Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir vowed Monday to brutally crush anti-regime protests, warning the authorities will crack down on demonstrators as they did in 2013 when dozens were killed during clashes. Bashir’s warning came as opposition activists issued a new call to hold a two-day nationwide strike next week against a government decision to cut fuel subsidies that has led to rising prices for goods including medicines. “In the past few days we have heard some people, who are hiding behind their keyboards, calling for the overthrow of the regime,” Bashir told supporters gathered in the eastern town of Kasala. “We want to tell them that if you want to overthrow the regime, then face us directly on the streets. I challenge you to come out onto the streets. But we know you will not come because you know what happened in the past. … This regime will not be overthrown by keyboards and WhatsApp.” (AFP https://yhoo.it/2gEL9L6)
The next ICC departure? Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta said on Monday the country will have to think seriously about its membership in the International Criminal Court, signaling another African country may quit the embattled court. (Reuters https://yhoo.it/2gRVWis)
Valedictorian of the day: A Syrian refugee has graduated from an Australian high school with top honors just two years after beginning to learn English. (AP https://yhoo.it/2hqA1QM)
Africa
West African leaders will travel to Gambia on Tuesday in an effort to convince longtime President Yahya Jammeh to step down after his loss in the Dec. 1 election. (VOA http://bit.ly/2hmJGHv)
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said there had been a suspected gas attack in Islamic State-held territory near Palmyra on Monday, amid heavy aerial bombardment of the same area which together killed at least 53 people. (Reuters https://yhoo.it/2gEAKz1)
Former Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres took the oath of office on Monday to be the ninth United Nations Secretary-General with his hand on a copy of the U.N. Charter in front of the 193-member General Assembly. Guterres will replace Ban Ki-moon of South Korea on Jan. 1. (Reuters https://yhoo.it/2gx3Q50)
Brazil’s top prosecutor brought new charges against Senate President Renan Calheiros on Monday, accusing him of taking part in corruption at state oil company Petrobras a week after he was nearly removed in an earlier embezzlement case. (Reuters https://yhoo.it/2hpZbir)
U.N. human rights officials have called on Albanian authorities to provide more reparations to families of around 6,000 people who disappeared during the former communist regime. (AP https://yhoo.it/2gEMkdz)
Kenyan police fired tear gas to disperse a protest march against government corruption. The march was part of a protest movement by activists who want Kenya’s government to do more to stem what they charge is rampant graft within the administration. (VOA http://bit.ly/2hqA6nu)
The European Union and Cuba on Monday signed a deal to normalize ties that had been blocked for decades by human rights concerns under revolutionary icon Fidel Castro. (AFP https://yhoo.it/2gxXJNw)
Anomalies during Gabon’s disputed presidential election “call into question” the outcome of the August vote which saw Ali Bongo reelected, a final report by EU observers said on Monday. (AFP https://yhoo.it/2gEJuoL)
Those who seek to damage the “one China” principle and harm China’s core interests are “lifting a rock only to drop it on their feet,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Monday, in comments carried on the Foreign Ministry’s website. (Reuters https://yhoo.it/2hmPv7K)
The Qatari government on Monday vowed that labor law reforms to make it easier for migrant workers to change jobs and leave the country would bring “tangible benefits” and urged patience from critics who say the proposed changes are inadequate. (Reuters https://yhoo.it/2gECh8i)
With NGOs seen as a political threat, a volunteer initiative that links doctors and pharmacists in Sudan with donors is funding much-needed healthcare. (Guardian http://bit.ly/2hqCef4)
Uganda on Monday started up its first grid-connected, 10 megawatt solar power plant as the east African country moves to tap its renewable energy resources and expand its electricity generation capacity. (VOA http://bit.ly/2gRNq3i)
Opinion/Blogs
Podcast: A conversation with former U.S. ambassador to Pakistan Cameron Munter (Global Dispatches http://bit.ly/2gyzO0x)
Deadly Turkish school fire reveals the challenges girls face in getting an education (PRI’s the World http://bit.ly/2gx26sc)
Putting Women Front and Centre in the Development Agenda (IPS http://bit.ly/2hq42jE)
Smuggler or survivor? Migrants forced to help, face arrest (AP https://yhoo.it/2hqCgDH)
Cash chaos shows India’s women need financial system they can bank on (Guardian http://bit.ly/2hqH4Jc)
She Saves People Making A ‘Brave Start’ At A New Life (NPR Goats and Soda http://n.pr/2gShEmq)
Does De-Risking Hinder NGOs and Humanitarian Relief? (CFI http://bit.ly/2gSfq6w)
Corruption’s Gendered Double Standard (Global Anticorruption Blog http://bit.ly/2gyCY4v)
Trump and the Deepening Refugee Crisis (Reinventing Peace http://bit.ly/2hFO9EF)
In Sub-Saharan African, as malaria rolls back, human capital moves forward (Development Impact http://bit.ly/2hFOibf)
