Somalia, Algeria, Iran.

Today's three stories you should know.

Somalia

Somalia’s hunger crisis was the lead item in the newsletter just two days ago. I think it deserves to be again. As mentioned then, the UN has warned that more than 200,000 people could starve to death as the Horn of Africa experiences its worth drought in 40 years, and global food prices surge due to the war in Ukraine. People, many of them children, have already started dying and UN agencies are crying out for funding to respond. The Associated Press today carried a heartbreaking report from the ground.

More from AP here.

Algeria

Algeria has suspended a two decade-old “friendship agreement” with Spain over Madrid’s position on Western Sahara. The row broke out after Spain appeared to endorse Morocco’s stance on the disputed territory. Morocco in 1975 annexed Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony, sparking a rebellion from the Polisario Front that continued until a ceasefire was declared in 1991. Morocco now proposes autonomy for Western Sahara under its jurisdiction, while the Polisario wants a referendum on full independence. Spain gets most of its natural gas from Algeria and so is in a sticky position when it comes to managing its relationships with the rival nations.

More from The New Arab here.

Iran

Yet another blow to the sputtering talks between Iran and world powers over getting a nuclear treaty back up and running. Reuters news agency reports, citing a confidential International Atomic Energy Agency report, that Iran has begun installing advanced IR-6 centrifuges in a cluster at an underground enrichment plant. Is it brinkmanship from Iran or has it genuinely lost faith in the process? Hard to say. The group of world powers wants Iran to stop expanding its nuclear program immediately, while Tehran wants sanctions against it, even those unrelated to nuclear activity, lifted.

More from Reuters here.