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An unfortunate milestone. For the first time, Ebola has spread outside of Africa from one infected person to another. “Spanish Health Minister Ana Mato has confirmed that a nurse who treated two victims of Ebola in Madrid has tested positive for the disease. The nurse is said to be the first person in the current outbreak known to have contracted Ebola outside Africa. The woman was part of the team that treated Spanish priests Manuel Garcia Viejo and Miguel Pajares, who both died of the virus, officials say…The nurse was admitted to hospital in Alcorcon, near Madrid, on Monday morning with a high fever, she said.” (BBC http://bbc.in/ZaqEtk)
Meanwhile, the USA will start screening some airline passengers for symptoms of ebola. The president made the announcement after meeting with national security and health staff. (White House http://1.usa.gov/ZaqMZN)
Kenya’s President Relinquishes Power Ahead of ICC Trial…”In an unexpected move, President Uhuru Kenyatta on Monday surrendered power to Deputy President William Ruto for him to attend court on Wednesday at The Hague. The transfer of power was achieved with high theatre, with Mr Kenyatta arriving at Parliament to a guard of honour and the National Anthem and leaving his office at Harambee House without the usual ceremony of a presidential escort. The decree signed by Mr Kenyatta handing over to Mr Ruto was unprecedented in the country and his willingness to forego, for a while, the public ceremonies of power, was quite unusual.” (Daily Nation http://bit.ly/ZaqZfJ)
ONE Releases the 2014 DATA Report...The report: provides the latest updates on aid spending globally and in sub-Saharan Africa; examines the composition and targeting of aid and rules for measuring ODA loans; profiles progress by the G7, the European Union and Australia, and; assesses whether African countries are meeting their own budget promises and prioritizing spending on health, agriculture and education. Finally the report offers 11 specific recommendations to improve public finance for development beyond 2015. http://bit.ly/ZarkPq
Africa
Thousands of Nigerians who have fled attacks by Islamist militant group Boko Haram are crowded into Minawao refugee camp in Cameroon’s Far North Region, living in increasingly squalid conditions and at risk of contracting measles and other diseases, according to relief agencies. (IRIN http://bit.ly/ZqyTly)
The Head of World Hope International says Sierra Leone has a shortage of ambulances and isolation centers, making it much more difficult to contain the Ebola outbreak. (VOA http://bit.ly/ZqzSSG)
Famine could strike one million people across South Sudan early next year if the civil war escalates, a report said. (TRF http://bit.ly/1vJqDtb)
A lengthy postponement of elections in Central African Republic meant to complete a return to democracy following a March 2013 coup would risk further worsening the crisis there, the top U.N. official in the region said. (Reuters http://bit.ly/Zqyn6V)
The Press Union of Liberia has urged the Liberian government to concentrate its energy on fighting the deadly Ebola virus outbreak and stop trying to prevent journalists from doing their work. (VOA http://bit.ly/ZqAA2q)
Reports of violence are on the rise in camps for displaced people in South Sudan’s capital, Juba. Growing frustration with the ongoing conflict in the country is starting to wear on an already stressed and traumatized population. (VOA http://bit.ly/1vJs3E6)
The president of the World Bank will appeal directly to President Uhuru Kenyatta to resolve a Kenyan human rights crisis in which thousands of indigenous forest people have been forcibly evicted from a reserve in the name of water conservation. (Guardian http://bit.ly/1vJslLb)
A Ugandan health worker recently died of Marburg, a highly infectious disease that manifests as a viral hemorrhagic fever, Uganda’s Ministry of Health confirmed Monday as health workers moved to quarantine a total of 80 people who had been in contact with the victim. (AP http://yhoo.it/ZqHJzy)
MENA
Nine months of shelling, airstrikes and street battles have taken a heavy toll on Iraq’s “forgotten” province of Anbar, the first to be overrun by Islamic State militants. (IRIN http://bit.ly/1vJqZ2X)
More than 2,000 Syrian Kurds including women and children are being evacuated from border town of Kobani after Islamic State militants who have besieged the town for nearly three weeks have advanced towards the city center, a translator for the leading Kurdish political group in Syria said. (AP http://yhoo.it/1vJtYbK)
Asia
Thailand’s military has appointed a 250-member advisory group dominated by people close to the traditional ruling elite to help write a new national constitution. (AP http://yhoo.it/1vJtp1B)
Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests have been getting massive coverage overseas. In China, however, state media continue to limit public information about what is happening in the port city, tailoring coverage to fit the government’s narrative and position that the gathering is “illegal,” is “doomed to fail” and is a threat to Hong Kong’s democratic development. (VOA http://bit.ly/1vJsq1r)
The World Bank trimmed this year’s growth forecast for developing East Asian economies on Monday and urged governments to improve conditions for investment and exports. (AP http://yhoo.it/1vJsUEA)
The Americas
In Latin America’s latest challenge to Washington’s ‘war on drugs,’ Ecuador has quietly begun releasing thousands of convicted cocaine smugglers. (GlobalPost http://bit.ly/1vJsz4Y)
It’s official: Brazil’s presidential vote is headed for a runoff. Preliminary election results from the South American country show President Dilma Rousseff in the lead with Aecio Neves in second place. (CNN http://cnn.it/1vJraLJ)
Opinion/Blogs
Meet Scott Guggenheim, the most influential international development expert you’ve (probably) never heard of. (Global Dispatches Podcast http://bit.ly/ZaqZfJ)
Seven things we now know about how the world has handled ebola (The Washington Post http://wapo.st/1CPcJbh)
Ebola must never again be allowed to claim lives for want of basic healthcare (Guardian http://bit.ly/1vJs6zJ)
Planet Racing Towards Catastrophe and Politics Just Looking On (IPS http://bit.ly/1vJsHBm)
Looking at Poverty…Through the Eyes of a Child (Africa Can End Poverty http://bit.ly/1vJIRIZ)
Bundling mHealth Info and Microinsurance to Improve Health Outcomes in Kenya (CFI http://bit.ly/1vJIX3e)
More taxes for Africa (Chris Blattman http://bit.ly/1vJJ5zR)
At the Heart of Ebola — Health Systems That Need Strengthening (USAID Impact http://1.usa.gov/1EmtDzD)
That story about Akon’s “giant Ebola air bubble” (Africa is a Country http://bit.ly/1EmtGeR)
USAID Wastes Billions Shipping American Food Abroad: Report (IB Times http://bit.ly/1vJJMcm)
Research/Reports
Almost 40% of the world’s waste ends up in huge rubbish tips, mostly found near urban populations in poor countries, posing a serious threat to human health and the environment. (Guardian http://bit.ly/ZqFdcC)
Governments are failing to meet goals to protect animals and plants set out in a biodiversity plan for 2020 that also aims to increase food supplies and slow climate change, a U.N. report showed. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/1vJsXjZ)
Wealthy countries are still subsidizing their farmers at the expense of developing nations, undermining market access for some of the world’s poorest producers, two farm ministers told a Food and Agriculture Organization meeting. (TRF http://yhoo.it/1vJu1nN)