North Korea’s diseased defector

NORTH KOREA: Worms pulled from the intestines of a defecting North Korean soldier tell a graphic story of deprivation in a country determined to pour resources into becoming a nuclear power. South Korea today has begun broadcasting from loudspeakers along the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) news of the daring escape of the 24-year-old soldier, a member of the elite unit guarding the North Korean side of the DMZ.

YEMEN: On Saturday a UNICEF plane arrived in Sanaa, the capital, with enough vaccines for 600,000 children. A UN food shipment also arrived as the Saudi-led coalition (that includes the United States) eased its aid blockade. A gripping 60 Minutes segment on the crisis—with footage of malnourished children, including one 7-year-old weighing just 11 pounds—upped pressure for allowing new shipments.

ZIMBABWE: Zimbabweans will be watching this week’s Cabinet picks to see whether their newly inaugurated president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, will break with the past. A former vice president, Mnangagwa for more than a decade served as right-hand man to former President Robert Mugabe, who was forced by the military to resign last week after nearly 40 years in power.

EGYPT: Friday’s attack on a Sufi mosque in northern Sinai has left at least 305 dead—the largest terror attack in Egyptian history, with more fatalities than recent attacks in U.S. and European cities combined. Assailants planted bombs inside the mosque and then shot worshippers as they fled, highlighting a long-deteriorating security situation in the strategic peninsula between Egypt and Israel. Islamic State (ISIS) considers the Sufi sect of Islam heretical, yet Sufis do not consider themselves the “softer” side of Islam.

ARGENTINA: An underwater explosion recorded hours after the last contact with a missing Argentine submarine has all but confirmed fears that the 44 crew members have perished in a disastrous accident. Authorities last heard from the San Juan on Nov. 15.

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