It’s a wild election day in the 12th largest country in the world. “The Philippines votes for a new president on Monday after an acrimonious election campaign that revealed popular disgust with the country's ruling elite for failing to make inroads into poverty and inequality despite years of robust economic growth. Opinion polls in the days ahead of the vote showed that Rodrigo Duterte - a city mayor whose brash challenge to the political establishment has drawn comparisons with Donald Trump - was comfortably ahead of his four rivals for the presidency. The firebrand mayor's single-issue campaign focused on law and order tapped into anxiety about corruption, crime and drug abuse, but his incendiary rhetoric and advocacy of extrajudicial killings brought predictions that he would be a dictator.” (Reuters http://reut.rs/24EhpCc)
Scores Killed in Massive Car Wreck in Afghanistan…“At least 73 people have been killed and dozens of others injured after two passenger buses and a fuel tanker burst into flames following a head-on collision in eastern Afghanistan. Many of the dead, including children, were burned beyond recognition as a result of Sunday's accident in Ghazni province, near the Afghan capital Kabul. Jawid Salangi, a spokesman for the governor of Ghazni, said the two buses, carrying about 125 passengers from Kabul to Kandahar, collided with the tanker, setting off a fire that quickly engulfed all three vehicles.” (Al Jazeera http://bit.ly/24EhN3v)
Proposals for the upcoming U.N. Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) meeting were made public this week, pitting bids by Namibia and Zimbabwe to open up the trade in elephant ivory against initiatives led by Kenya for a complete global ban. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/1Txcg3H)
A teacher in Burkina Faso, who avoided a marriage at 15 with the help of one of her teachers, has now begun a soccer program to reduce child marriage among her own students. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/1TxcqrD)
The governor of Mandera County in Kenya has launched the building of 250 houses for persons displaced by tribal clashes, in addition to a commitment to provide additional food and water for nearby displacement camps. (AllAfrica http://bit.ly/1TxcbwS)
The Serithi Campaign in South Africa, which is aimed at curbing absenteeism for girls unequipped for their menstrual cycle, is providing menstrual cups to 61 students at a special school in Pretoria. (AllAfrica http://bit.ly/1TxbYKc)
Egyptian prosecutors have detained a member of a group of satirists that posted a video mocking the government amid a wide-ranging crackdown on dissidents. (AFP http://yhoo.it/1TxbQKx)
Militants fired on a bus carrying police officers in a Cairo neighborhood on Sunday, killing eight of them, in an attack that was claimed by Egypt’s Islamic State affiliate as well as another radical group that believes in armed resistance against the government. (WaPo http://wapo.st/1SZCXOS)
Separate attacks in and around the Iraqi capital on Sunday killed at least 12 people and wounded dozens. (AP http://yhoo.it/1Txc9VI)
Libya's new prime minister is calling on the international community to help the country bolster its fight against terrorism by lifting an arms embargo and unfreezing funds that remain under U.N. sanctions. (AP http://yhoo.it/1TxbMKX)
The UN special envoy to Yemen held talks Sunday with the country's warring parties in a bid to break an impasse, a day after the government pulled out of direct negotiations. (AFP http://yhoo.it/1Txcc3Y)
Armed with laptops and smartphones, some 500 members of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) -- one of the world's biggest Muslim organisations -- are using their own online propaganda in Indonesia to counter the IS's sophisticated Internet operations. (Yahoo! http://yhoo.it/1Txd7Be)
Kim Jong Un said his country will not use its nuclear weapons unless its sovereignty is invaded and announced a five-year economic plan at a milestone congress of North Korea's ruling party. (AP http://yhoo.it/1SWCtMX)
A Pakistani police officer says gunmen riding motorcycles have shot and killed a rights activist and wounded two other people in southern port city of Karachi. (AP http://yhoo.it/1SWCzEf)
The U.N. special rapporteur on torture has said that torture is still being used by Sri Lanka's criminal and terrorism investigators. (AP http://yhoo.it/1TxdnjY)
Six months ago, the collapse of a mining dam released a torrent of sludge that killed 19 people, wiped out villages and became the worst environmental disaster in Brazilian history - and the survivors are still struggling to overcome the aftermath. (BBC http://bbc.in/1TxeX57)
More than 266,000 hectares of crops in Ecuador were affected by the earthquake of 7.8 degrees in the Richter scale on April 16. (Prensa Latina http://bit.ly/1Txeujp)
Honduran authorities have charged five suspects with the murder of environmental activist Berta Cáceres. (CNN http://cnn.it/1TxesYW)
Supplies have run out in some of Venezuela's main hospitals, another sign of the impact of the country's economic crisis. (CNN http://cnn.it/1Txf3tL)
The number of children identified as being trafficked, chiefly for labour but also for sexual exploitation, increased by 46% last year. (Guardian http://bit.ly/1TxfjIZ)
A new urine test for malaria can be purchased in drug stores and offers a quick, painless way to detect infection. (VOA http://bit.ly/1TxfBzL)
The launch of a costly new computer system designed to make the U.N. more efficient has proven so dysfunctional that it is actually hampering its capacity to prevent conflicts and enforce international sanctions. (FP http://atfp.co/1Oh3xko)
The New York-based Human Rights Foundation has awarded its 2016 Vaclav Havel Prize for Creative Dissent to an Iranian cartoonist, a Russian performance artist and an Uzbek photojournalist. (VOA http://bit.ly/1TxfFPZ)
10 things to know: gender equality and achieving climate goals (ODI http://bit.ly/1TxexvO)
How Russia and China Are Cooperating to Dismantle America’s Dominance of the Internet. (HuffPo http://huff.to/24Eg4eL)
On remembrance (Wronging Rights http://bit.ly/1Txg4Sy)
“The Nail That Sticks Out Gets Hammered Down”: LGBT Bullying and Exclusion in Japanese Schools (HRW http://bit.ly/1TxfuEj)
Classic rookie aid worker faux pas ... and how to avoid them (Guardian http://bit.ly/1Txf14W)
NATO probes raid on Afghan clinic, speaks to few, finds out little (IRIN http://bit.ly/1Txfggy)
Could multilateral banks be lending an extra $1 trillion? (ODI http://bit.ly/1TxexMn)
Extreme inequality is expensive and destructive. But there is something we can do about it on a global scale (UN Dispatch http://bit.ly/1Txg44X)
The volunteers turning refugee lifejackets into symbols of hope (Guardian http://bit.ly/1TxfjZC)
The views expressed here are not necessarily those of each of the partners of Global Citizen.