World Briefs

Million Yemen children face malnutrition SANAA – One million Yemeni children face severe malnutrition within months as families struggle to pay for food in one of the Arab world’s poorest countries, the United Nations World Food Programme has warned. Political turmoil has pushed Yemen to the brink of a humanitarian crisis and aid agencies estimate half the country’s 24 million people are malnourished.

Children at risk in Yemen.
Protests last year that forced former President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down pushed up food prices and unemployment to an estimated half of the labour force, up from about a third in 2010, as foreign aid fell to a trickle, according to economists and aid groups.
The price of basic commodities such as rice jumped by as much as 60 per cent, they said.

German MPs to protect circumcision
BERLIN – Germany’s lower house of parliament was set to pass a cross-party resolution yesterday to protect the religious circumcision of baby boys after a district court ban on the practice outraged Muslims and Jews.
The main political parties have attacked the ruling by a Cologne court and conservative Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government has promised a new law to make clear doctors or families will not be punished for carrying out the procedure.
The speed with which lawmakers agreed on the terms of the motion underscored sensitivity to charges of intolerance in a country haunted by its Nazi past.

UK train drivers to strike during Olympics
LONDON – Hundreds of train drivers in central England will go on strike for three days during the Olympic Games, their trade union said yesterday, a move that could disrupt journeys to London from elsewhere in Britain during the historic event.
It was the second Olympics strike threat in as many days after border officials voted on Wednesday to walk out, raising the spectre of huge passport queues at Heathrow airport.
The Aslef rail union said around 450 of its members will walk out between August 6 and 8 in a dispute over pension contributions. The Games run from July 27 to August 12.
The strike – by East Midlands Trains drivers – could disrupt the journeys of thousands of passengers travelling from English cities like Sheffield, Nottingham and Derby to London for the Games.

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