A Rare Israeli Trip to Africa. A Truly Bizarre Speech

It’s also worth noting that Netanyahu’s brother was killed in Operation Entebbe. “Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Uganda on Monday, kicking off a four-country tour of East Africa. The trip is seen as a significant event for the region, which no Israeli leader had visited in 30 years. However, the day was marred by controversy when Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni’s repeatedly referred to Israel as Palestine during a speech. The president was talking about Operation Entebbe, in which Israeli commandos rescued hostages from Uganda’s Entebbe International Airport after an Air France flight was hijacked by Palestinian militants. ‘The sad event, 40 years ago, turned into another bond linking Palestine to Africa,’ Museveni said. ‘I said this is yet another bond between Africa and Palestine because there were earlier bonding events.’” (VOA http://bit.ly/29ebayN)

The Bloody Ramadan Continues…”Bombings rocked three cities across Saudi Arabia on Monday, including near the Prophet’s Mosque in the holy city of Medina, raising the specter of increasingly coordinated attacks by militants seeking to destabilize the monarchy. A suicide bomber struck near the United States Consulate in the coastal city of Jidda in the morning, wounding two security officers. Then, near dusk, when Muslims were ending their daily Ramadan fasts, other blasts struck near a Shiite mosque in the country’s east and at a security post in Medina, killing four security guards, according to the Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television network.” (NYT http://nyti.ms/29hBw3V)

Food Emergency in Rwanda? Reports of famine ravaging parts of Rwanda have led to blame games, with some faulting government policies in drought-prone areas while the State says climate change is responsible for poor harvests. Close to 100,000 families mainly in the Eastern Province districts of Kanyonza, Rwamagana, Nyagatare, Bugesera, Kayonza and Kirehe as well as Nyanza and Gisagara districts in Southern Province, are facing a threat of hunger if nothing is done to avert it. (East African http://bit.ly/29hCgGv)

Africa

Hundreds of Kenyans including human rights activists, lawyers and taxi operators peacefully protested Monday against what they said are pervasive killings linked to police, as a court ordered three police officers be held for two weeks on charges they murdered three men. (AP http://yhoo.it/29ebi14)

Police in Zimbabwe’s capital on Monday fired tear gas, water cannons and warning shots during riots by minibus drivers and others protesting alleged police harassment. The violence, in which 30 people were arrested, came amid a surge in protests in recent weeks because of increasing economic hardship and alleged mismanagement by the government of President Robert Mugabe. (AP http://yhoo.it/29pjoDf)

The U.N. health agency says it and national authorities are investigating whether three cases of the Zika virus discovered in Guinea Bissau are of the same strain as the one behind outbreaks linked to head and brain abnormalities in Brazil and elsewhere. (AP http://yhoo.it/29eaOIo)

The Niger Delta Avengers, a militant group that has been carrying out attacks on Nigerian oil facilities in the past few months, claimed responsibility on Sunday for five new attacks in the southern energy hub since Friday.  (Reuters http://bit.ly/29f0Y5b)..and Twitter suspended their account on Monday. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/29e3XtU)

As violent clashes in north-west Central African Republic continue to drive people from their homes, disease is rife, hunger ‘staggeringly high’, and delivering aid a challenge. (Guardian http://bit.ly/29khemX)

Tanzanian men who marry schoolgirls or get them pregnant now face 30 years in prison as the government takes tougher measures to tackle child marriage and teenage pregnancy. (Reuters http://bit.ly/29i9i6n)

The badly beaten corpses of six young men were found at the weekend at the edge of a river in Democratic Republic of Congo’s capital, the United Nations said on Monday and called on authorities to investigate. (Reuters http://bit.ly/29IZ6Cq)

The UN rights chief warned Monday that violence risks surging again in the Central African Republic, calling for the urgent disarming of militia groups. (AFP http://yhoo.it/29i8IWn)

