This attack comes just weeks after another al Shebaab strike on a hotel that left ten people killed. A junior minister was among 11 people killed in an attack by Al-Qaeda-affiliated Shabaab militants on a hotel in the Somali capital, the foreign ministry said Sunday. The body of Buri Mohamed Hamza, minister of state in the prime minister’s office for the environment, has been retrieved from the collapsed building of the Naasa Hablood hotel, the ministry added. ’We extend our deepest condolences to the relatives of the minister who was killed in Mogadishu yesterday,’ a ministry statement read. Saturday’s assault, the latest in a series by the Islamist group targeting hotels and restaurants, began when a suicide bomber detonated a car laden with explosives outside the building. Gunmen then stormed the Naasa Hablood hotel in an assault lasting for several hours. Special security forces ended the siege after killing three attackers inside the hotel.” (AFP http://yhoo.it/28WXGFB)

Fallujah “Fully Liberated” (But at What Price?)…Five weeks after a military operation began, a senior Iraqi commander declared Sunday that the city of Fallujah was “fully liberated” from the Islamic State group, giving a major boost to the country’s security and political leadership in its fight against the extremists. Recapturing Fallujah, the first city to fall to the Islamic State group more than two years ago, means that authorities can now set their sights on militant-held Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city…But tens of thousands of people from Fallujah who were forced to flee their homes during the operation are still at overcrowded camps for the displaced with limited shelter in the Anbar desert. (AP http://yhoo.it/29dzLQN)

Quote of the Day… “We Christians have to apologize for so many things, not just for this (treatment of gays), but we must ask for forgiveness, not just apologize. Forgiveness — Lord, it is a word we forget so often,” Pope Francis in remarks to reporters sunday night, suggesting that the Catholic Church should apologize to the LGBT community. (NYT http://nyti.ms/2910FPr)

Africa

Nigeria’s army on Sunday said it had freed more than 5,000 people held by the Islamist militant group Boko Haram during an operation over the weekend in the northeast of the country. (Reuters http://bit.ly/29dy5Xr)

At least 14 people were killed and more than 40 injured in clashes over land between residents of two central Malian villages, a regional official said. (AFP http://yhoo.it/28WXvtX)

The Niger Delta Avengers, a Nigerian militant group which has claimed responsibility for a series of attacks on oil facilities in the country’s southern energy hub, has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to visit the region. (Reuters http://bit.ly/29dy85O)

Kenya aims to reduce by almost half the population of Dadaab refugee camp which is home to about 326,000 mostly Somali refugees by the end of the year, a committee that groups Kenya, Somalia and the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR said. (Reuters http://bit.ly/28WYuKJ)

Ghana’s Inspector General of Police John Kudalor says officers will be ”positively neutral” in the upcoming November general election. (VOA http://bit.ly/29dyf1j)

MENA

Turkey and Israel indicated Sunday that they’re ready to restore diplomatic relations suspended six years ago after a deadly clash at sea between Israeli commandos and pro-Palestinian Turkish activists. (Bloomberg http://bloom.bg/2910NhP)

Weapons shipped into Jordan by the Central Intelligence Agency and Saudi Arabia intended for Syrian rebels have been systematically stolen by Jordanian intelligence operatives and sold to arms merchants on the black market, according to American and Jordanian officials. (NYT http://nyti.ms/2910Wly)

The Islamic State group Sunday published a video showing the execution-style killing of five Syrian citizen journalists they kidnapped eight months ago in the east of the war-torn country. (AFP http://yhoo.it/28WZ5fz)

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was to meet Sunday with Yemen’s warring sides in a bid to push forward peace talks that have made no headway after two months. (AFP http://yhoo.it/28WXxlO)

About 30 people forced their way into Spain’s North African enclave of Melilla on Sunday, a local government official said, one of few successful attempts to storm the border so far this year following increased patrols and security. (Reuters http://bit.ly/28WXGWe)

No food and little water have reached 64,000 Syrian refugees stuck in the desert since Jordan sealed its border last week in response to a suicide attack, aid officials said Sunday. (AP http://yhoo.it/29dyj0S)

Asia

Heavy fighting between Islamic State militants and government security forces has claimed dozens of lives in eastern Afghanistan, officials said on Sunday. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/28WXqXi)

At least 35 people have been killed and 11 injured after a bus crashed and caught fire in China’s central province of Hunan, according to Chinese state media. (Al Jazeera http://bit.ly/2910Vhs)  

The Americas

Hundreds of thousands of Americans took to streets from New York to San Francisco on Sunday to celebrate gay pride, honor those who died in the Orlando massacre and promote tolerance. (AFP http://yhoo.it/29dy9Xg)

Citing the need to address the threat from Islamic State and conflicts from Libya to Syria, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Sunday that the United States, European Union and Britain must cooperate closely despite Britain’s decision to leave the EU. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/28WYvys)

…and the rest

Pope Francis defended using the term “genocide” to describe the Ottoman-era slaughter of Armenians, saying Sunday that’s how he has always referred to the massacre, he didn’t mean anything offensive by it and that it would have been “very strange” to have avoided it. (AP http://yhoo.it/28WXIxn)

The European Parliament’s chief called Sunday for British Prime Minister David Cameron to begin formal proceedings to leave the EU at a summit this week. (AFP http://yhoo.it/29dy2Lx)

Britain’s decision to leave the European Union could be the beginning of the disintegration of the bloc of countries or the United Kingdom, said economist Nouriel Roubini on Sunday. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/28WXAhb)

Opinion/Blogs

Brexit causes value of U.K. foreign aid to drop by $1.4 billion (Humanosphere http://bit.ly/28XhZC9)

Big Implications at the UN for Brexit (UN Dispatch http://bit.ly/29dC3j6)

What does Brexit mean for Africa? (Africa is a Country http://bit.ly/290LJRF)

Brexit was a backlash against globalisation – the poorest are being left behind everywhere (Guardian http://bit.ly/29dzAF3)

Factbox: 10 ways to leave EU lover; scenarios for Brexit (Reuters http://yhoo.it/28WXjLt)

Who should pay for African peacekeeping? (IRIN http://bit.ly/29dC1Yy)

Will an incoming government boost Australia’s climate aid? (Devpolicy Blog http://bit.ly/28WZoHe)

New off-grid energy grand challenge signals shift in USAID approach (Devex http://bit.ly/29dBZQ5)

It’s Not Easy Running A Hospital Without Running Water (Goats and Soda http://n.pr/28WZNct)