and a metro train, killing around 35 people in the latest attack to bring carnage to the heart of Europe. Two huge blasts, both possibly caused by a suicide bomber, hit the check-in hall at Zaventem Airport, strewing the scene with blood and mangled bodies and sending hundreds of terrified travellers fleeing in terror. (AFP http://yhoo.it/1WGxNtL)
French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve Tuesday said Paris was deploying 1,600 additional police to border crossings and air, sea and rail infrastructure after the Brussels attacks which killed at least 21 people. (AFP http://yhoo.it/1ZoK2gi)
UK Prime Minister David Cameron said he would chair a crisis response meeting following explosions in Brussels on Tuesday. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/1MkMIta)
U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, reacting to attacks at Brussels airport and a metro station on Tuesday, said the United States and Western countries should toughen up in their fight against Islamist militants. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/1q0crwZ)
Syrian refugees to the rescue…German police say two Syrian refugees pulled a far-right politician from the wreck of his car after he crashed into a tree. (AP http://yhoo.it/1ZoLEXv)
Africa
Liberia closed its border with Guinea on Tuesday as a precaution against Ebola following at least four deaths from the virus in Guinea, Information Minister Lenn Eugene Nangbe said. (Reuters http://bit.ly/1MkMNx4)
Niger’s President Mahamadou Issoufou is heading for a crushing victory in a run-off election that became a near-formality when the opposition coalition declared a boycott, partial results on Tuesday showed. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/1ZoJIhx)
One in four internally displaced persons surveyed in Kenya has been a victim or witness of human trafficking, the majority lured to the Middle East but then forced to do menial work or sexually exploited, an anti-trafficking charity said on Tuesday. (Reuters http://bit.ly/1MkNu9s)
The three West African nations ravaged by Ebola could struggle to prevent another major outbreak as vigilance fades among health workers and the public, a health expert said. (Reuters http://bit.ly/22u0IIH)
South Africa’s anti-corruption watchdog may seek state funding to speed up its investigation into a growing scandal over President Jacob Zuma’s relationship with a wealthy family of businessmen, its spokesman said on Tuesday. (Reuters http://bit.ly/1ZoLYoV)
Chadian teenager Zouhoura, whose gang-rape by young men from well-to-do families sparked unprecedented mass protests in her country, says she wants justice for herself and for “all women” who have long suffered in silence. (AFP http://yhoo.it/22u07qe)
South Sudan’s government said at the end of this week it will stop paying the hotel bills of about 600 rebel advance team members who have been living in Juba since last December to work out the modalities for the implementation of last year’s August peace agreement. The advance team has also been preparing for the coming to Juba of rebel leader Riek Machar. (VOA http://bit.ly/1XKc7NJ)
Washington and the European Union called for calm in Congo as the country Tuesday awaited results from a weekend presidential election, with communications lines cut for a third day. (AFP http://yhoo.it/1ZoLS0P)
Zimbabwe’s plan to win back international funding by paying compensation to white farmers forced off their land faces a major snag: the black farmers expected to stump up the cash say they don’t have it. (Reuters http://bit.ly/22u34Hw)
Ivory Coast must deliver “long overdue” justice to the victims of deadly clashes that swept the world’s top cocoa grower after disputed elections in 2010, Human Rights Watch said Tuesday. (AFP http://yhoo.it/1ZoMDGV)
Tanzanian authorities have launched a national audit to find “ghost workers” and remove them from civil service payrolls under a corruption crackdown ordered by the president, a minister said. (Reuters http://bit.ly/1MkMMJz)
Recent funding shortfalls have forced the U.N. World Food Program to reduce rations and even suspend some food distribution at Malawi’s Dzaleka Refugee Camp, home to 25,000 refugees from around the region. Officials say the food shortages are leading to sexual exploitation and violence. (VOA http://bit.ly/1MkNtm6)
MENA