Tanzanian men who marry schoolgirls or get them pregnant now face 30 years in prison as the government takes tougher measures to tackle child marriage and teenage pregnancy. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/29f0kVs)

Agriculture is the largest sector of the Nigerian economy with studies showing 80 percent of the nation’s food is produced by small-scale farmers, the majority of whom are women, and loss of land can impact millions of the 175 million population. (Reuters http://bit.ly/29eZRCC)

MENA

At least 13,000 civilians have fled the Islamic State group bastion of Manbij in northern Syria since the launch of a US-backed offensive there, a monitor said Monday. (AFP http://yhoo.it/29ebcXv)

The top U.N. official in Syria on Monday demanded immediate and unconditional humanitarian access to tens of thousands of people trapped in four towns, warning of starvation. (AP http://yhoo.it/29eZBDT)

The death toll from Sunday’s suicide truck bombing in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad continues to rise as more bodies are recovered from the rubble. (VOA http://bit.ly/29pkn6B)

NATO leaders will approve the use of AWACS surveillance aircraft to assist the U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State extremist group, the alliance’s secretary-general said Monday. (VOA http://bit.ly/29IZoJG)

Trucks of Turkish aid have begun arriving in the Gaza Strip via Israel as part of a reconciliation accord reached between Israel and Turkey last month. (AP http://yhoo.it/29i8SwT)

Asia

Investigators are questioning some of the hostages who were rescued from Saturday morning’s attack on an upscale restaurant in the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka that left 20 patrons and two police officers dead. (VOA http://bit.ly/29ecilJ)

A Chinese court on Monday jailed a former top aide to retired president Hu Jintao for life after finding him guilty of taking bribes, illegally obtaining state secrets and abuse of power during a secret trial in which his wife testified against him. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/29pjkDt)

More than two weeks of torrential rains and flooding in southern and eastern China has left more than 200 people dead or missing.  Authorities are also reporting extensive property damage and more than $7 billion in crop losses. (VOA http://bit.ly/29pk0cb)

Thailand’s military government has set up security centers around the country ahead of an August referendum on a new constitution, a spokesman for the government said on Monday. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/29e4DzB)

The Americas

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has announced the lifting of the power rationing that has been in place for two months. From 25 April much of the country had its power cut off for four hours a day.  (BBC http://bbc.in/29IZRvl)

…and the rest

The future status of European Union nationals living in Britain will have to be worked out as part of Brexit negotiations and will be for the next prime minister to decide, Prime Minister David Cameron’s spokeswoman said on Monday. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/29eaNUI)

Italian authorities detained 38 people in a crackdown on a migrant trafficking ring that used a Rome cosmetics shop as a base for illegal financial transactions, officials said Monday. (AP http://yhoo.it/29eb6ii)

At least 150 heads of state and government are expected to attend a U.N. Summit on Refugees and Migrants in September in New York. The focus is to get new global commitments to address large movements of refugees and migrants responsibly and humanely. (VOA http://bit.ly/29IZuRy)

Opinion/Blogs

Myanmar can draw inspiration from Mandela as it seeks to heal internal rifts (Guardian http://bit.ly/29f0MTt)

Why is China getting involved in Afghan peace talks? (IRIN http://bit.ly/29e7LzX)

Working together, we have a real chance to make global education a reality (Guardian http://bit.ly/29e8kda)

Global aid transparency: taking the data out of the darkness (DevPolicy http://bit.ly/29rSKvr)

Liberté, égalité, impunité (IRIN http://bit.ly/29kk1fZ)

Let’s Avoid Politicizing the Genocide Against Yazidis (Justice in Conflict http://bit.ly/29rSVXs)

Will Brexit Put A Damper On The U.K.’s Global Generosity? (Goats and Soda http://n.pr/29kld2V)

#NotThatBadInEritrea? (Wronging Rightshttp://bit.ly/29f2DHW)

How much do impact evaluations (really) help policymaking? (Development that Works http://bit.ly/29f3b0B)