A Landslide for Aung San Suu Kyi

A big change is coming in Burma. “In Rangoon, the nation’s largest city, Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy captured 23 seats in the regional parliament out of the first 24 to be decided. For the second night in a row, party supporters gathered in front of the NLD headquarters here, clapping, singing, chanting and waving red balloons to celebrate vote totals. Nyan Win, a senior law adviser to the party, said NLD candidates had won at least 60 percent of seats in the national parliament but that the party was still waiting for the final results. The party would have to get 67 percent of the total seats for an absolute majority and the chance to select the next president without having to form an alliance with any of the 90-plus smaller parties. Burma’s constitution, drawn up by its military rulers in 2008, reserves 25 percent of seats in the upper and lower houses of parliament for the military.” (WaPO http://wapo.st/1MHKLAE)

No UNESCO for Kosovo…Members of the U.N. cultural agency narrowly rejected Kosovo’s bid for membership on Monday in a victory for Serbia and Russia and a blow to Kosovo’s mission for global recognition as a state. Most nations that participated in the vote at UNESCO headquarters in Paris favored Kosovo’s membership, with 92 “yes” votes and 50 “no” votes and 29 abstentions. But the bid needed the support of two-thirds of those voting, or more than 94 “yes” votes, said Stanley Mutumba Simataa, the Namibian diplomat presiding over the vote.” (AP http://yhoo.it/1MHMLJd)

How do you say “Nice Try” in Polish?…Poland’s bid to block global efforts to slow climate change is likely to struggle to gain traction as it risks alienating European partners and as top emitters China and the United States dominate the international debate. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/1SE6Y7V)

Climate Science Warning of the Day: Global mean surface temperatures this year are set to reach one degree Celsius above pre-industrial levels for the first time, Britain’s Met Office said Monday. (AFP http://yhoo.it/1GTvC37)

Africa

At least two people were killed and a policeman wounded in gun battles in Burundi’s capital, police and witnesses said Monday as security forces scoured opposition strongholds for weapons. (AFP http://yhoo.it/1kloUZQ)

Burundi’s government said on Monday efforts to collect illegal arms were proceeding peacefully, dismissing remarks by Rwanda’s president that the nation could be sliding back into ethnic conflict. (Reuters http://bit.ly/1GTvNLV)

Chad’s government on Monday decreed a state of emergency in the Lake Chad region, a day after a double suicide bombing by Boko Haram Islamists killed two people, according to an official statement read on national radio. (AFP http://yhoo.it/1GTvJf2)

The strife-torn Central African Republic is to hold presidential and legislative elections on December 27, the National Elections Authority announced on national radio Monday. (AFP http://yhoo.it/1SE7aUz)

Kenya is suffering a “crisis” of corruption, the US ambassador to the East African nation said in blistering criticism Monday, warning that officials stealing from the public purse must be prosecuted. (AFP http://yhoo.it/1GTvFvX)

Johannesburg, South Africa’s largest city and economic hub, on Monday imposed emergency water restrictions as supplies deteriorated due to a drought, the worst to ravage the country in three decades. (AFP http://yhoo.it/1GTvFMn)

MENA

A Jordanian policeman killed at least four people — including two American trainers — and wounded five others Monday at a U.S.-funded security training center near Amman, according to Jordan’s Petra state news agency. The attacker was shot dead by police. (NPR http://n.pr/1MHM3M3)

President Obama on Monday said it was time for him and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel to move beyond their “strong disagreement” over the Iran nuclear deal and work together on confronting Iranian misbehavior and bolstering Israel’s security, as the two leaders had their first encounter since their feud over the agreement brought their relationship to a bitter low. (NYT http://nyti.ms/1MHLWA9)

More than 400,000 Syrian refugee children in Turkey are not able to attend school despite a Turkish government move that allowed them access to the Turkish schooling system, Human Rights Watch said in a report released Monday. (AP http://yhoo.it/1NZUbLp)

Omani health authorities have urged caution after a woman who had visited Iraq was found to be infected with cholera, local media reported on Monday. (AFP  http://yhoo.it/1SE70fZ)

