Around 43,000 people may have died in Somalia last year after several failed rainy seasons, a new report by the Somali government and UN suggests. It is the first official death toll from the drought in the Horn of Africa. Half of the fatalities are thought to be in children under five. The crisis is “far from over”, with 18,000-34,000 more deaths expected in the first six months of this year. In 2011, a famine in Somalia killed over a quarter of a million people. “We are racing against time to prevent deaths and save lives that are avoidable,” said World Health Organisation (WHO) representative Dr Mamunur Rahman Malik. He added that the “cost of our inaction” would mean children, women and vulnerable people would die as “we hopelessly, helplessly witness the tragedy unfold”. The UN says it needs $2.6bn (£2.1bn) for its Somalia drought response plan this year. So far, under 15% of that has been funded. Millions of farm animals have died in the crisis, which has been worsened by climate change, political instability and the global rise in food prices. One problem has been getting aid into territory controlled by al-Shabab, which is affiliated to al-Qaeda and considered a terrorist group by both the US and UK. Al-Shabab regularly launches brutal attacks in Somalia and poses a massive obstacle to humanitarian activity. But strict US government rules blocking any assistance from benefitting designated terrorist groups have also complicated efforts to reach many desperate communities. Some humanitarian officials believe the international community has sidelined the crisis due to the war in Ukraine.(BBC)…[+]

At least one person has been shot dead as police crack down on demonstrators in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi. Thousands have heeded the call for nationwide protests by opposition leader Raila Odinga, who claims that Kenya’s last election was stolen. Mr Odinga, who has run for president five times, also accuses the government of failing to help Kenyans tackle the “skyrocketing” cost of living. There are reports police fired tear gas at Mr Odinga’s convoy on Monday. Roads leading to key government buildings in the capital have been blocked and the president’s official residence sealed off. Some of the fiercest scenes have been in the Kibera settlement in Nairobi – a poor neighbourhood with a strong history of supporting the opposition. The BBC witnessed demonstrators setting up barricades and throwing stones at the police. Several arrests have been made. “We came here peacefully, but they tear gassed us,” 21-year-old Charles Oduor told the AFP news agency in another district of Nairobi. “They lie to us everyday. Where is the cheap maize flour they promised? Where are the jobs for the youth they promised? All they do is hire their friends.”(BBC)…[+]

Officials are monitoring the clean-up of a leak of 400,000 gallons (1.5m litres) of radioactive water from a local nuclear power plant in Minnesota. Xcel Energy, the utility company that runs the plant, said the spillage was “fully contained on-site and has not been detected beyond the facility”. State officials said there was no immediate public health risk. The leak was first discovered in late November, but state officials did not notify the public until Thursday. The water contains tritium, a common by-product of nuclear plant operations. A naturally occurring radioactive isotope of hydrogen, tritium emits a weak form of beta radiation that does not travel very far in air and cannot penetrate human skin, according to the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). Tritium spills occur at nuclear plants on occasion, but are typically contained on-site and rarely affect public health or safety, the NRC says. Xcel first discovered the leak on 21 November, from a pipe between two buildings at its Monticello plant. The plant is about 35 miles (56km) from the state’s most populous city, Minneapolis, upstream along the Mississippi River.(BBC)…[+]

Several cities in north east Brazil are suffering from serious unrest caused by marauding criminal gangs. For the third night, gang members set buses ablaze and carried out gun attacks on buildings in urban areas in Rio Grande do Norte state. The attacks are thought to have been sparked by conditions in jails holding gang members. Brazil’s government sent hundreds of federal security forces to the region earlier this week. Justice and Security Minister Flavio Dino said hundreds more could be sent in the coming days as unrest continues. The state government has convened a crisis cabinet and has asked the federal government for more support. The attacks were ordered from within the state’s jails when gang members’ requests for televisions, electricity and conjugal visits were turned down, Brazilian news outlet Terra quoted the state’s secretary of public security Francisco Araujo as saying. Conditions in Brazil’s notoriously overcrowded jails have long been under scrutiny.(BBC)…[+]

Hundreds of people including Ghana’s president are paying their last respects to Christian Atsu, who died in last month’s earthquake in Turkey. His funeral is being held outside State House in Ghana’s capital, Accra. “In life I love you darling, in death I’ll do the same,” read the tearful tribute from the footballer’s widow, Marie-Claire Rupio. She was overcome with emotion and handed her speech to Atsu’s sister to read. “You did not go alone, for part of me went with you,” it continued. “Your smile, your love I see in our children’s smiles.” Representatives of Ghana’s national team and Atsu’s Turkish club Hatayspor were also at the ceremony. Atsu’s body was recovered a fortnight after the quake from the rubble of his apartment building. It was returned to Ghana almost a month ago. He will be buried later in his home village in south-eastern Ghana. Atsu, 31, spent most of his career playing in the English Premier League for clubs including Chelsea, Newcastle and Everton.(BBC)…[+]

