exacerbating

However, an influx of people from the predominantly Shia Muslim areas where the Iran-backed group has a strong presence - Dahieh, south Lebanon, and the Bekaa Valley in the east - into places which are majority Sunni Muslim and Christian also risk exacerbating sectarian divisions in a country where memories of the 1975-1990 civil war are still vivid.

Dozens of maternal health organizations and advocates are urging the California surgeon general to suspend the rollout of a plan aimed at reducing maternal mortality, saying that the recently announced initiative won’t effectively address the crisis and “risks exacerbating existing inequities.”

Mr Gambaryan’s family has been calling for his release over concerns about his health, saying conditions at the Kuje Correctional Centre - a prison in the capital, Abuja where he had been held since April - were exacerbating a back problem.

The challenge, then, becomes how to grow crops without exacerbating water resources.

Mr Petropoulos said organised criminal gangs operating in Gaza were exacerbating the problem, with many aid drivers reporting being robbed while transporting food and shelter items.