A former prime minister who holds dual Somali-U.S. citizenship has been declared Somalia’s new president. Incumbent President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud conceded defeat after two rounds of voting Wednesday, and former prime minister Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo was declared the new leader and quickly took the oath of office. “History was made, we have taken this path to democracy, and now I want to congratulate Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo,” Mohamud said. (ABC http://abcn.ws/2kI1VcC)
RIP Hans Rosling… It was his first Ted talk that thrust renowned Swedish academic Hans Rosling into the international spotlight in 2006, billed as the man in whose hands data sings. Since then, the statistician more likely to illustrate an idea with a few multi-coloured lego bricks than a PowerPoint has been described as everything from a data guru to a Jedi master of data visualization. He died on Tuesday, aged 68, after a year-long illness, surrounded by his family in Uppsala, Sweden. (Guardian http://bit.ly/2kED21q)
Two appreciations
“The data wizard who helped us visualize a better world” (Humanosphere http://bit.ly/2kPGJTS)
A man who made global development data come alive. Plus: Watch his original viral it (UN Dispatch http://bit.ly/2kPIBw5)
Top Stories
Amnesty International on Tuesday accused Syria’s government of hanging up to 13,000 people at a notorious prison over five years in a “policy of extermination,” two weeks before planned peace talks. (AFP https://yhoo.it/2lhubWx)
Haiti swore in its new president after a political crisis that has lasted more than a year. Jovenel Moise, a 48-year-old banana exporter, was sworn in at a ceremony at the National Assembly. (BBC http://bbc.in/2lnq8ET)
Protesters marking the anniversary of the death of an anti-colonial hero have clashed with police in northern Morocco, in violence which authorities said left 27 officers injured. (Reuters http://bit.ly/2kERshW)
Some 30,000 people have returned to Mosul since Iraqi forces launched a massive operation in October to retake the country’s second largest city from the Islamic State group, the U.N. said Tuesday. (AP https://yhoo.it/2kjhLJM)
Colombia’s government and the nation’s second-largest rebel group are getting ready to start formal peace talks Tuesday in neighboring Ecuador. (AP https://yhoo.it/2lhy11W)
Pakistan has extended the deadline for its 1.5 million registered Afghan refugees to return home, saying they can remain through the end of this year. (AP https://yhoo.it/2kEVwit)
The European Union’s foreign policy chief and the United Nations secretary-general on Tuesday criticized an Israeli move to legalize thousands of settler homes on Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank. (Reuters https://yhoo.it/2k04WYv)
U.S. critics of Zimbabwe’s human rights record “can go and hang on a banana tree,” a Zimbabwean official said in comments published Tuesday, while he also indicated that the southern African country is waiting for an overture from the administration of President Donald Trump. (AP https://yhoo.it/2lhBtcN)
The World Bank said it earmarked $200 million for repairing Lebanon’s unsafe roads, signaling a resumption of international aid months after the election of a president following a two-year political vacuum in the tiny Mediterranean country. (AP https://yhoo.it/2koQXKl)
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday defended his decision to abolish high denomination bank notes that has left the economy reeling, calling it a “fight” for the poor. (Reuters https://yhoo.it/2kERHJS)
UK aid: MPs and Lords have expressed “significant concern” over the lack of transparency, accountability and leadership of a £1bn government fund aimed at tackling conflicts and building stability overseas. (Guardian http://bit.ly/2koSQqF)
Opinion/Blogs
Map of the Day: Massive wildfires engulf Chile. (UN Dispatch http://bit.ly/2kQ2xih)
Populism won’t ‘vicious circle’ of corruption and inequality, advocates say (Humanosphere http://bit.ly/2lndpC2)
Myopic in Malta: Europe’s short-sighted migration policy with Libya (IRIN http://bit.ly/2jZSg3M)
Analysis: New Tactics or Grand Strategy for Trump’s War Plan? (VOA http://bit.ly/2lhzl4N)
How the AU Can Avoid Reinventing the Wheel (ISS http://bit.ly/2kp31eL)
US Threatens to Penalize Allies on UN Voting (Inter Press Service http://bit.ly/2kEQEKa)
Are the sustainable development goals already in trouble? (Impakter http://bit.ly/2lntTKH)
