Yet another Boko Haram Kidnapping of Women…Suspected Boko Haram gunmen have reportedly kidnapped 20 women from a nomadic settlement in northeast Nigeria near the town of Chibok, where the Islamic militants abducted more than 300 schoolgirls and young women on April 15…In another incident, the Defense Headquarters said Monday that troops prevented raids by Boko Haram this weekend on villages in Borno and neighboring Adamawa state. Soldiers killed more than 50 militants on Saturday night as they were on their way to attack communities, defense spokesman Chris Oluklade said in an emailed statement.(AP http://yhoo.it/1igKvL0)
YouTube Video of Sexual Assault in Egypt Sparks Outrage…One attack occurred at an al-Sisi rally. “A string of sexual assaults on women during celebrations of Egypt’s presidential inauguration — including a mass attack on a 19-year-old student who was stripped in Cairo’s Tahrir Square — prompted outrage Monday as a video emerged purportedly showing the teenager, bloodied and naked, surrounded by dozens of men. Seven men were arrested in connection with the assault and police were investigating 27 other complaints of sexual harassment against women during Sunday’s rallies by tens of thousands of people celebrating Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi’s inauguration late into the night, security officials said.” (USA Today http://usat.ly/1hKtezh)
Global Dispatches Podcast…Jessica Tuchman Mathews is on the line this week! The longtime president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace discusses growing up in a famous household, her very unconventional path to a career in foreign policy, and writing two hugely influential foreign policy treatises which helped mainstream the concept of “human security.” http://bit.ly/1pvsDRI
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Africa
The death toll from Ebola in Sierra Leone has doubled to at least 12 in a week, local health authorities said on Monday, deepening the spread of a disease that has killed over 200 people in Guinea and Liberia. (Reuters http://bit.ly/1igK8jq)
A sugar refinery — the wartorn Central African Republic’s biggest factory — is back in business after soldiers recaptured it from former rebels who occupied it for more than a year. (AFP http://yhoo.it/1hJHp7z)
Niger will repatriate its citizens living as illegal migrants in neighbouring Algeria, as the government steps up efforts to combat trafficking networks. (Reuters http://bit.ly/1hJFzn9)
Young people in Zimbabwe with HIV are increasingly dying at a time when HIV-related deaths are declining for all other age groups. They are also less likely to get tested for the virus, as concerns about guardianship and privacy can discourage clinics from testing children. (IRIN http://bit.ly/1hJG2WB)
The kidnapping of 200 Nigerian girls and several recent horrific murders of women is expected to raise pressure on the world community to take concrete action to punish those responsible for sexual violence at a global summit in London this week. (Reuters http://bit.ly/1pvjRmS)
Africa’s climate change legislative frameworks, though a step in the right direction, have come under fire for not being ambitious enough to meet the challenge of a changing climate. (IPS http://bit.ly/1hJFlMM)
A new report shows that Nigeria now has the largest internally displaced population in Africa, and the third largest in the world. (VOA http://bit.ly/1igJXEY)
African lawyers say they are committed to bringing back money illegally taken out of the continent. (VOA http://bit.ly/1igJTow
MENA
Egyptian authorities have arrested seven men for sexually harassing women near Cairo’s Tahrir Square while thousands celebrated the inauguration of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the Interior Ministry said on Monday. (Haaretz http://bit.ly/1hKqGkI)
The International Committee of the Red Cross and Syria’s Red Crescent have made rare aid deliveries in rebel-held territory in northern Aleppo province with government consent. (AP http://yhoo.it/1igKHd5)
Libya’s Supreme Court ruled on Monday that parliament’s election of Prime Minister Ahmed Maiteeq a month ago was unconstitutional, state media reported, a decision which means his predecessor will stay on for now, a parliament speaker said. (Reuters http://bit.ly/1pvjFnB)
Humanitarian needs in Yemen are huge, but it is also recognised as one of the most difficult places in the world for aid workers to operate in. What to do? (IRIN http://bit.ly/1pvkDjN)
Hope of political transition in Yemen is being jeopardised by hunger, access to safe water and conflict, UN warns. (Guardian http://bit.ly/1pvkH2S)
Asia
Thailand’s junta said on Monday it had ordered the Thai ambassadors to the United States and Britain to meet human rights groups in an effort to “create understanding” about last month’s seizure of power. (VOA http://bit.ly/1hJH19a)
A new report warning that nearly half of the commercially-available condoms in Vietnam are of poor quality has health officials worried the country’s tenuous gains in safer sex habits could be at risk. (IRIN http://bit.ly/1pvkmxj)
The Solomon Islands’ Ministry of Health has declared a nationwide alert, with diarrhea outbreaks reported in six of nine Solomon Islands provinces, including Western, Choiseul, Malaita, Central, Makira, Honiara and Guadalcanal Provinces. (OCHA http://bit.ly/1hJF90c)
The Americas
Brazilian riot police use tear gas to disperse protesters in Sao Paulo three days ahead of World Cup opening match. (BBC http://bbc.in/1pvlL6Q)
Opinion/Blogs
Four things everyone should know about wartime sexual violence (WaPo http://wapo.st/UofGin)
Bringing ‘Power Africa’ from Pledges to Projects (AllAfrica http://bit.ly/1hJGZOK)
The best books on Afghanistan: start your reading here (Guardian http://bit.ly/1pvlTDu)
Journalism Is Dying a Slow Death in Nigeria (Daily Trust http://bit.ly/1hJI2hC)
What Future for West African Fisheries? (Greenpeace http://bit.ly/1hJIexh)
Keeping Momentum on Nutrition for Growth (IDS http://bit.ly/1hJIlsJ)
The Corruption-Security Nexus: Lessons from Afghanistan (Part 1) (Global Anticorruption Blog http://bit.ly/UoeA6f)
Five facts about informal economies (Chris Blattman http://bit.ly/1oNak9s)
Research/Reports
Italy has rescued about 5,200 men, women and children and recovered three dead bodies from overcrowded boats in the Mediterranean Sea since early Thursday. (Reuters http://bit.ly/1pvjYPc)
A British government pledge to tackle child poverty is set to be broken as 3.5 million children will remain poor by 2020, a watchdog said on Monday. (AP http://yhoo.it/1pvnhWD)
Despite significant gains, the HIV/AIDS epidemic is far from over, United Nations officials said, calling for greater political commitment, investment and innovation to end the global scourge. (UN News Centre http://bit.ly/1pvpYYp)
Some 60 percent of countries where malaria is endemic lack solid information about the quality of available drugs to treat the deadly disease, according to a new study. (IRIN http://bit.ly/1igJHpi)