More than 230,000 people received a first dose of cholera vaccine in a massive campaign to combat an outbreak of the disease in Iraq, the World Health Organisation said Monday. (AFP http://yhoo.it/1GTvDEr)

Security officials say hundreds of Sudanese troops have arrived in Yemen’s southern port city of Aden, the third batch of an expected 10,000 reinforcements for the U.S.-backed Saudi-led coalition fighting the country’s Shiite Houthi rebels. (AP http://yhoo.it/1GTvFfu)

Asia

A swathe of China was blanketed with acrid smog Monday after levels of dangerous particulates reached around 50 times World Health Organization maximums, in what environmental campaigners said were the highest figures ever recorded in the country. (AFP http://yhoo.it/1HrjgPP)

A state funeral in North Korea has sparked another fresh round of purge rumours after one of Kim Jong-Un’s most powerful aides was omitted from the official funeral committee list. (AFP http://yhoo.it/1kloTFl)

The Philippine Supreme Court is expected to decide that a new U.S.-Philippine security agreement is constitutional and will announce its ruling before President Barack Obama visits Manila next week for an Asia-Pacific summit, a source said. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/1kloTVL)

Maggi noodles are back on shelves in India five months after the popular snack was found to contain lead above permissible limits. (AP http://yhoo.it/1NZUbLl)

A Pakistani official says the death toll from the collapse of a factory building last week has risen to 53. (AP http://yhoo.it/1NZUc1N)

The Americas

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro will deliver a relatively rare address by a head of state to the U.N. Human Rights Council at a time when the South American country’s record has come under scrutiny from advocacy groups. (AP http://yhoo.it/1GTvCQR)

Mud and waste water from burst dams at a Brazilian iron ore mine cut off drinking water and raised health and environmental concerns in cities more than 186 miles downstream on Monday, amid increasingly dire search efforts in a village devastated by the mudslides. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/1SE6ZJ0)

…and the rest

The UN’s 60,000-strong international staff union is challenging some of the proposed cuts both on salaries and allowances which will “damage living standards, working conditions and family lives” of some 32,000 staffers “working in the world’s most dangerous locations.” (UN http://bit.ly/1OzZ6FW)

Sixteen police officers were lightly injured during two hours of clashes with migrants in the northern French city of Calais, a local government spokesman said Monday. (AFP http://yhoo.it/1WMW0gW)

Forced into action by its biggest refugee crisis since World War II, the European Union is pressing some northern African nations to sign lopsided deals that would send thousands back without sufficient protection, African diplomats and migration experts are warning. (AP http://yhoo.it/1NZUaH8)

Opinion/Blogs

Myanmar’s Historic Elections (UN Dispatch http://bit.ly/1OA08Sp)

Podcast: IR scholar Robert Pape discusses his two masterpieces; and how growing the son of a single mom who waited tables helped shape his worldview. http://bit.ly/1HCxrMF

What Do Clients Care About? Results from Research in Pakistan (CFI http://bit.ly/1NZVsSJ)

After Tanzania’s national election, things get complicated in Zanzibar (Africa is a Country http://bit.ly/1klqyuh)

Drop the currency manipulation grudge to reap the benefits of a bigger TPP (The Interpreter http://bit.ly/1SE8TsY)

Ted Cruz and a leaderless USAID (DevPolicy http://bit.ly/1GTwRPR)

UN must make good on its resolution to protect women against wartime violence (Guardian http://bit.ly/1NZU3eI)

For Some Teen Girls, Surviving A Rape Can Mean Losing An Education (Goats and Soda http://n.pr/1Hro9Zd)

The long way round: Syrians through the Sahel (IRIN http://bit.ly/1kloRNq)

Five reasons donors give for not funding local NGOs directly (Guardian http://bit.ly/1NZTZeW)

US aid effectiveness legislation: some ideas for Australia? (DevPolicy http://bit.ly/1klqKtI)

Mass Atrocities Looming in Burundi? (NY Times http://nyti.ms/1klqUB7)
Check out the White House “We the People” petition to the White House regarding Burundi→ http://1.usa.gov/1MHJrO7