Morocco has asked the United Nations to close a military liaison office in the disputed territory of Western Sahara as a spat between Rabat and the U.N. chief over his recent remarks escalates, a U.N. spokesman said. (Reuters http://bit.ly/22u0D7O)
Top rights groups Tuesday urged the United States and other nations to stop selling arms to Saudi Arabia after it was accused of killing hundreds of civilians in its year-long air war in Yemen. (AFP http://yhoo.it/1q0co4u)
Asia
South Korea is reporting its first official case of the mosquito-borne Zika virus. (VOA http://bit.ly/22tZVHJ)
Myanmar’s president-elect nominated Aung San Suu Kyi to join the incoming cabinet on Tuesday, giving the National League for Democracy leader a formal role in the government that the constitution bars her from leading. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/22CCNmU)
The U.N. Security Council agreed to a Chinese request to remove sanctions on four ships the United Nations had blacklisted for ties to Pyongyang’s arms trade. The agreement came after China secured assurances the vessels would not use North Korean crews, a U.S. official said. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/22u0i4O)
Echoing venomous headlines in Indonesian conservative newspapers, government officials and leaders in areas from psychiatry to religion also have heaped condemnation on homosexuality. The defense minister even said gays and lesbians were a more serious threat to national security than nuclear war. (AP http://yhoo.it/22u3f5u)
Thousands of brick kiln workers in India’s western Maharashtra state are learning from activists that they have the right to a minimum wage, basic amenities and fair treatment – but remain in debt bondage to owners who deny them these rights with impunity. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/1XKc9Fo)
China’s Food and Drug Administration has ordered local governments to track the whereabouts of poorly refrigerated and probably ineffective vaccines after police detained a woman thought to have sold nearly $100 million worth of the suspect products nationwide. (AP http://yhoo.it/22u38a7)
A prominent Vietnamese blogger who is a former police officer and the son of a late government minister will be put on trial this week for alleged anti-state postings, his lawyer said Tuesday. (VOA http://bit.ly/1q0buoG)
The Americas
President Barack Obama’s historic visit to Cuba was full of ceremony and symbolism, but the deep divisions between the two nations were also visible. (VOA http://bit.ly/1XKbYJW)
A ship loaded with weapons-grade plutonium left Japan for the United States on Tuesday in what is the largest such shipment of the highly dangerous material since 1992, the environmental group Greenpeace said. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/1ZoJAPc)
Michigan’s government on Monday released goals to help the city of Flint recover from a health crisis caused by the lead contamination of its drinking water. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/1ZoK0ox)
…and the rest
The U.N. refugee agency pulled out staff Tuesday from facilities on Lesbos and other Greek islands being used to detain refugees and migrants as an international deal with Turkey came under further strain. (AP http://yhoo.it/1ZoL1No)
Opinion/Blogs
If we want drinking water for everyone, we’re going to have to pay for it (Guardian http://bit.ly/22u0S2s)
Build Healthy, Sustainable Food Systems to Fight Malnutrition (Inter Press Service http://bit.ly/1ZoMEuK)
‘Mission accomplished’ for UN war crimes court? (AFP http://yhoo.it/22CDahi)
Will Children of Colombia Know Peace at Last? (Inter Press Service http://bit.ly/1ZoMvHB)
Niger and Lake Chad Basin countries take important strides towards building climate resilience, in line with Paris Agreement (Africa Can End Poverty http://bit.ly/1MkU7J2)
How do you solve a problem like a broken water pump? (Guardian http://bit.ly/22CDdK4)
Was the greatest contribution to American prosperity the resettling of refugees? (Chris Blattman http://bit.ly/1q0fci1)
The real cost of water for the world’s poorest (Devex http://bit.ly/1Zp57XU)
How policymakers can put Africa back on upward trajectory, by Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (Vanguard News http://bit.ly/1Zp5sK6)
Secret aid worker: no matter where we work, we are all part of The A-Team (Guardian http://bit.ly/1ZoQELF)