In Yemen, a short-term cease-fire between Houthi rebels and a Saudi-led coalition of Arab states ended on May 18 as the coalition resumed shelling and air strikes against Houthi positions, most heavily in the southwestern city of Aden. Strikes have avoided the airport in the capital, Sana’a, and the port city of Al Hudaydah to allow food aid to be delivered.

The Houthi, a Sunni Muslim ethnic group, took control of Sana’a in January and eventually forced president Abdrabbuh Mansour...

Coup attempt in Burundi 

Burundi General Godefroid Niyombare announced that he had deposed president Pierre Nkurunziza on May 13 while the president was visiting neighboring Tanzania. The coup was quickly put down by soldiers and police loyal to the president.

Protests, often becoming violent, have plagued Burundi since Nkurunziza announced on April 25 that he would seek a third term in office in elections scheduled for June 26. According to the Burundi constitution, a...

Liberia was declared free of ebola on May 9, forty-two days (two full incubation periods) after the last confirmed new case there. At the height of the ebola epidemic, Liberia was reporting 300 to 400 new cases every week.

However, with 43 new cases being reported in Guinea and 19 in Sierra Leone, the total number of new ebola cases rose slightly in May.

The number of confirmed cases of ebola since the viral outbreak began in March 2014 is 26,969, with 11,135 deaths, almost all...