An attack in N’djamena is probably the farthest Boko Haram has ever struck outside of Nigeria. “Twenty-three people were killed and over 100 injured in twin suicide bombings targeting police in the Chadian capital Monday, with the government blaming Boko Haram militants for the bloodshed. They were the first such attacks in the capital of the central African nation, which has been on the frontline of the regional fight against the Nigerian Islamist group…The former French colony is part of a four-nation coalition also including Nigeria, Cameroon and Niger that was created to tackle the Boko Haram insurgency after the group stepped up cross-border attacks.” (AFP http://yhoo.it/1cXs69d)
Where’s the vaccine? Three years after the mysterious MERS virus first emerged in humans, scientists and drugmakers say there is no excuse for not having a vaccine that could have protected those now falling sick and dying in South Korea. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/1eirUTy)
Bashir Escapes…In a rather shameful move, the South African government ignored a South African court order (and its own obligations to the ICC) and let Omar al Bashir leave by plane to Sudan. (NYT http://nyti.ms/1cXs7u0)
Yemen Peace Talks Begin…There’s been no let up in the fighting, but UN sponsored peace talks have begun in Geneva. “UN-sponsored negotiations on the Yemen crisis have started in Geneva, with the aim of ending the bloody conflict in the country.” (Al Jazeera http://bit.ly/1cXswMR )
Africa
More than 200 domestic and international NGOs called on Democratic Republic of Congo on Monday to release two young activists arrested in March during a raid on a pro-democracy meeting in the capital Kinshasa. (Reuters http://bit.ly/1GId0AL)
Two years after Ugandan legislators proposed a law that would condemn active homosexuals to death, a precedent is spreading throughout the region. Kenya is considering a similar law. (GlobalPost http://bit.ly/1eipPqX)
Kenyan security forces were slow to respond to attacks on villages along the country’s coast last year and afterwards arbitrarily detained and beat Muslims and ethnic Somalis as well as stealing personal property, claims a report by rights groups. (Guardian http://bit.ly/1eiq1GG)
East African bloc IGAD has released a new proposal for how it thinks power should be shared in South Sudan once peace is restored. (VOA http://bit.ly/1GIdM0t)
Senior members of Rwanda’s ruling party have endorsed a change in constitution so President Paul Kagame can seek a third term in office, the Rwanda Patriotic Front said on Monday. (Reuters http://bit.ly/1SiNBkP)
Chronic kidney disease is a growing health burden in Uganda that is affecting the economic, social and physical livelihoods of patients and their family members. (IPS http://bit.ly/1GoAEka)
It is a cruel irony that many of the top doctors and nurses in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone will not be around to help rebuild their health systems in the wake of Ebola, having succumbed themselves to the virus. For those that are, the biggest challenges are likely to be electricity, sanitation, and, most of all, water. (IRIN http://bit.ly/1GIdFSL)
African leaders meeting at a summit in Johannesburg on Monday agreed to send military experts to Burundi, which has been rocked by weeks of violence over the president’s controversial bid for a third term. (AFP http://yhoo.it/1Lczl9g)
A new research project focuses on Africa’s capacity to prevent, contain and resolve conflicts. (VOA http://bit.ly/1GoAQzT)
MENA
Egypt announced an ambitious plan to reduce female genital mutilation by 10-15% over the next five years by mobilizing doctors and judges against a practice that still affects more than 90% of women in the country. (Guardian http://bit.ly/1LcxJwj)
Amnesty International called on Bahrain on Monday to free its most prominent opposition figure, a day before an expected verdict on charges that he incited violence against the Gulf Arab state’s monarchy. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/1eirXPf)
Foreign investment in Africa surged in 2014, fueled in part by higher spending in North Africa as worries about the Arab Spring recede, according to a study by Ernst & Young. (AFP http://yhoo.it/1eis0dW)
A top official says the U.N. aid agency for Palestinian refugees faces the worst financial crisis in its 65-year history, coming up short hundreds of millions of dollars in 2015, including for emergency operations in war-ravaged Gaza and Syria. (AP http://yhoo.it/1LczkSF)
Asia
South Korea has reported its 16th death from Middle East Respiratory Syndrome disease, known as MERS. South Korean health officials said on Monday that the number of MERS cases has risen to 150. (VOA http://bit.ly/1GIe87i)
Amid criticism from its detractors that it is communalizing yoga, the Modi government on Monday selected an NGO run by a Muslim couple for holding a month-long yoga camp to mark the International Yoga Day on June 21. (Times of India http://bit.ly/1cXszbD)
The Americas
With less than six months to go before the next full United Nations Conference of the Parties also known as COP 21 – widely regarded as a make-or-break moment for an agreement on global action on climate change – Caribbean nations are still hammering out the best approach to the talks. (IPS http://bit.ly/1MG97wd)
How slow can you go? The effort to get U.S. trade legislation through Congress, clearing the way for progress on an Asia-Pacific trade accord, is in limbo once again. (AP http://yhoo.it/1LczhX6)
…and the rest
The International Energy Agency on Monday warned temperatures could jump by as much as 4.3 degrees Celsius by the end of the century and urged countries to improve their pledges on reducing emissions. (AFP http://yhoo.it/1eirUmO)
The European Commission is urging EU governments to send back migrants who cannot claim asylum, taking a tougher line to convince reluctant countries to receive new refugees fleeing Syria and Eritrea. (Reuters http://bit.ly/1eipggT)
Amnesty International urged world leaders Monday to radically overhaul refugee policies and create a comprehensive global strategy to deal with the crisis, describing it as the worst emergency of its kind since World War II. (AP http://yhoo.it/1LcziKA)
Opinion/Blogs
The amazing story of Kakenya Ntaiya who made a deal with her father she she was a child: she would submit to FGM if he let her stay in school. 25 years later she has advanced degrees from universities in the USA and is a pioneering educator in her home village in Kenya. (Global Dispatches Podcast http://bit.ly/1ShGARv)
US House Passes Budget that Would Gut UN Peacekeeping and OCHA. (UN Dispatch http://bit.ly/1cXrVuG)
GM Cotton a False Promise for Africa (IPS http://bit.ly/1einPPv)
What does Tesla mean for energy in Africa? (Guardian http://bit.ly/1GIctPh)
Refugee versus migrant: time for a new label? (IRIN http://bit.l/1SiN6az)
In Bashir fiasco, Pretoria makes clear Africa comes first (Reuters http://bit.ly/1GId03F)