VOICE OF AMERICA by Joe DeCapua                              Jan. 22, 2015

Even though the Ebola outbreak in West Africa continues, the U.N. says it’s time to plan for the recovery of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. A joint mission has just completed its assessment in Sierra Leone.

A man suffering from the Ebola virus lies on the floor outside a house in Port Loko Community, situated on the outskirts of Freetown, in Sierra Leone. (AP Photo/Michael Duff, File photo)

REUTERS by Stephanie Nebehay                                                                        Jan. 22, 2015

GENEVA (Reuters) - The Ebola epidemic in West Africa appears to be ebbing, with fewer than 150 cases reported in the past week, but efforts must be pursued to stamp out the deadly disease, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Thursday.

Sierra Leone remains hardest-hit, accounting for 117 of the 145 new confirmed cases, against 184 there the previous week and 248 the week before that, the WHO said in its latest update.

"Case incidence continues to fall in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone," the United Nations agency said, adding that disease surveillance was being stepped up in border districts of Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Mali and Senegal....

The WHO's Emergency Committee on Ebola said on Wednesday that passengers should still be screened on leaving Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone for temperature or other signs of infection.

The independent experts said in a statement that "more than 40 countries have implemented additional measures, such as quarantine of returning travellers and refusal of entry. Such measures are impeding the recruitment and return of international responders.

Read complete story.

Gravemarkers at a cemetary at the Kenama, Sierra Leone Ebola treatment center. (Francisco Leong, AFP)

MAIL&GUARDIAN    by Emma Farge and Umaro Fofana                                            Jan. 21, 2015

A military-style operation to fight Ebola in Sierra Leone has helped dramatically reduce new cases in what health officials say is a major step towards defeating the deadly disease.

Since it was launched about a month ago, the operation has doubled the number of ambulances for patients in the densely populated west of Sierra Leone, the worst-affected country where more than 3 000 people have died.

 Aid workers have reported success in changing behaviour in rural areas, notably discouraging people from burial rituals involving direct contact with the dead, a major source of transmission.

As a result, transmission of the haemorrhagic fever has slowed sharply in the West African country, which has recorded more than 10 000 cases since May. There were just 184 new cases in the week to January 11, the lowest in five months.

Read complete story

THE CONVERSATION  by Meera Inglis (affiliated with the Green Party of England)     Jan. 20, 2015

                                                  Ebola has wiped out a third of the world’s gorillas.

THE CONVERSATION  by Meera Inglis (affiliated with the Green Party of England)                       Jan. 20, 2015

There is a side to the Ebola crisis that, perhaps understandably, has received little media attention: the threat it poses to our nearest cousins, the great apes of Africa. At this moment in time Ebola is the single greatest threat to the survival of gorillas and chimpanzees.

The virus is even more deadly for other great apes as it is for humans, with mortality rates approximately 95% for gorillas and 77% for chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Current estimates suggest a third of the world’s gorillas and chimpanzees have died from Ebola since the 1990s.

BBC    by Alhassan Sillah                                                  Jan. 20, 2015
CONAKRY --Three priests from a Baptist church in Guinea have been beaten up and held hostage because local people mistook them for Ebola awareness campaigners.

The priests had gone to the village of Kabac in Forecariah intending to spray insecticide on wells and pit latrines, a BBC reporter says.

But they were set upon by villagers who suspected they may have been bringing the Ebola virus into the area, he adds.

Earlier this month, residents in Forecariah attacked and killed two police officers they suspected of bringing Ebola to the area.

The priests were badly beaten and their vehicle was set on fire.

Read comlete story.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-30900917

BALTIMORE SUN     by Scott Dance                                                   Jan. 20, 2015

In the year since Ebola began spreading across West Africa, the virus has mutated in more than 600 ways that change it slightly from versions studied in labs and used to develop treatments, according to researchers at Fort Detrick. And 10 of the mutations could make some drugs used to treat the virus ineffective, they wrote in research published Tuesday.

The "genomic drift," as the scientists called it, could make agents similar to the experimental drug ZMapp unable to bind to the virus anymore.

While the changes affect only a tiny fraction of Ebola's genome, they offer new lessons about the virus that might not have been learned because of the wide scope of the outbreak, larger than all others combined
Read complete story.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/health/bs-hs-ebola-mutation-20150120-story.html

VOICE OF AMERICA    by  Jennifer Lazuta                                                         Jan. 20, 2015
DAKAR, SENEGAL—Sub-Saharan African countries have made relatively small, but “vitally important,” contributions towards the fight against Ebola according to the U.N. Mission for Ebola Emergency Response. This includes sending much-needed health care workers and medical supplies, as well as dedicating already-limited resources toward prevention and surveillance measures within their own borders to stop the further spread of the disease.

Health workers accompany a nine-year-old who contracted the Ebola virus to a Monrovia treatment center.

More than 850 doctors and nurses from African countries have been deployed to Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone to help bring an end to West Africa’s Ebola outbreak, which has killed more than 8,500 people since it began nearly a year ago.  

African countries also have collectively donated tens of millions of dollars in financial aid and material resources.

