Reuters: U.S. grants sanctions waiver to ease humanitarian aid to Iran “The United States on Thursday granted a license to allow for certain humanitarian trade transactions with Iran’s sanctioned central bank, a move it said was in step with the formalization of a Swiss humanitarian aid channel. The newly created…

AP: World battles virus epidemic as cases multiply outside China “Crews scrubbed everything from money to buses, military bases were on high alert, and quarantines were enforced Wednesday from a beachfront resort in the Atlantic to a remote island in the Pacific, as the world worked to halt the fast-spreading…

AP: ‘Time is everything’: World braces for spread of new virus (Johnson et al., 2/25). PRI: Iranians skeptical their government can handle the coronavirus outbreak (Jaafari, 2/25). Reuters: E.U. calls for coordinated European response to coronavirus (Chalmers et al., 2/26). Science: The coronavirus seems unstoppable. What should the world do…

NPR: U.N.: Humanitarian Crisis In Syria Reaches ‘Horrifying New Level’ “The humanitarian crisis in Syria has reached a ‘horrifying new level,’ according to a U.N. official. That’s how Mark Lowcock, the United Nations under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, described conditions in northwest Syria, based on eyewitness accounts…

Washington Post: Syria’s carnage nears a horrific climax Editorial Board “…According to the United Nations, some 900,000 people have fled a new offensive by forces of the regime of Bashar al-Assad and its Russian and Iranian allies since December. That includes an estimated 500,000 children. Most of these civilians are…

Al Jazeera: Yemen: U.S. to stop aid in Houthi areas if rebels do not cooperate “Aid agency USAID has said it will suspend aid to Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen, where most of the country’s people live, if the rebels do not remove impediments obstructing aid operations…” (2/25). Reuters: Donors, aid…

AP: U.S. to stop aid in Yemen’s Houthi areas if rebels don’t budge “USAID said late Monday that it will suspend aid to Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen, where most of the country’s people live, if the rebels don’t remove impediments obstructing aid operations. In a statement, the agency said it…

Foreign Affairs: Washington Must Protect Syrians Fleeing Idlib Robert S. Ford, senior fellow at the Middle East Institute and Kissinger senior fellow at Yale University’s Jackson Institute for Global Affairs “In Syria’s last opposition stronghold, the worst fears of millions of people are coming true. With the help of brutal…

AFP: U.N. chief urges new transit point for aid to Syria “U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres has urged the Security Council to authorize a new passage point on the Turkish border to allow humanitarian aid to reach the embattled population of northeast Syria, where medical supplies are running short. The recommendation…

The Hill: Former U.S. ambassador to Syria: Idlib is ‘worst case scenario’ “A top diplomat in the Obama administration is calling on the U.S. and NATO to push for a cease-fire between Turkey and Russia in Syria, saying the battles in the Idlib province are resulting in an unprecedented humanitarian…