Southern Africa has been battered by rainstorms in recent weeks and the humanitarian emergency is far more extensive than previously estimated. “More than 300,000 people have been displaced by flooding in Malawi, almost twice as many as previously estimated, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Thursday.Floods triggered by weeks of heavy rains have affected more than 1 million people, killed 276 and injured more than 600, according to new figures released by the U.N. Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) unit…UNICEF said its staff are on high alert for water-borne diseases such as cholera, dysentery and malaria and said displacement camps are providing about 56,000 women and children with essential healthcare services. Heavy rains began in Malawi earlier this month, leading rivers to burst their banks and creating flash floods.” (Reuters http://reut.rs/1CznS2F)
Speech of the Day…UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein gave a powerful speech at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum on Thursday. It would be a disservice to summarize his remarks. If you want to read an eloquent speech on the causes and solutions to mass atrocities, take 15 minutes and read the whole thing. http://bit.ly/1CznlxL
How Does the Measles Outbreak in the USA Affect Global eradication efforts? Mark speaks with Dr. Rebecca Martin, head of the CDC’s Global Immunizations Programs. (Global Dispatches Podcast http://bit.ly/1DCje0E)
A deep dive into the complex challenges faced by UN Peacekeeping in Mali. (Reuters http://reut.rs/1CzmFIF)
Ebola
There are a growing number of survivors of the disease in West Africa, between 5,000 and 10,000 according to the United Nations, and some complain of side effects months after their recovery – a condition some doctors are calling “post-Ebola Syndrome.” (Reuters http://bit.ly/18ReydY)
The number of Ebola cases in West Africa has gone up for the first time this year, the World Health Organization says, warning that the coming rainy season could complicate efforts to contain the disease. (AP http://yhoo.it/1DigSpP)
An Ebola candidate treatment yielded “encouraging” results in a trial with 80 patients in Guinea, with faster recovery rates observed, the French government and medical research agency Inserm said Thursday. (AFP http://yhoo.it/16uGZx4)
Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone will get close to $100 million in total to pay off their debts to the International Monetary Fund, the first time a global institution provided debt relief to the three countries hardest hit by the Ebola outbreak. (Reuters http://bit.ly/1v1ITLq)
Africa
A prolonged drought has left tens of thousands of people struggling to find food in southern Madagascar, authorities in the Indian Ocean island nation warned. (AFP http://yhoo.it/1DigGqN)
Boko Haram fighters have shot or burned to death about 90 civilians and wounded 500 in ongoing fighting in a Cameroonian border town near Nigeria, officials in Cameroon said Thursday. (AP http://yhoo.it/1vuyMEI)
President Francois Hollande says France is providing support in logistics, operations and weaponry for African countries uniting to battle Boko Haram. He stopped short of saying whether France was involved in military action itself. (AP http://yhoo.it/1zcjVJL)
A South Sudanese civil servant and two humanitarian workers have been freed by rebels who detained them when their U.N. World Food Program helicopter landed by mistake in a rebel-held region, a WFP spokeswoman said on Thursday. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/16uJEH5)
Burkina Faso has said it will review the presidential guard’s role in a bid to defuse a row between Prime Minister Isaac Zida and the elite corps frustrated by his efforts to cut its pay and curtail its influence. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/1Cy4KlG)
Most young women who are at the highest risk of contracting the AIDS virus do not use drugs designed to prevent HIV infection, even when they’re offered. That’s the conclusion of a new study that looked at so-called pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, in thousands of women in Africa. (VOA http://bit.ly/1xrrhZt)
A $34 device that plugs into the audio jack of a smartphone was nearly as effective as far more costly diagnostic blood testing equipment in identifying antibodies for HIV and syphilis in a pilot study in Africa, U.S. researchers said on Wednesday. (VOA http://bit.ly/1xrrhsq)
A new study shows that weather-based insurance will help smallholder farmers to withstand the effects of climate change and market shocks. The study was launched recently in London where Nigerian officials also gathered to learn how they can implement the program for their farmers. (VOA http://bit.ly/1xrsP5G)
MENA
The United Nations says the Islamic State group is systematically killing, torturing and raping children and families of minority groups in Iraq, and it is calling on government forces there to do more to protect them. (AP http://yhoo.it/1DigOGL)
Jordanian warplanes bombed Islamic State targets on Thursday, state TV said, after the country’s king vowed to wage a “harsh” war against the militants who control large areas of neighboring Syria and Iraq. (AP http://yhoo.it/1DigO9F)
North Korea, long accused by the U.S. and others of engaging in counterfeiting, drug trafficking and even online gambling scams, is trying to repair its international image by courting a little-known but influential body that fights money laundering and terrorist financing. (AP http://yhoo.it/1DigOq6)
