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A day of massive protests left the parliament burned, three people shot dead and a longstanding African ruler on the brink of losing control. “Burkina Faso’s military dissolved parliament and announced a transitional government on Thursday after violent protests against President Blaise Compaore, but it was not immediately clear who was in charge. Army chief General Honore Traore said the new government would be installed after consultation with all political parties and would lead the country to an election within 12 months. He also announced a curfew from 1900 to 0600 GMT (1500 to 0200 ET).” (Reuters http://reut.rs/1vmiSG1)
Useful New Ebola Response Tracking Tool...This looks to be helpful for measuring the international response to the outbreak against the promises of the international community. From the ONE Campaign “There are many good trackers monitoring various financial pieces of the Ebola response, including those from the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the UN, and the World Bank. But to get the full picture we need to understand the story behind the figures: Which countries have really committed ambitious amounts? How much money is additional to existing commitments for health and development? How many are filling the most urgent needs by providing materials and specialist health care workers?” (ONE http://bit.ly/1vm7b
Encouraging news about MDR-TB…Preliminary data indicate a shorter, less painful treatment regimen is just as effective as current treatment that lasts one to two years. (VOA http://bit.ly/1wKDR9I)io)
Ebola
Doctors Without Borders urged caution Thursday over claims of a slowdown in infections in Ebola-hit Liberia, saying the apparent drop could be due to poor management of the sick. (AFP http://yhoo.it/1E6nAy1)
The international humanitarian organization Action Against Hunger USA warns the Ebola emergency has left a shortage of manpower for food production and a spike in food costs for the three main countries hit hardest by the Ebola outbreak—Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. (VOA http://bit.ly/1wKDHix)
A scientist who helped to discover the Ebola virus says he is concerned that the disease could spread to China given the large numbers of Chinese workers traveling to and from Africa. (AP http://yhoo.it/1E66zUP)
The International Monetary Fund foresees large financing needs next year in the three West African countries hardest hit by the outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus. (Reuters http://bit.ly/1E6uTFX)
Liberia is making some progress in containing the Ebola outbreak while the crisis in Sierra Leone is going to get worse, the top anti-Ebola officials in the two countries said. (AP http://yhoo.it/1E66T64)
The World Bank said Thursday it was immediately providing $100 million to support the deployment of more health workers to Ebola-stricken West Africa. (AFP http://yhoo.it/1E6nOp3)
A British navy mission said it was nervous but ready “to see that Ebola is kicked out” as it arrived in Sierra Leone Thursday to treat victims of the deadly virus. (AFP http://yhoo.it/1wKvGu1)
Africa
U.N. peacekeepers in the Central African Republic freed 67 hostages who had been seized by militia groups, a spokeswoman for the U.N. mission known as MINUSCA said. (Reuters http://bit.ly/1E6v7wR)
A 14-year-old Nigerian girl accused of murdering her 35-year-old husband by putting rat poison in his food could face the death penalty, Nigerian prosecutors said Thursday. (AFP http://yhoo.it/1wKvvP8)
Zambia held a second day of mourning Thursday for president Michael Sata, who died in a London hospital, as his deputy Guy Scott becomes, pending elections. The US called on a peaceful transition in the country. (Yahoo http://yhoo.it/1E65WdV)
Speaking in Kenya on Thursday, UN Secretary-General Ban called female genital mutilation a brutal practice that must be stopped to increase the health, human rights and empowerment of women and girls. (AP http://yhoo.it/1wKvavY)
Heavy fighting in South Sudan’s key northern oil town of Bentiu raged Thursday, aid workers said, as fears of a renewed offensive raised warnings of an escalating humanitarian catastrophe. (AFP http://yhoo.it/1wKvM4J)
Niger’s military says nine security forces have been killed in three simultaneous attacks in the country near the border with Mali. (AP http://yhoo.it/1E6of2F)
Kenya’s mobile money industry could undergo a serious shakeup thanks to new technology. A Kenyan bank is rolling out its own mobile network using a new paper-thin SIM card that sits on top of an ordinary SIM. (VOA http://bit.ly/1wKBdR8)
Cameroon journalists say the government is trying to silence any criticism – a day after a military tribunal barred two reporters from practicing their profession and blocked them from traveling out of the country. (VOA http://bit.ly/1E6sSJT)
