A suicide bomber aged between 12 and 14 carried out the attack on a wedding party in the Turkish city of Gaziantep on Saturday that killed at least 51 people, the president said. The attack was the deadliest in a series of bombings in Turkey this year, and President Tayyip Erdogan said Islamic State was likely behind it. “Initial evidence suggests it was a Daesh attack,” Erdogan said in Istanbul on Sunday, using an Arabic name for the hardline Sunni Islamist group. He said 69 people were in hospital and 17 were “heavily injured.” A destroyed suicide vest was found at the blast site, officials said. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/2bWeq3X)
Brother of stunned Syrian boy who made international headlines dies…The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Sunday that Ali Daqneesh, 10, died the day before from wounds sustained in the same airstrike on a rebel-held neighborhood in Aleppo. Syrian activists released haunting footage showing Omran Daqneesh, 5, rescued from a partially destroyed building in the aftermath of the airstrike late Wednesday in the northern city, which has seen heavy fighting in recent weeks. Omran was treated and later discharged. The Halab Today opposition TV station posted a photo of Ali, 10, in a hospital with a tube coming out of his mouth, saying he later died from his wounds. (VOA http://bit.ly/2bML9Y0)
Top Stories
Two young French volunteers found dead on Sunday on an island off the northeast coast of Madagascar were likely murdered, authorities said. (AFP http://yhoo.it/2bMM3Uz)
More than 20 people were killed on Sunday when suicide bombers from the militant al-Shabab group detonated two car bombs at a local government headquarters in Somalia’s semi-autonomous Puntland region, witnesses and officials said. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/2bML1I2)
Three civilians were killed and around 20 others wounded on Sunday in a suicide attack in northern Cameroon, officials and a vigilante group said. (AFP http://yhoo.it/2bWg8lO)
A coalition of Congo’s opposition parties is calling for a general strike after the country’s electoral commission said a presidential election once meant for November won’t be held until next year. (AP http://yhoo.it/2bWh2yD)
Hundreds of thousands of people protested Sunday against Chile’s privatized pension system, a legacy of late dictator Augusto Pinochet that opponents say is leaving many retirees destitute. (AFP http://yhoo.it/2bdZhXK)
A newly-formed governing council in Yemen could work with Russia to “fight terrorism” by allowing Moscow use of the war-torn country’s military bases, Yemen’s former president said on Sunday. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/2bMLM3U)
Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired a rocket into southern Israel on Sunday, prompting the Israeli military to respond with airstrikes and tank fire on targets inside Gaza. No injuries were reported on either side. (AP http://yhoo.it/2bHM8XA)
Leading Turkish journalist Can Dundar, sentenced to six years for publishing state secrets involving Ankara’s Syria operations, says he is planning to stay abroad, fearing new charges intended to link him to an abortive military coup. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/2bdZhHa)
Iraq on Sunday executed 36 men convicted of taking part in the Islamic State group’s massacre of hundreds of soldiers in 2014, officials said. (AP http://yhoo.it/2bHLDwA)
Tunisia’s Islamist Ennahda party, the largest in parliament, said on Sunday it has “some reservations” about the line-up of the country’s new unity government announced the previous day. (AFP http://yhoo.it/2bdZaLN)
Hundreds protested peacefully on Sunday in Istanbul calling for justice after the brutal murder of a transgender woman earlier this month in Turkey. (AFP http://yhoo.it/2bMLMAW)
A Nigerian militant group, which has claimed a wave of attacks on oil facilities in the Niger Delta, said it was ready for a ceasefire and a dialogue with the government. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/2bHLE3C)
It has been 10 years since a ship named the ‘Probo Koala’ unloaded toxic waste into Abidjan’s ports, sickening hundreds of thousands and killing at least 15. A decade after the scandal, Ivorian authorities say they have cleaned the dumping sites and taken measures to make sure this doesn’t happen again. Despite this, the victims are still demanding justice and compensation. (VOA http://bit.ly/2bWgEQQ)
South Korea warned Sunday of possible North Korean assassinations and kidnappings in revenge for recent high-profile defections to the South. (Yahoo http://yhoo.it/2bdXTEj)
Opinion/Blogs
Why Aleppo is Syria’s fiercest battleground (AP http://yhoo.it/2bHKPrw)
We shouldn’t have to wait until the next Olympics to end malnutrition (Guardian http://bit.ly/2bdXxh4)
U.S. support for Saudis in Yemen is ‘not a blank check’ (PRI’s The World http://bit.ly/2bdYmGK)
Voting with their feet: a policy discussion with an INGO on private schools in developing countries. (Huffington Post http://buff.ly/2bWppdN)
Why School Systems Matter, and How We Can Fix Them (CGD http://buff.ly/2bHSbeB)
How aid agencies should protect their staff from sexual abuse (IRIN http://buff.ly/2bWqAJZ)
Xi’s day at the beach (Economist http://buff.ly/2bHRDFF)
Is Uganda the best place to be a refugee? (Guardian http://buff.ly/2bHg7hu)
