Globe Trot: Human catastrophe looms in Lake Chad Basin

NIGERIA: “We are in a catastrophe,” said a top humanitarian aid coordinator of the Lake Chad Basin, an area spanning four countries where Boko Haram violence has displaced 2.6 million people. The four heads of state are scheduled to attend a special summit on the crisis at the UN General Assembly today.

WORLD’s reporting suggests oil is a factor in Lake Chad Basin violence, aided by oil interests with ties to the Clinton Foundation.

EGYPT: So far 162 bodies of would-be migrants have been recovered after an overcrowded fishing vessel sank traveling from Egypt to Italy. Arrivals by sea across the Mediterranean in 2016, primarily from the Middle East and North Africa, topped 300,000 this week, with deaths approaching 3,500.

GREECE: A fire at the Moria refugee camp this week destroyed 60 percent of the government-run facility on the island of Lesbos, and nine migrants have been arrested in conjunction with sparking unrest leading to the blaze.

I reported from Moria this summer, where tensions have soared amid rumors of asylum-seekers being returned to Turkey.

ROMANIA: A court has again delayed a ruling on same-sex marriage, as a separate referendum to reaffirm marriage between one man and one woman makes its way to voters.

MALAWI: Australian Maj. Geoff Freind—a 34-year veteran of The Salvation Army, an author, and the founder of a school in Africa—was on a five-week journey to train pastors in Africa when he was killed in a roadside assault near his hotel in Malawi.

MEXICO: At this week’s World Triathlon, how good it is when brothers strive together to cross the finish line (more story here).

I’M SPEAKING to a gathering at Calvary Chapel South Maui this weekend, and next Thursday at the Discovery Institute in Seattle. Come if you can!