Israel-Palestine, Somalia, South Korea.

Today's three stories you should know.

Feb 22, 2023

Israel-Palestine

Eleven Palestinians were killed today, including at least four civilians, when Israeli forces raided the occupied West Bank city of Nablus. Scores were also wounded. The incident was the latest in a string of violent incursions into the West Bank by Israeli forces over the last year, in which at least 61 Palestinians, including 13 children, have been killed. The Lions’ Den and Islamic Jihad armed groups said that their fighters had engaged in gun battles with the Israeli troops. No Israelis were reported hurt.

Somalia

Drought trends in the Horn of Africa are worse than during the Somalia famine in 2011 when hundreds of thousands of people starved to death, a research center said today. The IGAD Climate Prediction and Applications Center said below average rainfall was expected for the next three months, which would make it the sixth consecutive failed rainy season. Though the threshold for a famine declaration has not yet been reached, tens of thousands are reported to have already died. Workneh Gebeyehu, the head of IGAD, said governments needed to act “before it’s too late.” About 23 million people are currently food insecure in Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya.

South Korea

The fertility rate in South Korea, already the world’s lowest, has dropped again. The average number of expected children per South Korean woman over her reproductive life fell to 0.78 in 2022, down from 0.81 a year earlier, the latest official statistics showed. As of 2020, South Korea was the only country in the OECD with a rate below 1, which indicates a population is declining. The government has pumped billions of dollars into schemes including childcare subsidies but has failed to reverse the slide.