Turkey’s main opposition party demanded on Monday that a referendum granting President Tayyip Erdogan sweeping new powers be nullified after a narrow “Yes” vote that exposed bitter divisions and drew concern from European Union leaders. Erdogan’s supporters took to the streets to cheer, while opponents stayed indoors banging pots and pans in protest over the vote to bring the biggest overhaul in Turkish politics since the founding of the modern republic, abolishing the prime minister’s post and concentrating power in the presidency. Unofficial results showed a narrow victory with 51.4 percent of votes cast in favor. Official results are due in 12 days. (Reuters http://reut.rs/2oOYNj8)
Massive sectarian suicide bombing in Syria…More than 100 people, including women and children, were killed in a suicide attack in rebel-held northwestern Syria. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the vast majority of the victims were families evacuating from two Shiite villages, Fuaa and Kefraya, long besieged by rebels. They had been promised safe passage out of rebel-held territory, as part of a reciprocal deal to evacuate two besieged pro-rebel towns, Madaya and Zabadani, on the opposite end of the country. The population exchange stalled on Saturday, amid disagreements over the terms of the evacuation. The line of buses from Fuaa and Kefraya parked on the outskirts of Aleppo city, still trapped in rebel-held territory. (NPR http://n.pr/2pmYDA2)
Top Stories
After three years in detention, the Egyptian-American aid worker Aya Hijazi was cleared of child abuse and human trafficking charges in Cairo on Sunday, abruptly ending a high-profile case that had become an international symbol of Egypt’s harsh crackdown on aid groups. (NYT http://nyti.ms/2pnfzqb)
At least 20 migrants trying to reach Europe drowned on Sunday in the Mediterranean off the coast of Libya, a Reuters photographer said. (Reuters http://bit.ly/2nRRSX9)
The death toll from the collapse of a massive garbage mound near Sri Lanka’s capital rose to 22 Sunday, and activists said some 20 more people could still be buried underneath the debris. (VOA http://bit.ly/2pqicVu)
The death toll in flash floods triggered by heavy rains in Iran’s northwestern province of eastern Azarbaijan jumped to 30 as rescue teams continue to discover bodies, state TV reported. (AP http://bit.ly/2pq8Wkl)
Two men were killed in the Somali capital after they were spotted firing mortars that appeared to be aimed at the international airport on Sunday, police and officials said. (Reuters http://bit.ly/2pq9ruH)
The UK pledged to double the funding it gives to fighting neglected tropical diseases, in a move that will protect more than 200 million people around the world from debilitating and painful conditions. (Guardian http://bit.ly/2oNhVh)
The Humanitarian Coordinator for South Sudan, Eugene Owusu, expressed shock and outrage after being informed of the killing of three workers involved in the delivery of vital food aid in Wau, less than one week after he called for an end to all attacks against aid workers in South Sudan. (OCHA http://bit.ly/2pq1FRc)
Odebrecht SA , the Brazilian engineering company at the center of a historic corruption scandal, paid about $3.3 billion in bribes over a nine-year period that ran through 2014, according to testimony cited by local media. (Reuters http://bit.ly/2pq7a2y)
Like so many disciples of Carry Nation, the temperance advocate who took a hatchet to United States saloons at the turn of the 20th century, village women are taking matters into their own hands, enforcing a prohibition law in Bihar, one of India’s poorest, most agrarian states. (NY Times http://nyti.ms/2pqf0Jv)
Opinion/Blogs
How factions in South Sudan’s war took shape on British campuses (Guardian http://bit.ly/2p7M3Fa)
The Ebola Crisis – Lessons Learned for Developing Nations (IPS http://bit.ly/2p7N5RL)
Between the U.S. and Mexico: What Migrants Left Behind (VOA http://buff.ly/2pq5XrO)
Are South Africa’s Jacob Zuma Days Numbered? (The Monitor http://bit.ly/2nRGLgL)
Towards a blueprint for responding to urban displacement (IRIN http://bit.ly/2pmhMSN)
What I learned about filmmaking during an epidemic (Devex http://bit.ly/2pqb3EL)
The danger of a single author (Africa is a Country http://bit.ly/2pq6YAp)
Is Yellow Fever Knocking At Our Door? (NPR Goats and Soda http://n.pr/2pqbDSL)
Making it possible for refugee health workers to answer their calling (Devex http://bit.ly/2pmhs6x)
