Top Stories
A Mass Atrocity in Iraq….ISIS boasts that it has killed 1700 Shiites and Iraqi soldiers, and posted images online to back up this claim. Sectarian civil war is their aim. (NYT) And the USA is evacuating staff from its Baghdad embassy (USA Today)
The use of carbon markets to curb rising greenhouse gas emissions was dealt a blow on Sunday after two weeks of United Nations talks on designing and reforming the mechanisms ended in deadlock. (Reuters)
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights recently criticized the international community for failing to stop widespread abuses. Navi Pillay said governments too often place more importance on politics than human rights. (VOA)
Africa
Aid agencies warned Sunday that starvation and diseases like malaria and cholera were set to intensify the crisis in South Sudan, which has been devastated by six months of conflict. (AP)
The Democratic Republic of Congo’s information minister says hundreds of rebels from the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda from South and North Kivu provinces have been disarming as part of the government’s program to improve security and stabilize the country. (VOA)
Nigerian security forces said on Sunday they were searching for a British construction worker they believe was kidnapped in the central Plateau state. (VOA)
Three armed groups from northern Mali announced in Algiers on Sunday that they have agreed to begin talks with the Bamako government aimed at resolving long-standing disputes. (AFP)
Africa needs to first rely on internal investment if it is to achieve the infrastructure developments it urgently needs, the president of Senegal said Sunday at a regional summit. (AP)
MENA
The Italian coast guard says it has rescued nearly 300 Syrian migrants from a fishing boat adrift in the Mediterranean Sea. (VOA)
A Kuwaiti human rights organisation on Sunday urged the Gulf state to fulfill pledges to abolish the sponsorship system for foreign labor and to end the arbitrary deportation of expatriates. (AP)
Asia
Thousands of migrant workers have fled back to Cambodia, fearing the Thai military will crackdown on illegal workers. (VOA)
Bangladesh’s Anti-Corruption Commission filed a case with local police accusing 17 people of breaching regulations over the construction of a building that collapsed last year, killing over 1,130 mostly garment workers. (AP)
The Americas
Incumbent Juan Manuel Santos has been re-elected as Colombian president with nearly 51% of the vote, seeing off his right-wing challenger. (BBC)
Opinion/Blog
A ‘special’ perspective on food, human rights and the future of agriculture (Humanosphere http://bit.ly/1vp9WBP)
Why are taxes on capital income lower than taxes on labour income? (Owen abroad http://bit.ly/1izUpHI)
Why your aid organisation should buy local (WhyDev http://bit.ly/1qiJiKP)
Navigating expat-aidland (aliesrijper http://bit.ly/1vpbwUh)
The Holy Grail of Microfinance Research? (Center for Financial Inclusion blog http://bit.ly/1qiKhdY)
Beware the Confident Counterfactual (Dart-Throwing Chimp http://bit.ly/1vpc0tH)
From Service Learning to Learning Service (Stanford Social Innovation Review http://bit.ly/1vpcb89)
