Ebola Re-Emerges in Liberia

This outbreak could be linked to individuals deemed to have been cured from ebola, suggesting that the virus can live on in individuals for month after symptoms lapse. ”Liberia has placed 153 people under surveillance as it seeks to control a new Ebola outbreak in the capital more than two months after the country was declared free of the virus, health officials said…Three Ebola cases emerged in Liberia on Friday. The first of the new patients was a 15-year-old boy called Nathan Gbotoe from Paynesville, a suburb east of the capital Monrovia. Two other family members have since been confirmed as positive and they are all hospitalized.  (Reuters http://bit.ly/1LunKjS)

Police Shooting in Nepal Could Escalate to Something Worse…“Police in southern Nepal opened fire on ethnic protesters blocking the nation’s main highway, killing two in fresh violence that threatened to escalate political tensions, officials said Sunday…Police were trying to stop the protesters from blocking the main East-West highway when they were attacked with petrol bombs, spears and bricks around midnight, police official Bhim Dhakal said. He said that 25 policemen and several protesters were injured in two separate attacks.” (AP http://yhoo.it/1P123PZ)

A Preview of Pope Francis’ Africa trip this week…Pope Francis heads to Africa this week for the riskiest trip of his papacy, defying danger with an open-topped popemobile and visits to a slum, refugee camp and mosque despite security fears following jihadist attacks.The Argentine pontiff will urge efforts towards peace, social justice and conciliation between Islam and Christianity on his travels to Kenya, Uganda and the Central African Republic (CAR) during the five-day trip from Wednesday. His bodyguards will be working overtime in a region riddled with jihadist violence and following a spate of deadly attacks from France to Turkey and Mali by gunmen claiming to be acting in the name of Islam.(New Vision http://bit.ly/1NlvNXu

Touching profile of the American aid worker killed in the Mali attack…RIP, Anita Datar (WaPo  http://wapo.st/1Nlwal4

Africa

At least five people were killed in overnight clashes in Burundi, police said on Sunday, denying residents’ reports of shelling late at night at the president’s office in the capital Bujumbura. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/1P12Osg)

Eight people were killed Sunday when a female suicide bomber detonated her explosives among a group of women and children arriving in Maiduguri, northeast Nigeria, from the countryside ravaged by Boko Haram. (AFP http://yhoo.it/1QYiYSG)

Drought has ruined this year’s harvest for many Ethiopian farmers. In a country where 85 percent of the people are farmers, millions are in need of aid. (VOA http://bit.ly/1MLeiua)

Four civilians were killed in northern Cameroon on Saturday in a suicide bomb assault by suspected Boko Haram militants in which three female attackers and one man blew themselves up, security sources said. (Reuters http://bit.ly/1LunKQQ)

Kenya’s planning minister says she is resigning her position for health reasons after allegations of corruption surfaced. (VOA http://bit.ly/1P124mV)

The assault on a luxury hotel in Mali’s capital that killed 19 people was a clear attempt to derail a fragile peace process meant to stabilize the country’s volatile north, a representative of northern separatist groups said Sunday. (AP http://yhoo.it/1Lun7H5)

African gays who often face persecution in the streets and sometimes prosecution in courts have a simple plea for Pope Francis ahead of his first visit to the continent: bring a message of tolerance even if you will not bless our sexuality. (Reuters http://bit.ly/1LunIIM)

MENA

Syrian government troops are advancing on “nearly every front” thanks to Russian air strikes that began in September, President Bashar al-Assad said in an interview released Sunday. (AFP http://yhoo.it/1Lun5il)

Egyptians voted Sunday in the second stage of parliamentary elections, a vote that will produce the country’s first legislature in more than three years. (VOA http://bit.ly/1NlwuQI)

An Israeli woman was stabbed to death and three Palestinian attackers were killed in a series of incidents in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on Sunday, police said, as an eight-week-old wave of bloodshed showed no signs of dying down. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/1Lun2Dc)