Violence in Central African Republic has taken a heavy toll on food security. A new U.N. assessment says crops, livestock and fishing have all been affected. (VOA http://bit.ly/1E6sXgI)
MENA
Sweden on Thursday officially recognised the state of Palestine, becoming the first major European country to do so, in a move hailed as “historic” by Palestinians but denounced by Israel. (AP http://yhoo.it/1E66Jvf)
Amnesty International said it had satellite pictures indicating that rival factions in Libya had committed war crimes by shelling densely populated residential areas in the west of the oil-producing country. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/1wKvhaW)
UNHCR urged Israel to respect the rights of Palestinians, and demanded the country probe violations committed during repeated assaults on Gaza. (AFP http://yhoo.it/1wKvmLD)
Hundreds of Egyptian police surround the walls of Cairo, patrolling in armored vehicles with sirens blaring, while muscle-bound security guards man metal detectors, searching all who enter. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/1E677tL)
The United States is working closely with the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government to clamp down on oil smuggling in a bid to cut off a key source of funding for Islamic State, a senior U.S. official said. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/1E66dNZ)
The U.N. agency that assists Palestinian refugees says Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai has donated $50,000 to rebuild a U.N. school in Gaza damaged during this summer’s Israel-Hamas war. (AP http://yhoo.it/1E6oue9)
The Islamic State militant group has captured hundreds of women and girls over the last few months. The very few who have been able to escape tell stories of rape, forced marriage, and sexual slavery. (VOA http://bit.ly/1E6tsHA)
Asia/Pacific
Hundreds of desperate Sri Lankan villagers dug with bare hands through the broken red earth of a deadly landslide Thursday, defying police orders after a top disaster official said there was no chance of finding more survivors at the high-elevation tea plantation. (AP http://yhoo.it/1E66q3R)
Brothel closures in Indonesian cities could put sex workers in danger and hamper HIV prevention efforts, say health experts and outreach workers. (IRIN http://bit.ly/1E6rwz0)
As Myanmar’s real estate market booms, there are increasing complaints of land confiscation from people who say they are being illegally evicted from their property and cut out of huge profits. (VOA http://bit.ly/1E6tbo4)
The Americas
The Guam Power Authority is planning to build a $589 million power generator from scratch. The power authority plans to stop using its existing oil-burning power plants to comply with environmental regulations. (AP http://yhoo.it/1E65Cf2)
Brazilian police have found the bodies of five men inside a car abandoned in one of the slums of Rio de Janeiro. At least one body was decapitated. (AP http://yhoo.it/1wKvxGJ)
President Michel Martelly’s administration wants to build Haiti’s biggest tourism development here, hoping that foreign visitors can help spur an economic revival in the nation of 10 million, where most adults lack any kind of steady work and survive on less than $2 a day. (AP http://yhoo.it/1wKwjUi)
Opinion/Blogs
Bill Foege on how to make Ebola worse (Humanosphere http://bit.ly/1wKDbB9)
What Liberia Can Teach The U.S. About Quarantines (BuzzFeed http://bzfd.it/1052l0A)
To Combat Malnutrition, Don’t Just Produce More Food—Produce Better Food (National Geographic http://bit.ly/1p7NjTE)
Towards an Inclusive and Sustainable Future for Industrial Development (IPS http://bit.ly/1wKwBKR)
Britain’s refusal to save migrants is an act of inhumanity (The Guardian http://bit.ly/1p7NdeK)
5 interesting things about Zambia’s new leader that have nothing to do with his skin color (GlobalPost http://bit.ly/1E6r83w)
Dilma Rousseff has a second chance to invigorate Brazils foreign policy (Guardian http://bit.ly/1E6rt66)
Beyond dams and pipes: domestic water politics in Ethiopia (ODI http://bit.ly/1E6rQO1)
Better Water Management Needed to Eradicate Poverty (IPS http://bit.ly/1wKwEWU)
Why It’s OK To Worry About Ebola, And What’s Truly Scary (NPR http://n.pr/1wKCVCf)
Gender Trouble for Tuberculosis (Global Fund Observer http://bit.ly/1tmWluD)
Research/Reports
A new paper by the Washington-based Rights and Resources Initiative released found that a significant portion of forests and reserves in emerging markets is being allocated to commercial operations through concessions, ignoring indigenous communities who have lived on them for generations. (IPS http://bit.ly/1wKwnU0)