Top stories from the global news aggregator, DAWNS Digest.
Yet More Health Workers Murdered. UN Suspends Polio Vaccine Campaign
Yesterday, five health workers administering the polio vaccine were gunned down in coordinated attacks. Three more workers were murdered today. “Two men opened fire on an 18-year-old worker as he was vaccinating children on the outskirts of the northwestern city of Peshawar. The worker died of bullet wounds to the head, said Dr. Janbaz Afridi, the provincial director of the polio campaign.Gunmen opened fire on a car carrying a vaccination campaign supervisor and her driver in Charsadda — killing them both. Also in Charsadda, two female workers narrowly escaped when some men began shooting at them. Three other female workers also escaped unhurt when they were shot at in Nowshera district. All the attacks Wednesday took place in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a province rife with Islamic extremists.” (CNN http://bit.ly/VPAecn)
UN Report Paints Gloomy Prognosis on Global Economic Recovery
The UN released the World Economic Situation and Prospects 2013 report…and the prospects look grim. “The main author of the report, Robert Vos, director of the Development Policy and Analysis Division of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, said it could take until at least 2017 just to recoup the jobs lost in the United States and Europe since the 2008-9 global recession. He forecast world growth for 2013 at 2.4 percent, “a significant downgrade” from the United Nations midyear forecast of 3.1 percent. He said the 2012 growth rate was 2.2 percent, vs. the midyear forecast of 2.5 percent.” (NYT http://nyti.ms/SOJpi7)
Kenyan Government Orders Somali Refugees Out of Cities, Into Awful Camps
This move could have dire humanitarian consequences. “Thousands of Somali refugees in Kenya have been ordered to leave urban areas and go to remote, overcrowded camps, following a spate of grenade attacks. Aid will no longer be delivered to those who remain in urban areas, said the head of Kenya’s refugee agency. He blamed the refugees for contributing to insecurity in Kenya. The attacks have mostly been carried out in areas with a large ethnic Somali population in north-east Kenya and the Eastleigh district of Nairobi. They are believed to have been carried out by the al-Shabab militant group.” (BBC http://bbc.in/SOLwTa)
France and USA Remain At Loggerheads Over Mali Intervention
The USA is still putting the brakes on French-led efforts to have the Security Council authorize international intervention in Mali. “France said on Tuesday it would address U.S. concerns about a military mission to retake northern Mali from Islamist rebels and hoped for a Security Council vote this week, but U.N. envoys said a French-U.S. agreement on the issue remained elusive. U.S. diplomats have voiced skepticism over a French draft resolution to approve an African Union (AU) military force that would seek to oust al Qaeda-linked insurgents who seized vast swathes of the African country last March.” (Reuters http://reut.rs/SOIvlO)