Somalia, Israel-Palestine, Iran.

Today's three stories you should know.

Sep 05, 2022

Somalia

It’s happening again. A country is slipping into famine and the world isn’t paying attention. The UN today said that “famine is at the door” in Somalia and thousands of people are already dying. A famine is declared when 20 percent of households face an extreme lack of food, at least 30 percent of children are suffering from acute malnutrition, and two people out of every 10,000 are dying each day from outright starvation or from a combination malnutrition and disease. Formal famine declarations are very rare. U.N. humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said he was “shocked to my core these past few days” while on a visit to Somalia, adding he had seen babies too weak to cry. A 2011 famine in Somalia killed more than 250,000 people.

Israel-Palestine

Israel today said there was a “high probability” one of its soldiers fired the shot that killed Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh but that she had been hit by mistake and there would be no criminal investigation. The conclusion was contained in a long-awaited Israeli military probe into a killing that prompted an outpouring of grief and anger across the Arab world in which Abu Akleh was considered an icon. The investigation said Israeli soldiers had come under fire from Palestinian gunmen, but provided no evidence to support that. It also said there was still a possibility she had been hit by Palestinian fire despite at least seven investigations from media organisations and rights groups concluding that she was killed by an Israeli.

Iran

Two women have been sentenced to death in Iran on charges of "corruption on earth" and human trafficking but several rights groups have said the women were targeted for their work as LGBTQ+ activists. “Corruption on earth” is a charge that can refer to a particularly broad range of offences, including those related to moral issues.