Airstrikes Monday in northwestern Syria destroyed a hospital supported by Doctors Without Borders (MSF), killing at least seven people, according to the group. “This appears to be a deliberate attack on a health structure, and we condemn this attack in the strongest possible terms,” said Massimiliano Rebaudengo, MSF’s Head of Mission. “The destruction of the hospital leaves the local population of around 40,000 people without access to medical services in an active zone of conflict.” (VOA http://bit.ly/1SskAGf)
And Schools…”Almost 50 civilians were killed when missiles hit at least five medical facilities and two schools in rebel-held areas of Syria on Monday, according to the United Nations, which called the attacks a blatant violation of international law. At least 14 were killed in the northern town of Azaz, the last rebel stronghold before the border with Turkey, when missiles hit a children’s hospital and a school sheltering refugees, a medic and two residents said. Missiles also hit a hospital in the town of Marat Numan in the province of Idlib, south of Aleppo.” (Reuters http://reut.rs/1ViaExe
Grenade attacks in Burundi…Insurgents in Burundi hurled a series of grenades on Monday, killing a child and wounding at least 30 people in the latest in a string of attacks, the security minister said. Men on a motorbike threw three grenades in the symbolic heart of the city, while two other blasts were reported in a northern suburb, according to witnesses and a journalist group, SOS Medias Burundi. (AFP http://yhoo.it/1Ssjqum)
American Journalists Arrested in Bahrain…”A statement issued by the family of one of the four journalists today identified her as freelance journalist Anna Therese Day. The statement did not name the three others, who have not yet been identified in media reports, but said they had previously worked with Day in creating virtual reality documentary films in Gaza and Egypt. It is not clear whether the four were on assignment for a particular news outlet at the time of their arrest. Bahrain’s Ministry of Interior, in a statement issued today, accused the four journalists of entering the country under the false pretense of tourism and failing to register with the appropriate authorities.” (CPJ http://bit.ly/1Vi9MbI)
Stat of the day: As many as 49 million people in southern Africa could be affected by a drought that has been worsened by the most severe and longest El Nino weather pattern in 35 years, the United Nations WFP said on Monday. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/1PzKwMv)
Africa
Ugandan police fired tear gas on Monday to disperse opposition supporters as they briefly detained a top presidential challenger, Kizza Besigye, days ahead of presidential polls. (AFP http://yhoo.it/1VgYzIB)
Fighters for the Nigerian Islamist militant group Boko Haram have been trained in Somalia on Africa’s eastern coast before returning to West Africa, Somalia’s president told a security conference in Germany on Sunday. (Reuters http://bit.ly/1SsjpGU)
Zimbabwean aviation authorities impounded a U.S.-registered cargo jet, a senior official said Monday, after a dead body later believed to be a stowaway and millions of South African rand were found on board. (AP http://yhoo.it/1ogZCNT)
European Union foreign ministers said on Monday they were prepared to strengthen economic sanctions on Burundi following the failure of talks to end a political crisis in the Central African country in which more than 440 people have been killed. (Reuters http://bit.ly/1PzKAMn)
Fifty-one people have now died in a yellow fever outbreak in Angola, less than two months after it started spreading in the capital, the national director of health said. (Reuters http://bit.ly/1VgYFQj)
A commanding officer and a soldier with Cameroon’s military have died after their convoy hit a landmine as they returned from an anti-Boko Haram operation in Nigeria, officials said Monday. (AP http://yhoo.it/1PzKHHC)
Central African Republic went ahead with a presidential runoff vote on Sunday that many hope will solidify peace after more than two years of sectarian fighting, untold thousands of dead and the flight of nearly 500,000 people to neighbouring countries. (AP http://bit.ly/1Ssjri3)
Hundreds of women and girls still bear the physical and mental scars of sexual violence following Kenya’s post-election turmoil in 2007 and 2008. A new Human Rights Watch report released Monday says the government has not helped them. (VOA http://bit.ly/1PzKG6O)
MENA