U.S. President Barack Obama on Sunday said the United States and its allies would not relent in its fight to combat Islamic State extremists and would hunt down their leaders and cut off the group’s financing. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/1N6wwKg)

British Prime Minister David Cameron will this week set out the case for joining air strikes against Islamic State militants in Syria, his finance minister said on Sunday, in a bid to persuade a parliament loath to embark on another war in the Middle East. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/1N6wyC1)

There is a brewing scandal in US military intelligence circles in which senior officers seemed to reverse or downplay analysts assessments about ISIS’s strength. (NYT http://nyti.ms/1NlvrAe)

Asia

A landslide near a jade mine in northern Myanmar killed about 100 people, most of them villagers digging for green stones in a mountain of displaced earth, a witness and a community leader said Sunday. Many other people were missing. (AP http://yhoo.it/1P125ax)

Unknown assailants opened fire on a Bangladesh television channel’s vehicle and wounded a journalist on Sunday, hours after two opposition leaders were hanged for war crimes committed during the 1971 war to break away from Pakistan. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/1N6wsdn)

Iran has sentenced detained Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian to an unspecified prison term following his conviction last month on charges that include espionage, Iranian state TV reported Sunday. (AP http://yhoo.it/1N6wvpO)

Hong Kong went to the polls Sunday for the first time since huge pro-democracy protests gripped the city, in a key test of public sentiment. (AFP http://yhoo.it/1P124DI)

The Americas

A wave of toxic mud travelling down the Rio Doce river in Brazil from a collapsed dam has reached the Atlantic Ocean, amid concerns it will cause severe pollution. (BBC http://bbc.in/1N6vHB9)

Colombia’s government announced Sunday it is granting pardons to 30 jailed members of the FARC as a confidence-building measure in its peace talks with the leftist guerrilla group. (AFP http://yhoo.it/1P12QAk)

Colombia’s FARC rebels, who are negotiating a peace accord with the government, said they will not disarm or sign a deal unless rightwing paramilitary groups are eliminated. (AFP http://yhoo.it/1LumwF2)

The Obama administration is assuring governors that refugees who come to the United States in its resettlement program undergo a “rigorous security vetting process,” particularly if they are fleeing from Syria. (AP http://yhoo.it/1T8vCOb)

…and the rest

Around 3,000 protesters have gathered in Barcelona to support an organization that seeks the creation of a Catalan state independent from Spain and urge regional lawmakers to reach an agreement to form a transitional government. (AP http://yhoo.it/1T8wkeg)

Migrants barred from crossing the Greece-Macedonia border held a fourth day of protests Sunday, as Macedonia’s president criticized the European Union over the refugee crisis for a lack of financial support and data sharing. (AP http://yhoo.it/1QYiWKK)

Conditions for hundreds of migrants stuck on Balkan borders worsened on Sunday as temperatures dropped and a first smattering of snow fell. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/1T8w139)

Opinion/Blogs

A Disgusting Fact about Toilets (UN Dispatch http://bit.ly/1MwhonP)

On the fight for human rights and the refugee crisis next door (Humanosphere http://bit.ly/1lCWzyg)

What if 2 C isn’t enough to cap global warming? (AFP http://yhoo.it/1MLeD05)

Speaking truth to power (ODI http://bit.ly/1T8wgLB)

Refugees: That Time Everyone Said ‘No’ And Bolivia Said ‘Yes’ (NPR http://n.pr/1MwgVlR)

Who supports Australian aid? (Dev Policy http://bit.ly/1SdfuKx)


The ICC, A Victims’ Court? It Could Happen (Justice in Conflict http://bit.ly/1Mwha04)

The best and worst aid videos of 2015 (From Poverty to Power http://bit.ly/1MwhcFp)

Falling Oil Prices Weighing Down Angolan Economy (Africanist Perspective http://bit.ly/1N6AWks)

“Industrial-strength” poverty reduction? Thoughts on Africa Industrialization Day (Africa Can End Poverty http://bit.ly/1Mwhkon)

We can’t achieve the Global Goals without a focus on child nutrition (Guardian http://bit.ly/1Sdg6Qm)