Asia’s deadly rains, Haiti’s election plan, and Trump’s sycophantic peace prize: The Cheat Sheet
Our editors’ weekly take on humanitarian news, trends, and developments from around the globe.
On our radar
In Asia, cyclones and monsoon rains kill more than 1,600 people
A rare convergence of three tropical cyclones with the northeast monsoon has triggered what officials say is the worst flooding to hit South and Southeast Asia in decades. More than 1,600 people have been killed, thousands remain unaccounted for, and whole villages have disappeared under mud and rising water. Roads, bridges, and other vital infrastructure have been torn apart, hampering rescue efforts as communities wait for help. Damage across Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and other affected countries is expected to top $20 billion, with homes, transport links, factories, farmland, and tourism hubs all severely affected. Farmers lost entire harvests, coastal traders saw their shops washed away, and thousands of families already living on the margins now find themselves with nothing left to rebuild from. The scale of the disaster reflects a dangerous mix of climate pressures. Warmer oceans are intensifying storms, while a hotter atmosphere is capable of holding and releasing far more moisture. Environmental degradation — particularly deforestation and weak flood-defence systems — has left many communities exposed: Rivers once stabilised by forest cover burst their banks with little resistance. Humanitarian groups are urging governments to strengthen early-warning systems, invest in resilient infrastructure, and prioritise long-term adaptation – all of which makes the outcomes of this year’s UN climate summit even more worrying. For more, read: Three COP30 takeaways for humanitarians.
Does the World Cup draw really need a Trump peace prize?
Sports don’t get any bigger than football (by which we mean soccer), and on 5 December the draw was held in Washington DC for the 2026 World Cup, to be hosted by Mexico, Canada, and the United States. President Donald Trump wasn’t just there as a co-host. Soccer’s scandal-ridden governing body deemed it necessary to launch an annual FIFA Peace Prize and make Trump the inaugural recipient. Critics say this is problematic on many levels: sports and politics shouldn’t mix; FIFA chief Gianni Infantino and the president are considered too close for comfort; oh, and does Trump (who is desperate to match President Barack Obama and win a Nobel Peace Prize) actually deserve such an award? Trump certainly helped to broker a ceasefire in Gaza, but at what cost (see below)? And as for his pledge to end the Ukraine war on Day 1 of his presidency, that doesn’t appear to be going so well. On the eve of the FIFA ceremony, Trump did preside over the signing of a supposed peace deal between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Only, as we have reported at length, there is no real peace, and any deal seems mostly designed to further US economic interests. Adding to a litany of ironies – as Trump threatens to invade Venezuela – is the fact that a key official reportedly behind the award is Zaw Zaw, a Myanmar businessman previously sanctioned by the United States.
Israeli-backed militia leader killed in Gaza
Yasser Abu Shabab, the leader of an Israeli-backed militia in the Gaza Strip has died in an Israeli hospital from wounds sustained during a gunfight with powerful clans in the territory. In June, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that Israel was arming militias in Gaza to fight Hamas. Abu Shabab and his group of fighters were widely rejected by Palestinians as collaborators with Israel in its brutal military campaign in the enclave, labelled a genocide by a UN commission of inquiry. Israel has continued to carry out attacks despite a 10 October ceasefire that was supposed to bring an end to its two-year long military campaign, which has laid waste to Gaza and killed more than 70,000 Palestinians. On 3 December, Israeli attacks killed at least six people, including two women and three children, according to the director of a hospital in Gaza. Israel has killed more than 360 Palestinians since the ceasefire came into effect, while progress on the next phases of the deal appears to have stalled. It is unclear whether the Rafah border crossing – a key entry and exit point for people and aid – will reopen soon, following contradictory messages from Israel and Egypt. Meanwhile, winter rain storms and cold weather are making living conditions even more difficult for the vast majority of people in Gaza who are displaced and have inadequate shelter.