BBC  by Joe Miller                                                                                                    Jan. 21, 2015
DAVOS Switzerland -- The Western world is "vulnerable" to epidemics such as Ebola, and must invest more in researching vaccines, a leading scientist has warned.

Prof Peter Piot told the BBC that developed nations would be in "deep trouble" if they failed to adequately prepare for another outbreak.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum, in Davos, he urged global leaders to take a "long-term view". Public health policies must "transcend politics and borders", he said.

The threat of Ebola, and other infectious diseases such as influenza and Sars, are set to be discussed in Switzerland this week, as politicians and business leaders from around the globe gather for the annual WEF.

Read complete story.

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-30907630

BLOOMBERG  By Simeon Bennett and Makiko Kitamura                                                       Jan. 21, 2015
(Two links. Scroll below.)

Ebola remains a global health emergency, the United Nations said today as it sought another $1 billion in donations to fight the deadly outbreak in West Africa.

More money is needed for the World Health Organization, Unicef and the World Food Programme, David Nabarro, the UN’s special envoy for Ebola, said at a briefing today at the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland.

“We can’t let down our guard,” Tom Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said in a Bloomberg Television interview at Davos. “We have to get over the finish line and then learn from this experience to build better systems so that it doesn’t get out of control the next time” an infectious disease epidemic occurs.

Ebola treatment centres have often not been completed until the virus has passed its peak.
Photograph: Francisco Leong/AFP/Getty Images

UN’s lead Ebola co-ordinator en route to Davos says last third of the $1.5bn pledged to tackle disease needs to be paid in order to end the outbreak

theguardian.com - by Sarah Boseley - January 20, 2015

Half a billion dollars of aid pledged to end the Ebola outbreak in west Africa still hasn’t been paid, according to the UN’s response co-ordinator.

Dr David Nabarro, in London and on his way to Davos to discuss progress against Ebola and future plans, said about two-thirds of the promised $1.5bn had been paid so far. “This last third is the most precious money but probably the most difficult money,” he told the Guardian. “My focus over the next few days here and in Davos is trying to ensure we have enough money to enable the task to be completed.

                                               (TO ENLARGE - CLICK ON IMAGE BELOW)

cnbc.com - by Matt Clinch - January 20, 2015

CLICK HERE - 2015 Edelman Trust Barometer

A rash of unforeseen events in 2014 has left trust in global institutions at six-year lows, according to a new survey released on Tuesday.

The 2015 Edelman Trust Barometer - released to coincide with the beginning of the 2015 World Economic Forum in Davos - surveyed 27,000 people from 27 countries using 20-minute online interviews.

The results of the annual survey - which is now in its 15th year - revealed an "alarming evaporation" of trust across governments, businesses, media outlets and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)

reuters.com - January 20th 2015 - Kevin Yao and Pete Sweeney

China's economy grew at its slowest pace in 24 years in 2014 as property prices cooled and companies and local governments struggled under heavy debt burdens, keeping pressure on Beijing to take aggressive steps to avoid a sharper downturn.

European and Asian shares in fact rose on relief that the news was not worse; the Shanghai Composite index gained 1.85 percent, Japan's Nikkei 225 index saw its biggest one-day gain in a month and European markets rallied.

(VIEW COMPLETE ARTICLE)

Image: At its peak in the 12th and 13th centuries, the Khmer capital of Angkor sprawled over 1,000 square kilometres. Photograph: Robert Harding World Imagery/Getty Images

theguardian.com - January 14th, 2015 - Srinath Perur

After existing for more than a thousand years, the Mayan city of Tikal collapsed in the ninth century. At about the same time, halfway around the world, the city of Angkor was being founded. It would be the grand capital of the Khmer kingdom for six centuries before itself being abandoned.

(VIEW COMPLETE ARTICLE)

BBC                                                                       Jan.19, 2015
Schools have been reopening in Guinea after a five-month closure because of the deadly Ebola outbreak.

Correspondents said the atmosphere at schools was subdued and many pupils had not returned.

                                 Returning pupils had their temperature taken as a precaution

They said parents had been taken by surprise by the government's decision to reopen schools with only four days' notice and many were not prepared.

More than 8,400 people have died in West Africa in the world's worst outbreak of the Ebola virus.

The reopening of schools in Guinea comes four days after the UN said the number of confirmed Ebola cases in the country had fallen to its lowest weekly total since August.

Read complete story.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-30879937

Students block a street as they clash with national guards during a protest against the government in San Cristóbal on Wednesday. Photograph: Reuters

As President Nicolás Maduro tours the world in search of financing, the most conciliatory opposition leader says the time has come to mobilise on the streets

theguardian.com - by Sibylla Brodzinski - January 16, 2015

Even Venezuela’s most conciliatory opposition leader has had enough.

Amid sky-high inflation, an absent president, snaking queues outside supermarkets, and plummeting oil prices, Henrique Capriles said this week that the time was ripe to try to force a change.

“We are in a state of emergency,” he said on Monday. “This is the time to mobilise in the streets.”

(READ COMPLETE ARTICLE)