The U.N. is warning of famine in the Yemeni city of Taiz, which has been besieged by Shiite Houthi rebels for months. (AP http://yhoo.it/1Sslm66)
France, Germany, other EU nations and Turkey are expected to meet before an EU summit in Brussels on Thursday to discuss the migration crisis that is worsening due to a growing number of people fleeing airstrikes in Syria. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/1SskzC9)
Asia
Speaking to 1,000 of his soldiers at a mountain base on Myanmar’s border with Thailand, the leader of a powerful ethnic armed group called on other rebels to join government-led peace talks and appealed for unity among the country’s minorities. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/1VgYDbj)
A massive fire broke out an event in Mumbai meant to showcase India as an attractive destination for billions of dollars of foreign investment. (AP http://yhoo.it/1PzHPup)
A northwestern Pakistani university has resumed classes amid heightened security nearly a month after Taliban militants stormed the campus, killing 21 students and teachers. (AP http://yhoo.it/1Ssjpa3)
More Afghan civilians were killed or injured in 2015 than any other year on record, the UN has said in a report. (Guardian http://bit.ly/1Kl8CvK)
Australian law enforcement agencies discovered $900 million worth of methylamphetamine hidden in imported boxes of silicon bra inserts and art supplies in the country’s largest haul of the illicit drug in its liquid form, officials said Monday. (AP http://yhoo.it/1Kl6cgB)
China confirmed its second imported Zika case Monday, a day after the first victim was discharged from hospital, state news agency Xinhua reported. (AFP http://yhoo.it/1oh1dmH)
A handful of Buddhist monks scuffled with troops in Thailand on Monday during a protest against what they called state interference in religious affairs and a bid to overthrow the governing body of their religion. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/1Kl8D2T)
Islamic State said its suicide bomber had blown up a car in Russia’s volatile Dagestan that killed two policemen on Monday, the deadliest attack in the southern republic since 2013. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/1SsjoCM)
The United States and Japan have already announced plans for new sanctions over North Korea’s recent nuclear test and rocket launch, and the U.N. Security Council is likely to deliver more soon. Cross-border tensions with Seoul are escalating quickly and even China is starting to sound more like an angry neighbor than a comrade-in-arms. (AP http://yhoo.it/1PzHSGy)
The Americas
The sudden death of Justice Antonin Scalia, a towering conservative icon on the US Supreme Court, has set off an epic election-year battle over his successor that will shape American life far into the future. (AFP http://yhoo.it/1PzHR5v)
…and the rest
Rice-growing techniques learned through thousands of years of trial and error are about to be turbocharged with DNA technology in a breakthrough hailed by scientists as a potential second “green revolution”. (AFP http://yhoo.it/1Kl65Sh)
A U.N. human rights expert is calling on Sweden and Britain to follow the recommendation by a U.N. panel to allow freedom of movement for Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. (AP http://yhoo.it/1SskyhP)
Six nations from Central and Eastern Europe met Monday in Prague to discuss plans for a new “line of defense” for Europe that involves a double fence along Greece’s northern border. (AP http://yhoo.it/1Kl6dRP)
Opinion/Blogs
Now India is growing fast it’s time to update our tired image of the country (Guardian http://bit.ly/1RGpOxf)
Burundi: How Political Crisis Has Crippled the Economy (IRIN http://bit.ly/1VgYyEu)
Why 2016 Will Be the Best Year Yet for Climate Justice (TRF http://bit.ly/1ogZAW8)
Uganda: Will the 2016 Election Usher in ‘Fundamental Change’? (The Monitor http://bit.ly/1Kl6dB9)
Myths and Realities About Africa (The Independent http://bit.ly/1Kl8wnI)
Why can’t poor countries access the climate finance they were promised? (Guardian http://bit.ly/1Kl8Bb5)
Syria aid deal? What about Aleppo? (IRIN http://bit.ly/1RGqiTS)
If not Facebook’s Free Basics, then what? (Devex http://bit.ly/1RGqvqm)
Bad news (book review) (Aidnography http://bit.ly/1SsnpqR)
What is your challenge? Creating Jobs and Livelihoods for the bottom 40% (People, Spaces, Deliberation http://bit.ly/1PzNot1)
Is there room for NGOs in the impact investing ecosystem? (Devex http://bit.ly/1KlaR2d)