Several cities in north east Brazil are suffering from serious unrest caused by marauding criminal gangs. For the third night, gang members set buses ablaze and carried out gun attacks on buildings in urban areas in Rio Grande do Norte state. The attacks are thought to have been sparked by conditions in jails holding gang members. Brazil’s government sent hundreds of federal security forces to the region earlier this week. Justice and Security Minister Flavio Dino said hundreds more could be sent in the coming days as unrest continues. The state government has convened a crisis cabinet and has asked the federal government for more support. The attacks were ordered from within the state’s jails when gang members’ requests for televisions, electricity and conjugal visits were turned down, Brazilian news outlet Terra quoted the state’s secretary of public security Francisco Araujo as saying. Conditions in Brazil’s notoriously overcrowded jails have long been under scrutiny.(BBC)…[+]

Officials are monitoring the clean-up of a leak of 400,000 gallons (1.5m litres) of radioactive water from a local nuclear power plant in Minnesota. Xcel Energy, the utility company that runs the plant, said the spillage was “fully contained on-site and has not been detected beyond the facility”. State officials said there was no immediate public health risk. The leak was first discovered in late November, but state officials did not notify the public until Thursday. The water contains tritium, a common by-product of nuclear plant operations. A naturally occurring radioactive isotope of hydrogen, tritium emits a weak form of beta radiation that does not travel very far in air and cannot penetrate human skin, according to the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). Tritium spills occur at nuclear plants on occasion, but are typically contained on-site and rarely affect public health or safety, the NRC says. Xcel first discovered the leak on 21 November, from a pipe between two buildings at its Monticello plant. The plant is about 35 miles (56km) from the state’s most populous city, Minneapolis, upstream along the Mississippi River. The company said it had notified the state and the NRC the next day.(BBC)…[+]

A plan to build the world’s first octopus farm has raised deep concerns among scientists over the welfare of the famously intelligent creatures. The farm in Spain’s Canary Islands would raise about a million octopuses annually for food, according to confidential documents seen by the BBC. They have never been intensively farmed and some scientists call the proposed icy water slaughtering method “cruel.” The Spanish multinational behind the plans denies the octopuses will suffer. The confidential planning proposal documents from the company, Nueva Pescanova, were given to the BBC by the campaign organisation Eurogroup for Animals. Nueva Pescanova sent the proposal to the Canary Islands’ General Directorate of Fishing, which has not responded to a BBC request for comment. Octopuses caught in the wild using pots, lines and traps are eaten all over the world, including in the Mediterranean and in Asia and Latin America.

Global cocaine production has reached record levels as demand rebounds following Covid lockdowns, a new report has found. The UN Office on Drugs and Crime said coca cultivation rose by 35% between 2020 and 2021 to record levels. Findings suggest new hubs for trafficking have emerged in West and Central Africa. The report also said traffickers were using international postal services more often to get drugs to consumers. “Globally, the use of parcel and courier services increased significantly during the Covid-related lockdown due to restrictions on passenger flights,” the Global Report on Cocaine report said. It noted a rise in West African countries in the use of “well established, globally operating postal services as well as smaller shopping companies” used to smuggle quantities of cocaine to Europe and beyond. Overall, the the report found Europe and North America are the largest markets for cocaine, followed by South and Central America and the Caribbean.(BBC)…[+]

Two and a half tonnes of uranium have gone missing from a site in Libya, the UN’s nuclear watchdog has said. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) sounded the alarm after a visit by its inspectors to the undisclosed site earlier this week. They found that 10 drums containing uranium ore had disappeared, the IAEA said.

Inspectors fear the uranium could pose a radiological risk, and also have concerns over nuclear security. The IAEA said that the site where the uranium was stored was not in government-controlled territory. In a statement, the organisation said it would conduct further activities “to clarify the circumstances of the removal of the nuclear material and its current location”. It is unclear when the uranium went missing or who could have taken it. It was removed from a very remote location in southern Libya, where there were “lots of ungoverned areas”, according to Scott Roecker from the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a global security organisation working on nuclear issues.(BBC)…[+]