NEWS OF THE DAY
From Around the World
Yemen monitors: The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously to authorize a mission to monitor implementation of a cease-fire and the withdrawal of rival forces from Yemen’s key port of Hodeida. The British-drafted resolution adopted Wednesday gives a green light for up to 75 U.N. monitors to be deployed for six months to oversee implementation of the cease-fire and redeployment agreement between Yemen’s government and Houthi Shiite rebels. Signed in Stockholm on Dec. 13, the Stockholm agreement could offer a potential breakthrough in Yemen’s four-year civil war, which has brought the Arab world’s poorest country to the brink of starvation and created the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
Sinai shootout: Egypt says its police forces have killed five militants in a shootout in the city of el-Arish in the turbulent northern Sinai Peninsula. A statement Wednesday by the Interior Ministry said the shootout took place on a deserted farm used by the militants as a hideout. Egypt has been battling Islamic militants for years, but the insurgency gained strength after the 2013 overthrow of an elected but divisive Islamist president. The militants have mainly targeted security forces and Christians. Egypt last year launched a widescale security operation focused on the northern Sinai Peninsula, where an affiliate of the Islamic State has carried out many attacks in recent years.
Mass arrests: Zimbabwe’s state security minister says more than 600 people have been arrested countrywide amid protests over dramatic fuel price increases. Owen Ncube, who said 214 of the people have already appeared in court, thanked security forces for “standing firm” to restore order and appeals to Zimbabweans to return to work. The economically shattered country has seen three days of protests after the president announced that fuel prices have more than doubled to become the most expensive in the world at $12.60 a gallon. Arrests and reported assaults continue as President Emmerson Mnangagwa is on an extended overseas trip trying to encourage foreign investment.
Permafrost gets warmer: Scientists say the world’s permafrost is getting warmer, with temperatures increasing by an average of 0.54 Fahrenheit over a decade. A study published Wednesday found the biggest rise in Siberia, where frozen soil temperatures rose by 1.62 Fahrenheit between 2007 and 2016. Researchers working on the Global Terrestrial Network for Permafrost collected usable data for the entire period from 123 boreholes in the Arctic, Antarctic and high mountain ranges of Europe and Central Asia. The temperature rose at 71 sites, sank at 12 and remained unchanged at 40. Scientists noted that thawing permafrost contains organic matter that can release greenhouse gases, further stoking climate change.
“Upskirting” ban: Britain’s House of Lords this week cleared the way for enactment of a law that will make it illegal to take so-called “upskirting” photos. Gina Martin, 26, campaigned to ban upskirting after she chased down a man who had placed a phone between her legs and taken a picture while she was at a music festival. She discovered that the practice was not an offense, and told the BBC she acted because she was tired of ignoring harassment. It will become law when it is approved by Queen Elizabeth II, a formality needed to complete the legislative process. The law will apply in England and Wales. The practice is already banned in Scotland.