Boko Haram Attacks School Children, Once Again

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Some victims were as young as 11. “At least 47 people were killed and 79 were wounded Monday by a suicide bombing outside a school in northern Nigeria, police said. The attacker was disguised as a student when he set off the explosion in a government boarding school in the town of Potiskum, police spokesman Emmanuel Ojukwu said…The explosion took place at 7:50 a.m. local time outside the principal’s office, where students had gathered for a daily speech…In February, Boko Haram gunmen killed at least 40 students when they opened fire and threw explosives in student hostels in a government boarding school in the town of Buni Yadi, in Yobe state. And last year, 42 students were killed when Boko Haram gunmen attacked dormitories with guns and explosives in a government boarding school near Potiskum.” (CNN http://cnn.it/1sxtgK9)

Tweet of the Day: Actually a series of tweets from the the founder of the (excellently acronymed!) Diaspora African Women’s Network, Semhar Araia. Upon news that artists were planning to re-record the horribly patronizing “Do They Know that it’s Christmas” to raise funds for ebola relief she tweeted: “You know how#BandAid30 could celebrate its anniversary? By NOT doing another BandAid & instead supporting existing Africa#Ebola campaigns.” http://bit.ly/1sxu4Pm

Local Malala Backlash…The All Pakistan Private Schools Federation, which claims to represent 150,000 schools across Pakistan, declared that Monday would be “I am not Malala” day and urged the government to ban her memoir, “I Am Malala,” because it offended Islam and the “ideology of Pakistan.” (NYT http://nyti.ms/1sxscpA)

Cuban Twitter fallout…USAID is preparing internal rules that would effectively end risky undercover work in hostile countries, such as the once-secret “Cuban Twitter” program it orchestrated. (AP http://yhoo.it/1uTEgYh)

Vaccine clues from WWI…The elusive dysentery vaccine might be possible, thanks to a soldier who fought in World War One, according to researchers in a study published in the British medical journal, The Lancet. (VOA http://bit.ly/1xEugzL)

Community Bulletin: The ASTMH Annual Meeting has wrapped. Looking for the big news and highlights? The Society along with its partners has pulled together original and curated content from the meeting, including: 10 Ebola Insights from the Annual Meeting (this is the stuff you’re not hearing anywhere else) Full audio of the Ebola media briefing and Why malaria is rebounding in Tanzania

Ebola

The United States has opened the first of 17 Ebola treatment units it is building in Liberia. (AP http://yhoo.it/1yqyevZ)

A pretty amazing story of how the outbreak in Mali was successfully contained. (NYT http://nyti.ms/1sxrSat)

The U.N. atomic agency said on Monday it had sent Sierra Leone equipment first used in nuclear processes that can help it quickly diagnose the deadly Ebola virus and it was also in contact with other West African states about their needs. (Reuters http://bit.ly/1yqsdPJ)

Doctors Without Borders called Monday for a change of strategy in the fight against Ebola in Liberia, to fund rapid response teams rather than huge isolation units. (AFP http://yhoo.it/1uTFDGn)

Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has ordered four soldiers and their commanding officer to be punished for their actions during a protest over an Ebola quarantine in August, a government statement said. (Reuters http://bit.ly/1uTwrli)

Do they still not know it’s Christmas, in Africa? Musician and philanthropist Bob Geldof, who in 1984 inspired a generation of rock stars to record a charity single for Africa, will raise money to combat Ebola with a new version of the song. (Reuters http://bit.ly/1yqsmmi

More than 100 Filipino peacekeepers returning from almost a year in Liberia will be put in quarantine on an isolated island on arrival this week to check for Ebola, the military said on Monday, adding there were fears how the public might react. (Reuters http://bit.ly/1uTxrFY)

Google launched a campaign Monday to raise money to fight Ebola, tossing $10 million into the pot and saying it will match donations to the fund two to one. http://yhoo.it/1xEkm0R

Africa

The United Nations said it has sent its first aid convoy from Sudan into South Sudanese territory, with enough supplies to feed 45,000 people for a month. (AFP http://bit.ly/1uTu02e)

A U.N. team investigating allegations of a mass rape in Sudan’s North Darfur say they have found no evidence of the reported attack. But a senior U.N. official says it is not yet possible to confirm that no rapes took place. (VOA http://bit.ly/1xEkH3I)

Human Rights Watch has criticised a draft agreement to bring peace to conflict-hit Mali, saying Monday the deal would not provide justice for abuses committed by all sides. (AFP http://yhoo.it/1ugjyjO)

Residents of war-torn South Sudan are enduring “unspeakable abuse and violence” as well as the threat of famine, said a report from the International Rescue Committee. (Yahoo http://yhoo.it/1yqyoTZ)

Forty-eight hours after the latest ceasefire deal in South Sudan, a battle broke out on Monday between government troops and rebel fighters in which 29 combattants died, said a military spokesman. (AP http://yhoo.it/1xEjTMm)

