The Supreme Court ruled on Monday that President Trump’s “travel ban” can still go into effect for foreigners who lack a “bona fide relationship” with someone in the United States. Unless they can satisfy that requirement, this also includes a total ban on all refugees from everywhere in the world for 120 days. According to one the largest US-based non-profit organizations that helps refugees resettle into the USA, this means that refugees who underwent years-long security screenings and have been previously cleared for entry to the United States will now be barred. The International Rescue Committee (IRC) says the order “immediately impacts already vetted refugees scheduled to come to the United States. ” (UN Dispatch http://bit.ly/2tf45Y5)
Top Stories
Fifty-two migrants have been found dead in the deserts of central Niger, near Séguédine. A group of 75 set out in three vehicles but were abandoned by traffickers, who feared the security forces. (BBC http://bbc.in/2tNStIQ)
An unidentified armed group in Central African Republic shot and killed a Red Cross worker in a town where more than 100 people have died in militia attacks in recent weeks, the Red Cross said on Monday. (Reuters http://bit.ly/2tehwaR)
Human rights groups say the international community, including the United Nations, needs to press Lao authorities on human rights issues. (VOA http://bit.ly/2tObR8w)
Suicide bombers killed nine people and wounded 13 others in multiple blasts in northeast Nigeria’s Maiduguri, police said on Monday, the latest in a spate of attacks in the city worst hit by the Islamist militant Boko Haram insurgency. (Reuters http://bit.ly/2tePrjw)
A judge in Guatemala has charged five more people over the deaths of 41 teenage girls in the fire at a government-run shelter in March. (BBC http://bbc.in/2sf7v8e)
An acute humanitarian emergency is unfolding in Doolo zone, in Ethiopia’s Somali region, as malnutrition reaches alarming levels, warns Médecins Sans Frontières, whose teams are working in Doolo zone, the worst affected area. (MSF http://bit.ly/2tOaYgc)
When Libya’s coastguard received the first of a long-awaited batch of patrol boats from Italy last month, two of the four vessels still had mechanical problems and one broke down on the way to Tripoli. (Reuters http://bit.ly/2tel50N)
The world’s biggest coal users — China, the United States and India — have boosted coal mining in 2017, in an abrupt departure from last year’s record global decline for the heavily polluting fuel and a setback to efforts to rein in climate change emissions. (AP http://apne.ws/2tel4df)
Opinion/Blogs
Meet Jeffrey Smith: A thorn in the side of Africa’s dinosaur presidents (Global Dispatches Podcast http://bit.ly/2tdAfTq)
The World Is Even Less Stable Than It Looks (Foreign Policy http://atfp.co/2tc2K3J)
‘Before my brother died, I had dreams’: the Kabul attack that unraveled a family (Guardian http://bit.ly/2tNUHb7)
Kenya reconciliation faces major election test (IRIN http://bit.ly/2teN4NV)
Creating opportunities for young people in Ghana’s cocoa sector (ODI http://bit.ly/2tNvPA5)
Kenya: How Kenya Could Move Away From the Politics of Ethnicity (The Conversation http://bit.ly/2tewb5N)
In South Sudan, equipping young generation for young country’s future (CSM http://bit.ly/2teVnJo)
Ebola Aftermath: Restoring Trust in Hospitals in Guinea (USAID Impact http://bit.ly/2tdCnKY)
Does the Beijing Consensus have anything to do with foreign aid? (Devpolicy http://bit.ly/2tdGzKZ)