The jury’s out on Haiti’s new election plan
Haiti’s Transitional Presidential Council, or CPT, has approved an electoral decree that paves the way for the country’s first general elections in almost 10 years to be held in August 2026. After years of political dysfunction and deteriorating security, the Caribbean nation was thrown into further turmoil by the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse. As gangs tightened their grip on the capital, Port-au-Prince, it took almost three years, until April 2024, to set up the CPT, which has been exercising the powers of the president ever since. While a section of Haiti’s political class welcomed the electoral decree as an important step forward towards stability, others fear the worsening security crisis – which a new Gang Suppression Force is slated to quell – and the lack of political consensus make the plan unrealistic. The continuity of power after the CPT's mandate ends on 7 February 2026 is also uncertain: It’s unclear whether its mandate will be extended or a new transitional process will be put in place. “The CPT has lost all credibility and legitimacy because of its ineffectiveness in meeting its objectives, infighting, allegations of corruption and partisanship. Political stakeholders... as well as civil society and public opinion are against [its] mandate being renewed,” a Caribbean source with knowledge of the negotiations told The New Humanitarian, adding that consultations – facilitated by the CARICOM regional bloc and other national and international actors – are ongoing. For more on the new Gang Suppression Force, read this analysis.
Hegseth under scrutiny over potential war crime
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth faces intensifying scrutiny over his alleged order to kill two survivors clinging to the wreckage of their boat in the Caribbean after it was destroyed by an initial US missile attack. The Washington Post reported in November that the double-tap strike was carried out by the US Navy’s elite SEAL Team 6 to comply with a verbal directive by Hegseth to “kill everybody”. The strikes in early September were the first in an ongoing US campaign that has killed at least 87 people. President Trump maintains, while presenting little evidence, that the targets have been drug smugglers controlled by Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. He has mused about expanding the campaign to targets inside Venezuela and authorised CIA plans for covert operations inside the country in an effort to force Maduro’s removal from office. The Navy admiral who oversaw the September operation denied in a briefing to US lawmakers on 4 December that Hegseth gave the order to “kill everybody”. A high-ranking Democratic congressman called a video of the double-tap strike “one of the most troubling things” he has seen. A top Republican senator called the strike “entirely lawful and needful”. Two congressional committees have opened inquiries into Hegseth’s potential culpability in what may have been a war crime.
Using racist rhetoric, Trump intensifies US immigration crackdown
The Trump administration is accelerating its crackdown on immigration and immigrant communities in the US, leveraging the shooting of two US National Guard soldiers outside the White House on 26 November to justify a series of harsh policies and actions. The shooting was allegedly carried out by an Afghan national who had been part of a CIA-trained paramilitary force in Afghanistan and received asylum in the US. Since the shooting, US authorities have stopped issuing decisions on many asylum cases, started reviewing residency applications from countries “of concern”, and indefinitely suspended the review of immigration applications from 19 non-European countries. The countries – including Afghanistan, Chad, Haiti, Iran, Libya, and Somalia – were the subject of total or partial travel bans issued earlier this year. President Trump has singled out the Somali community in the US for particularly vitriolic and racist abuse, saying they “contribute nothing” and that he did not want them in the country. Around 260,000 people of Somali descent live in the US. The Trump administration is reportedly preparing immigration raids targeting the community in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area of Minnesota, although most Somalis in the area are US citizens. The Trump administration also launched immigration raids targeting undocumented people in New Orleans, Louisiana on 3 December – the latest in a series of raids in cities across the country. Software developed by the controversial technology company Palantir is reportedly being used to track and speed up the deportation of undocumented people.
In case you missed it
AFGHANISTAN/UK: A high-ranking British officer has said that two former heads of UK Special Forces suppressed widespread evidence of war crimes by the SAS in Afghanistan that he presented to them in 2011 and 2012. Speaking at a closed-door hearing of a public inquiry exploring the allegations, the officer, referred to as N1466, described how one unit shot two toddlers in their bed next to their parents.
GREECE: After a long delay, the trial of two dozen rescue workers arrested in 2019 for providing assistance to asylum seekers and migrants on the island of Lesvos began on 4 November. The Greek government has accused them of helping to smuggle people to Europe. Separate charges of espionage were dropped last year. The trial is an example of a broader European trend of criminalising solidarity with migrants and asylum seekers, according to Amnesty International. Among those on trial are Sara Mardini, whose story of escaping the Syrian civil war to Europe was depicted in the Netflix movie The Swimmers. The New Humanitarian published a profile of Mardini in 2019: Refugee, volunteer, prisoner: Sarah Mardini and Europe's hardening line on migration.
GUINEA-BISSAU: We know for sure that former president Umaro Sissoco Embaló has skipped the country – possibly for Morocco. Everything else around the 26 November coup that purportedly unseated him remains a mystery. Leaders across the continent have condemned the putsch as masterminded by Embaló himself. It’s not the first time Embaló, who looked set to lose presidential elections, has been accused of using coup claims to consolidate power. The new regime, which includes several key Embaló officials, said the takeover was to thwart a plot by “narco-traffickers” to destabilise the country.
