Soldiers stood watch on streets in Gambia’s capital and surrounding area on Sunday, as most residents went about ordinary life despite worries after their longtime leader said he would not accept election results that would force him to step down after 22 years in power. International and regional bodies and governments joined together in calls over the weekend for a peaceful transition in the tiny West African country of about 1.9 million people that is almost completely surrounded by Senegal. Gambia’s President Yahya Jammeh initially conceded defeat after Gambians voted in president-elect Adama Barrow on Dec. 1. However on Friday Jammeh announced that he no longer accepted the election results and called for another vote, saying there were irregularities.” (ABC http://abcn.ws/2hlQwNH)
Major attack in Mogadishu…An al-Shabab suicide car bomber has struck the entrance of Mogadishu’s largest port and an adjacent police complex, killing at least 29 people and wounding nearly 48 others, according to police sources. …The attack took place near the gate of Mogadishu’s main port and is the latest in a series of attacks on the capital. (Al Jazeera http://bit.ly/2hlSiP2)
You’re a mean one Mr. Maduro…Venezuelan officials have confiscated nearly 5 million toys from a toy distributor, accusing the company of planning to sell them at inflated prices during the Christmas season. (CNN http://cnn.it/2hm1NxL)
Top Stories
Two young girls approximately seven or eight years old blew themselves up in a northeastern Nigerian market on Sunday, killing themselves and one other person and wounding 18 others, sources said. (AFP https://yhoo.it/2hiYLg8)
Coptic Christians were in mid-prayer Sunday when the ear-splitting blast tore through their church in Egypt’s capital, spraying shrapnel into icon-covered walls and blowing out the tiled roof. (AFP https://yhoo.it/2hiZ0rH)
At least 100 people were killed by the collapse of a church in southeastern Nigeria, a resident and photojournalist who visited the town morgue said on Sunday, a day after the incident. (Reuters http://bit.ly/2gp8Y65)
President-elect Donald Trump rejected the CIA’s reported conclusion that Russia intervened to help him win the U.S. election, saying in an interview broadcast Sunday that the idea is “ridiculous.” (AFP https://yhoo.it/2gpj9HH)
Hundreds of Syrians stood in long lines Sunday, some getting on government buses, to flee the ever shrinking rebel-held enclave of eastern Aleppo as military troops and allied militias continued their push to regain full control of the opposition stronghold. (AP https://yhoo.it/2hiTcyk)
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said Sunday that he has decided to accept an arms deal being offered by China under concessional terms, in the latest sign of cozying relations between the once-hostile neighbors. (AP https://yhoo.it/2hiTyVJ)
Ghana’s President-elect Nana Akufo-Addo needs to act fast to deliver on his campaign promise to create jobs, restore rapid growth, build a dam in every village and a factory in every district if he is to satisfy an electorate eager for change. (Reuters http://bit.ly/2hAL0G6)
Turkey declared a national day of mourning, launched a full investigation and began to bury its dead Sunday after twin blasts in Istanbul killed 38 people and wounded 155 others near a soccer stadium. (CBS http://cbsn.ws/2hlX4Mg)
Opinion/Blogs
Podcast: After Mosul, what’s next for refugees, and Iraq’s future? (Humanosphere http://bit.ly/2gA4JIr)
Scale up or cut back? Aid sector grapples with growing funding gap (IRIN http://bit.ly/2gzWg7O)
Food Insecurity: An Agent for Violent Conflict (IPS http://bit.ly/2hAPgW1)
Fall of Aleppo will be a pivotal moment in Syria war (AFP https://yhoo.it/2gzXQXe)
Kabila’s impasse (Africa is a Country http://bit.ly/2hlW2Qx)
5 trends affecting the remittance industry (Devex http://bit.ly/2hlVpGL)
Breaking The Taboo Of Talking About Periods (NPR Goats and Soda http://n.pr/2hm0a2W)
Broken Branches, Peruvian Edition (Cherokee Gothic http://bit.ly/2hm6hEC)
How do we choose the most promising theory of change? Building on the context-intervention 2×2 (From Poverty to Power http://bit.ly/2hm7N9w)
Understanding cultural female sex work in India and why tradition must be challenged (Lancet Global Health http://bit.ly/2hm0EGh)
