A Third Intifada?…At press time, there were media reports of clashes when thousands of Palestinian demonstrators marched from Ramallah to Jerusalem, confronting Israeli soldiers at a checkpoint, with some fatalities. This is a big deal. We recommend checking out Haaretz’ live blog for news of these fast developing stories. http://bit.ly/1t05VVG
Also, UNRWA reported that at least 15 people were killed when artillery struck a UN school functioning as a shelter for displaced Gazans.The death toll also includes an untold number of UN workers. Meanwhile, John Kerry drafted a ceasefire proposal while in Cairo. He leaves the region on Friday, but the negotiations go on. Here is an article about the devastation at the UN school, via AFP http://yhoo.it/1t06j6C
New Human Development Report is Out..Norway is first and Niger is last. “The annual measure of indices related to social development Improvements in life spans, education and incomes are slowing due to natural disasters, misguided government policies and worsening inequality in a world where the 85 richest people have as much wealth as the 3.5 billion poorest people, the United Nations said Thursday in its annual human development report.” (AP http://yhoo.it/1Ab7h24) The Report: http://bit.ly/1t01J8D)
Valerie Amos Wants Relief Funding Reform…The need has not kept up with the demand. Her interview is well worth a read. “The U.N.’s top humanitarian official called Thursday for major changes in the delivery of relief, as funding falls short because of a growing number of conflicts and disasters…In an interview in Tokyo, she offered several ideas for improving aid delivery and addressed the crisis in Gaza: (AP http://yhoo.it/1Ab6Ncj)
Ebola Makes its Way to Nigeria…A Liberian man in his 40s is being tested for the deadly Ebola virus in Nigeria’s commercial capital of Lagos, a megacity of 21 million people. If confirmed, this would be the first time Ebola is found in Nigeria. (http://bit.ly/1sZV9yK)
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International AIDS Conference
The U.S. ambassador to Australia said it should not be a crime to be a member of the LGBT community. Ambassador John Berry told the 20th international AIDS Conference that the fight against the disease cannot be won by relegating segments of the population to the shadows. (VOA http://bit.ly/1Ab52vu)
Africa
An Air Algerie flight that went missing en route from Burkina Faso to Algiers has crashed, said an Algerian aviation official. (Reuters http://bit.ly/1Ab0O79)
Central African Republic’s mainly Muslim Seleka rebels signed a ceasefire with the “anti-balaka” Christian militia, after having dropped their demand for the country to be split in two along religious lines. (Reuters http://bit.ly/1z7CLVp)
Two UN human rights experts called on the Government of Nigeria and the international community for a swift and stronger response to the plight of some 3.3 million people displaced in the country due to violence since 2010, one of the highest numbers of IDPs in the world. (UNHCR http://bit.ly/1z7yscH)
More than 2,000 Ghanaians took to the streets of the capital Accra on Thursday as part of planned nationwide protests against what they say is the government’s mishandling of the economy. (Reuters http://bit.ly/1z7BwoZ)
Rising sea levels and increased tides have eroded most of the once-sandy beach along Kribi, Cameroon. Now beaches are reduced to narrow muddy paths. And local hotels, bars and restaurants are feeling the impact of this erosion directly in their pockets as tourists reduce in numbers. (IPS http://bit.ly/1Ab081M)
GlaxoSmithKline said on Thursday it is applying for regulatory approval for the world’s first vaccine against malaria, designed for children in Africa. (Reuters http://bit.ly/1Ab1olw)
Nigeria could cut the number of polio cases to zero next year and be declared free of the disease in 2018 even though a national eradication campaign has had to contend with an insurgency in the north, Bill Gates said. (Reuters http://bit.ly/1Ab1Dgi)
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon named Danish diplomat Ellen Margrethe Loj as his new special envoy to South Sudan and head of the UN peacekeeping mission in the world’s newest nation. (Reuters http://bit.ly/1z7Cx0v)
Parents are taking their daughters to remote regions of Kenya to undergo female genital mutilation in secret, according to the head of the country’s new FGM prosecution unit. (Guardian http://bit.ly/1Ab35zk)
A new Ugandan sex-education campaign to reduce teen pregnancy, maternal mortality among young women and girls, and the cost of post-abortion medical care, is generating heated debate. (IRIN http://bit.ly/1z7Dl5l)
Newly introduced land permits for resettled smallholder farmers in Zimbabwe will bring little gain to the thousands of beneficiaries who are struggling to get loans from banks to finance their operations, say farmers’ organizations and analysts. (IRIN http://bit.ly/1z7DQwu)
MENA
The United Nations’ World Food Program is appealing for $10 million in emergency aid to help Palestinian civilians facing food shortages in Gaza. (VOA http://bit.ly/1z7EYQy)
Asia
Two Finnish aid workers with an international Christian organization were shot dead on Thursday in Afghanistan’s western city of Herat, officials said. (AP http://yhoo.it/1z7IpH4)
China plans to extend a railway line linking Tibet with the rest of the country to the borders of India, Nepal and Bhutan by 2020 once an extension to a key site in Tibetan Buddhism opens, a state-run newspaper reported. (VOA http://bit.ly/1z7FhuT)
Australia’s human rights commissioner on Thursday said conditions at an asylum-seeker camp on Christmas Island have “significantly deteriorated” with children plagued by despair and suffering symptoms consistent with post-traumatic stress disorder. (Yahoo http://yhoo.it/1Ab73b5)
The Americas
Haiti is set to vaccinate 200,000 people in three departments against cholera starting in August. (WHO http://bit.ly/1z7yl0F)
Around the US, food assistance agencies are trying to come up with new ways to feed hungry kids in the summer. In Hopkins County, Ky., they’re using mobile vans to take food to where kids live. (NPR http://n.pr/1z7zeWW)
The Colombian armed forces kill eight rebels from the left-wing National Liberation Army in an operation in eastern Arauca province. (BBC http://bbc.in/1Ab4rdj)
Opinion/Blogs
How to Negotiate a Gaza Ceasefire (UN Dispatch http://bit.ly/1z9buln)
How can politics change to serve future generations (on climate change, but lots of other stuff too)? (From Poverty to Power http://bit.ly/1ojbdJ5)
Patriarchy allows child marriage and female genital mutilation to flourish (Guardian http://bit.ly/1Ab3r92)
Empowering DR Congo’s Sexual Violence Survivors by Enforcing Reparations (IPS http://bit.ly/1z7ATf7)
We will not banish AIDS until we banish stigma (ONE Campaign http://bit.ly/1rDEnFf)
Why Ebola epidemic is spinning out of control (CNN http://cnn.it/1oj4cYQ)
Why Are We Ignoring a New Ebola Outbreak? (NY Times http://nyti.ms/1oj8Ndr)
The Implications of India’s 2014 Budget for Financial Inclusion (Center for Financial Inclusion blog http://bit.ly/1ojbagt)