ICRC Appeals For Attention To Yemen’s Growing Humanitarian Crisis

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on Monday appealed to countries participating in an international conference on Yemen’s threat to global security this week in London to also discuss the deepening humanitarian crisis the country is facing, the Associated Press/Taiwan News reports (1/25). Fighting in the country that began five months ago has worsened the conditions in the country, ICRC Deputy Director of Operations Dominik Stillhart explained, according to Reuters. “If no immediate action is being taken to counter this trend, the north of Yemen could slide into a long-term humanitarian crisis that would also hamper development efforts,” he said during a press conference (Lynn, 1/25).

Extreme Winter Conditions In Mongolia Threaten Health, Livestock

The U.N. is trying to help Mongolia cope with extreme winter weather that has killed more than 1 million livestock that will likely harm the nation’s food supply and increase poverty, the Associated Press/Washington Post reports. “The extreme winter in the poor, landlocked country sandwiched between China and Russia followed a summer drought that prevented farmers from stockpiling food for livestock,” the news service writes. Rana Flowers, the U.N.’s resident coordinator in Mongolia, “said U.N. agencies were trying to reach the worst-hit people, and are particularly concerned about pregnant women cut off from medical facilities by the heavy snow … The agencies are also worried about pneumonia rates among children and pregnant women, and increasing malnutrition” (1/25).