5: 

Richest 62 billionaires as wealthy as half the world population combined

The vast and growing gap between rich and poor has been laid bare in a new Oxfam report showing that the 62 richest billionaires own as much wealth as the poorer half of the world’s population.

Timed to coincide with this week’s gathering of many of the super-rich at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, the report calls for urgent action to deal with a trend showing that 1% of people own more wealth than the other 99% combined.

Oxfam said that the wealth of the poorest 50% dropped by 41% between 2010 and 2015, despite an increase in the global population of 400m. In the same period, the wealth of the richest 62 people increased by $500bn to $1.76tn.

The Guardian

4: 

NYPD Says Attackers Shouted ‘ISIS’ Before Beating Man in Suspected Hate Crime

Police in New York City are investigating a suspected hate crime that allegedly involved a group of assailants shouting, “ISIS, ISIS,” an acronym that refers to the Islamic State, before beating a man.

The New York Police Department (NYPD) told VICE News that officers responded to a report of an assault at around 5:30pm on Friday near Watson Avenue and Pugsley Avenue in the Bronx. When they arrived on the scene, the cops found a 43 year-old man with bruises on his head and face.

“An investigation revealed that the male was walking with a nine-year-old female when the suspects yelled out to victim ‘ISIS, ISIS’ and punched him several times on the head before kicking him when he fell to the floor,” the NYPD said.

According to the New York Times, the man was wearing a shalwar kameez, a traditional South Asian outfit with a long tunic and loose-fitting pants.

Vice News

3: 

Islamic State Said to Carry Out Beheadings and Kidnap 400 Civilians in Eastern Syria

Islamic State (IS) militants have reportedly kidnapped at least 400 civilians after attacking government-held areas in the eastern Syrian city of Deir al-Zor on Saturday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).

The UK-based monitoring group said on Sunday that families of pro-government fighters were among those abducted.

“There is genuine fear for their lives, there is a fear that the group might execute them as it has done before in other areas,” said SOHR director Rami Abdulrahamn.

Deir al-Zor is the main town in a province of the same name. The province links the Islamic State’s de facto capital in the Syrian city of Raqqa with territory controlled by the militant group in neighboring Iraq.

Vice News

2: 

Ethiopia drought ‘as bad for children as Syria’s war’

The UN says the worst drought in 30 years in Ethiopia means 400,000 children are suffering from severe acute malnutrition and more than 10 million people need food aid.

It has appealed for a $50m cash injection to help the country deal with its worst drought in decades.

Save the Children, the international non-governmental organisation, says the drought in Ethiopia represents as big a potential threat to children’s lives as the war in Syria.

“We only have two emergencies in the world that we have categorised as category one. Syria is one and Ethiopia is the second. And so we’ve said we need to raise $100m for this response,” said Carolyn Miles, chief executive of Save the Children, US.

Al Jazeera’s Charles Stratford, reporting from Afar region in eastern Ethiopia, says the government and international donors have already put in hundreds of millions of dollars to try and help, but aid agencies say it just is not enough.

Mohammed Dubahala, a father of ten, used to have 53 cows; he has only five now.

He received two government food handouts over recent months but says it is not enough because of the scale of the drought.

“I am afraid for the people now and I am afraid for the children because there is no rain, and if there is no rain, people die. There is no food, there is no milk,” Dubahala said.

Aljazeera

1: 

Govt told to up the ante to help detainees

The call comes as the family of one New Zealander, now being held at the Christmas Island detention camp, say the authorities are refusing to allow their son to return to New Zealand despite assurances from both Governments that the detainees are free to return.

Ana Head, mother of Christmas Island detainee Pita Mclachlan, said her son had asked Australian authorities about 15 times for the voluntary removal paperwork to sign but they had refused to give it to him.

RNZ