World Food Program Halves Food Rations to Displaced Iraqis

The World Food Program (WFP) said it had halved the food rations distributed to 1.4 million Iraqis displaced in the fighting with Islamic State, because of delays in payments of funds from donor states. A spokeswoman for the WFP said they are talking to the US, the largest donor to the program, as well as Germany, Japan and other to secure funds which would enable them to restore full rations. The impact of the cuts is already being felt in refugee camps east of Mosul, where US-backed Iraqi forces are trying to retake the city from Islamic State. They have retaken eastern Mosul, but 160,000 people have been displaced since the military campaign began in October.