MALARIA: The good news is we know how to beat malaria. Since 2000, 14 million malaria deaths have been averted worldwide. Yet malaria remains a serious health challenge, with an estimated 610,000 global deaths in 2024 – a slight increase compared with 2023 – according to the World Health Organization’s new annual report. Africa remains the hardest-hit region, accounting for 95% of deaths globally. The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Nigeria, and Uganda are among the worst-affected countries.
PERU/CHILE: Hundreds of people have been stranded at the Peru-Chile border since Peruvian interim president José Jerí declared a state of emergency to stop Venezuelan migrants entering from Chile on their way home. The return flow was triggered by a threat from far-right Chilean presidential candidate José Antonio Kast to detain and expel all irregular migrants if he is elected (as is now expected).
SOUTH AFRICA/RUSSIA: Five South Africans, stopped at Johannesburg airport, have appeared in court on charges relating to Russia’s recruitment of mercenaries for its war in Ukraine. They are part of a wider scandal in which 17 South Africans said they were tricked by a daughter of South Africa’s former president, Jacob Zuma, into fighting at the front. Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla allegedly told them they would undergo bodyguard training but were instead handed over to a mercenary outfit.
SUDAN: The UK’s foreign office removed warnings of a “possible genocide” in Sudan from a risk assessment shortly after the country’s civil war began in April 2023, a whistleblower revealed to The Guardian. The whistleblower said the phrase was censored to protect the United Arab Emirates, which has armed the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, who have been accused of genocide in the Darfur region. The foreign office denied any political motive for removing the wording.
SYRIA/EUROPE: Doctors who helped provide cover for mass killings during the Syrian civil war have been found practising medicine in Europe, an investigation by The Times has revealed. Physicians reportedly wrote death certificates – sometimes shared with their families – for murdered prisoners of the former regime of Bashar al-Assad, saying they died from natural causes, when in fact they were beaten or starved to death.
UGANDA: The Ugandan government announced it is no longer accepting applications for asylum or refugee status from people from Eritrea, Ethiopia, or Somalia, citing deep cuts to US foreign assistance that have dried up resources to support those seeking protection in the country. Uganda hosts the fifth largest refugee population in the world, at nearly two million people. The move is part of a broader trend of refugee-hosting countries in the Global South that are introducing more restrictive and harsh policies in response to global aid cuts.
UN BUDGET: Countries have unpaid dues totalling nearly $1.6 billion, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned before the General Assembly budget committee on 1 December, as the UN’s long-standing cash crisis continues. The late or non-payers include permanent Security Council members Russia and the United States. Meanwhile, Guterres is proposing a 2026 budget that cuts costs by 15% and staff by 18% at the UN Secretariat – the UN’s main admin body, which also includes oversight over the humanitarian coordination arm, OCHA.
Weekend Read
“It is a systematic effort to erase their legal protections.”
Critics say the UN has failed to mount a sustained public challenge to an unprecedented crackdown.
And finally…
“In a world that is on fire, what do we do with art? What can music do? Can it actually change things? Like really change the world?”
These are the opening words of acclaimed podcast creator and host Jad Abumrad’s latest project, “Fela Kuti: Fear No Man”, a 12-part podcast on Fela Kuti, the Nigerian musician-activist-provacateur whose music and lifestyle challenged societal norms and the military leadership of Nigeria. Not many would question Kuti’s musical greatness: He pioneered the Afrobeats genre, and his influence can be heard far and wide. But his life and legacy are, in a word, complicated. Abumrad embraces these complications: He explores Kuti as a champion of the downtrodden, as a pan-Africanist, as an activist, but also as an AIDS-denialist (who died of AIDS in 1997), and as an alleged misogynist (albeit one who was greatly influenced by the women in his life, including his mother, who was a leader of a feminist protest against colonialist tax policies). Over 12 episodes (two of which are still to come), the podcast weaves through Nigeria’s history, Kuti’s own, and of course the question at the start of the podcast. Kuti said “music is the weapon”, and this podcast is a fascinating listen for anyone interested in music, Nigerian history, or colonialism, and especially those who might be looking for their own (likely imperfect) tool to fight oppression.