Baghdad’s decade-old curfew will end on Saturday and four neighborhoods will be “demilitarized”, Iraq’s Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Thursday, as he tries to normalize the capital. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/1vuz4vw)
Tunisia’s parliament Thursday approved a coalition government led by the secular Nidaa Tounes party and including moderate Islamist rivals Ennahda, following landmark elections in the birthplace of the Arab Spring. (AFP http://yhoo.it/1vuz66G)
United Nations plan for local ceasefires in Syria is deadlocked, with Damascus feeling it does not need to make concessions to disparate armed groups, Western diplomats familiar with the talks said. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/1Cy4KSB)
Asia
Heavy fighting between Myanmar soldiers and ethnic insurgents this week has killed at least 20 people near the northeastern border with China, the government and an organization representing the rebel groups said on Thursday. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/1DigN5M)
Myanmar’s government on Thursday accused students who are protesting against state educational policies of being manipulated by groups seeking to destabilize the country. (AP http://yhoo.it/1Cy4OSk)
Police in India’s capital detained hundreds of Christian protesters Thursday as they prepared to march to the home minister’s residence to demand that the government investigate recent attacks against churches. (AP http://yhoo.it/1DigMyD)
The FBI has said that DNA analysis indicates one of the world’s most wanted terrorists, Bali bomber Zulkifli bin Hir, was likely killed in a Philippine police raid last month that also claimed the lives of 44 commandos. (AFP http://yhoo.it/1DigNCI)
Thailand will experience its worst drought in more than a decade this year, the irrigation department said on Thursday, damaging crops in one of the world’s biggest rice-exporting nations. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/1vuyM7V)
Police have rescued hundreds of children working in hazardous industries in a southern Indian city despite laws that ban child labor, an official said Thursday. (AP http://yhoo.it/1zcjTBL)
Sri Lanka’s new government will go ahead with a $1.5 billion Chinese-funded port city project planned by the previous president to avoid misunderstandings with Beijing, an official said Thursday. (AP http://yhoo.it/1vuz5j8)
Chinese police seized 2.4 tons of methamphetamine in one of the country’s largest drug busts, authorities in the eastern city of Shanghai said Thursday. (AP http://yhoo.it/1vuz66D)
The Americas
A warrant compelling the treasurer of Brazil’s ruling Workers’ Party to testify was among 62 arrest, search and other legal orders police issued Thursday in the investigation into a massive kickback scheme at the state-run oil company Petrobras. (AP http://yhoo.it/1vuz52w)
Beijing has become a frequent destination for Latin America’s presidents, especially populist ones who have spent freely over the past decade but are now grappling with a collapse in the prices of oil and other commodities that their economies produce and export. (AP http://yhoo.it/16uJlMm)
Venezuela has arrested two top executives for Venezuela’s largest drugstore chain as part of an investigation into what authorities say are illegal practices contributing to the country’s chronic shortages. (AP http://yhoo.it/1Cy4GlJ)
The world’s mightiest waterway, the Amazon River, is threatened by the most diminutive of foes — a tiny mussel invading from China. (AP http://yhoo.it/1C3cRnB)
Opinion/Blogs
Can mobile banking revolutionize the lives of the poor? (The Verge http://bit.ly/1EJkOl7)
Unsafe abortions kill 47,000 worldwide as US politics interfere with lifesaving efforts (GlobalPost http://bit.ly/1v1JaOH)
Mugabe falls: comedy memes of Zimbabwe’s president go viral (The Guardian http://bit.ly/1CydEiS)
What the US vaccination debate looks like to the rest of the world (GlobalPost http://bit.ly/1DigoAc)
Dear Governments: Please Don’t Make Private Certification the Touchstone of Adequate Anti-Bribery Program!!! (The Global Anticorruption Blog http://bit.ly/16v9t9Y)
30 Most Promising Young Entrepreneurs In Africa 2015 (Forbes http://onforb.es/1Cya0FN
The visible lessons of Invisible Children- #globaldev critique in the viral age (in response to Paul Currion) (Aidnography http://bit.ly/1DBTxgE)
Are developing countries heading for another debt crisis? And if so, what is anyone doing about it? (From Poverty to Power http://bit.ly/1zU8Yn2)
Innovate or Stagnate (Policy Innovations http://bit.ly/1DJBB3T)
Research/Reports
A global deal to curb carbon emissions must recognize each country’s right to develop, France’s foreign minister said in New Delhi on Thursday, as the host of this year’s U.N. climate change talks seeks to win India’s backing for a global deal. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/1zckvHs)
Governments heading to Japan next month to adopt a new global plan to reduce the risk of disasters will have to resolve a row over aid to help poor countries become more resilient to extreme weather, earthquakes and other hazards. (TRF http://yhoo.it/16uJMGl)
Norway’s right-leaning government says it no longer will present a law proposal making begging illegal across the oil-rich Scandinavian country. (AP http://yhoo.it/1Cy4K57)