Globe Trot: African famine crisis looms

AFRICA: More than 20 million people across conflict-hit regions in South Sudan, Somalia, Nigeria, and Yemen are at risk of famine and starvation. Aid officials are warning the crisis will grow exponentially if untended by world leaders.

A bipartisan group of senators last week asked Secretary of State Rex Tillerson for a “diplomatic surge” to prevent millions from dying unnecessarily from starvation.

IRAQ: The Trump administration’s emphasis on human rights is at best tentative, and perhaps reflects pledges to downsize State Department bureaucracy. Sources told us that the White House and State Department had statements prepared last week for the one-year anniversary of the U.S. genocide declaration on ISIS actions in Iraq and Syria—but neither was issued. At worst, Trump officials may be backpedaling on human rights, something hard to conceive following a disastrous human rights record under President Obama.

RUSSIA: Opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been jailed today, accused of sparking nationwide anti-corruption rallies over the weekend.

HONG KONG: Police today brought criminal charges against organizers of 2014’s Umbrella Movement, sparking renewed worries over a China-led crackdown against dissent in what’s considered the most free economy in the world. Hong Kong’s population is one-fifth Christian, and Christian leaders have been at the forefront of the democracy movement.

INDIA: The selection of a firebrand Hindu priest to lead Uttar Pradesh state already is bad news for resident Christians and Muslims.

At 220 million people, Uttar Pradesh is India’s most populous state and the equivalent of the sixth largest nation on earth.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi chose Yogi Adityanath as Uttar Pradesh’s chief minister, who founded the extremist Hindu Yuva Vahini and faces criminal charges of attempted murder and inciting riots.

Air India has banned a Hindu nationalist member of parliament from flying after he hit a flight attendant with a slipper (“25 times”) for being seated in economy class: “God save our country if this is the culture and behaviour of our MPs,” said the 60-year-old flight attendant.

SOUTH KOREA: Prosecutors are calling for the arrest of ousted president Park Geun-hye, impeached earlier this month on corruption and bribery charges (good background here).

SPACE STATION: While the rest of us were probably watching NCAA basketball, two astronauts aboard the International Space Station took a six-and-a-half hour walk in space. Technical details here, plus follow French astronaut Thomas Pesquet on Twitter for some pretty up-to-the-minute footage, and his spacewalk playlist.