Opposition parties, civil society groups and religious leaders adopted a plan for a transitional authority to guide Burkina Faso to elections, after a popular uprising forced longtime president Blaise Compaore from power. (Reuters http://bit.ly/1uTxBNA)

With hundreds of soldiers from its member states successfully completing a series of joint exercises and manoeuvres in Congo, the Economic Community of Central African States says its Multinational Force for Central Africa, is now ready to intervene in local conflicts and be part of global anti-terrorism initiatives. (IRIN http://bit.ly/1uTyTbw)

Ethiopia’s policy of leasing millions of hectares of land to foreign investors is encouraging human rights violations, ruining livelihoods and disturbing a delicate political balance between ethnic groups, a think tank report has found. (Guardian http://bit.ly/1yqulXI)

MENA

An Israeli soldier and an Israeli woman were killed on Monday in separate stabbing attacks that the authorities attributed to Palestinian men, rattling Israelis and intensifying the political pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. (NYT http://nyti.ms/1sxt79L)

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has established a board of inquiry to investigate deaths, injuries and damage to United Nations premises during this summer’s Gaza war as well as the discovery of weapons in vacant U.N. schools. (AP http://yhoo.it/1ugiQ64)

The FAO warns that an additional $38.5 million in support is urgently needed to prevent Iraq’s agricultural sector from collapsing and an already-worrisome food security situation from further degenerating. http://bit.ly/1yqq2f1

Egypt’s most active militant group, Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, has sworn allegiance to Islamic State, the al Qaeda offshoot which has seized territory in Syria and Iraq, according to an audio clip posted on its Twitter account. (Reuters http://bit.ly/1uTxO3m)

Syrian President Bashar Assad said on Monday that the U.N. envoy’s proposal to implement a cease-fire in the embattled northern city of Aleppo was “worth studying.” (AP http://yhoo.it/1uTCCWx)

Asia

After a struggle lasting decades, Aung San Suu Kyi is now losing a fight to erase a constitutional clause, authored by Myanmar’s generals, designed to permanently block her from leading the nation. (GlobalPost http://bit.ly/1yqtcPT)

U.S. President Barack Obama said on Monday he sees momentum building for a Washington-backed free trade agreement in the Asia-Pacific, after arriving in Beijing on the first leg of an eight-day Asia tour. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/1uTBjqv)

More than 200 boat people held in southern Thailand will be pushed back out to sea, police said on Monday, despite calls by rights group to stop a policy that puts would-be asylum seekers at risk. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/1uTDkmx)

WFP says it has enough donations to stay open in North Korea for the rest of this year but is uncertain whether it will be able to operate there beyond next March. (AP http://yhoo.it/1yqzhvY)

People covered their bodies with mud to protest against the Philippine government’s ineptitude and abandonment; others lit paper lanterns and candles and released white doves and balloons to remember the dead, offer thanks and pray for more strength to move on; while many trooped to a vast grave site with white crosses to lay flowers for those who died, and to cry one more time. (IPS http://bit.ly/1yqzwai)

The Americas

Colombians are being kept off their farms by armed groups and illegal businesses. Those fighting for land restitution have a blunt message for British firms and politicians. (Guardian http://bit.ly/1yqugTW)

Opinion/Blogs

A wide-ranging conversation with ONE Campaign executive director Tom Hart on topics from PEPFAR, to the MCC to the Jubilee Campaign to his Alaskan upbringing. (Global Dispatches Podcast http://bit.ly/1ugt4mN)

A Cambodian Journalist Was Killed Trying to Cover Illegal De-forestation (UN Dispatch http://bit.ly/1xEwDlW)

Ebola cases fall in Liberia, rise in Sierra Leone, and concerns persist (Humanosphere http://bit.ly/1ugsRA1)

What do 600 papers on 20 types of interventions tell us about how much impact evaluations generalize?  (World Bank Development Impact http://bit.ly/1ugtf1y)

Ebola Today Could Mean Illiteracy Tomorrow In West Africa (NPR http://n.pr/1yqqsSF)

An aid loan is not just a throw of the dice (David Roodman http://bit.ly/1ugtrOe)

The Lesson of London’s Sewers for Clean Government (CGD http://bit.ly/1yqtw1c)

Poll: is it time for a woman to lead the UN? (Guardian http://bit.ly/1uTG6Z9)

Could Addis Deliver a Global Deal Around Sustainable Infrastructure Finance? (CGD http://bit.ly/1xEiS6P)

Famous founders: A blessing or a curse? (WhyDev http://bit.ly/1ugsB4j)

Fighting Impunity: The Role of Sanctions in Ending Conflict in Congo (Enough Project http://bit.ly/1ugsEwQ)

Who do you think you are? (Wait…What? http://bit.ly/1ugsllP)

The Bullshit Files: The “Mandela” Ray Ban “Sculpture” in Cape Town (Africa is a Country http://bit.ly/1ugsw0q)