Yet More Women and Girls Abducted in Nigeria

Want these clips delivered to your inbox? Sign up here. 

Boko Haram reportedly signed a ceasefire 10 days ago. But attacks have increased since then, including a horrific spate of recent kidnappings.  “At least 70 young women and teenage girls and boys have been kidnapped in Borno and Adamawa states since Oct. 18, according to local government chairman Shettima Maina and residents who spoke on condition of anonymity because they feared retribution. The insurgents also launched several attacks since the cease-fire was announced. On Friday a multinational force including troops from Nigeria and Niger engaged in fierce fighting to regain control of Abadam, a town held by Boko Haram on the western shores of Lake Chad.Ten days after the announcement, Boko Haram has not indicated that it has agreed to a truce.” (AP http://yhoo.it/1wCPyRf)

 Quote of the Day: “We want to make sure that whatever policies are put in place in this country to protect the American public do not serve as a disincentive to doctors and nurses from this country volunteering to travel to West Africa to treat Ebola patients,” White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest

Ebola

Australia will no longer issue visas–even for humanitarian purposes–to people from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. (SMH  http://bit.ly/1u0QZZe )

The CDC and Pentagon are both training “go-teams” that can be on the ground within days of an Ebola diagnosis in the U.S. Team members learn about containing infection and dealing with the stress, but it’s unclear how these crews will work with each other. (NPR http://n.pr/1wCEgMQ)

Governments must avoid doing anything to deter desperately needed health workers from coming to West Africa to fight Ebola, the head of the U.N. mission battling the virus said on Monday, adding that quarantine decisions must not be based on hysteria. (Reuters http://bit.ly/1wCFuYr)

The difficulty of finding doctors with field experience is hampering international medical intervention to help curb Ebola in West Africa. Fear of contracting the virus and restricted air travel have also slowed the response. (IRIN http://bit.ly/ZU6rbq)

The U.S. Army has started isolating soldiers returning from an Ebola response mission in West Africa, even though they showed no symptoms of infection and were not believed to have been exposed to the deadly virus, officials said on Monday. (Reuters http://reut.rs/1DUxDq2)

Federal health officials on Monday revamped guidelines for doctors and nurses returning home to the United States from treating Ebola patients in West Africa, stopping well short of controversial mandatory quarantines being imposed by some U.S. states. (Reuters http://reut.rs/1DUxQcS)

Some News on the Ebola Vaccine Front

Following a high-level meeting on access and funding for Ebola vaccines convened yesterday by WHO, MSF has urged that plans to get forthcoming Ebola vaccines and treatments to frontline workers must be rapidly implemented. Significant investment and incentives are needed now to accelerate these steps. (MSF http://bit.ly/ZUczjY)

Colorado State University’s Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing and Academic Resource Center has been awarded $2 million by the U.S. Department of Defense to aid in the development and manufacturing of a vaccine to protect against infection by filoviruses, including the Ebola and Marburg viruses. (press release)

Drugmakers sprinting to develop Ebola vaccines face a series of technical hurdles if they are to get millions of doses ready for use next year — even assuming clinical trials are successful. (Reuters http://bit.ly/1wCNOHH)

Africa

Pirates have launched a spate of attacks in the creeks of Nigeria’s oil-producing Niger Delta region since last Thursday, killing three policemen and abducting at least nine people, security officials said. (Reuters http://bit.ly/ZU2tj5)

Zimbabwe has lost 12 billion dollars in illicit financial flows over the last three decades and experts say this illegal practice is perpetuating social inequalities and poverty in this southern African nation. (IPS http://bit.ly/ZU3wzK)

France’s defence minister on Monday criticised the slow deployment of U.N. peacekeepers in Mali’s volatile northern region, saying the delay had encouraged a fresh wave of Islamist militant attacks there. (Reuters http://bit.ly/ZU4XOu)

Global development lenders, including the World Bank, African Development Bank and European Union, pledged more than $8 billion on Monday to boost economic growth and reduce poverty in eight countries in the Horn of Africa. (Reuters http://bit.ly/1wCHVtX)

South Africa’s biggest union said on Monday it was breaking its alliance with the ruling African National Congress and launching a socialist party, in a major blow to a coalition that has governed since apartheid ended in 1994. (Reuters http://bit.ly/ZU6eoG)

A campaign to vaccinate 21 million children against measles and rubella in Tanzania is part of one of the largest public health interventions in the east African country. As well as immunising against rubella and measles, health workers are distributing vitamin A supplements and deworming tablets, and treating children and adults for neglected tropical diseases, such as elephantiasis. (Guardian http://bit.ly/1wCQV2o)

MENA

A suicide car bomber driving a military Humvee struck a checkpoint manned by Iraqi troops and pro-government Shia militiamen south of Baghdad, killing at least 24 people, officials said. (The Independent http://bit.ly/1wCEwK1)

Heavy fighting flared on Sunday between Libya’s army and Islamist militias apparently trying retake one of their largest camps in the eastern city of Benghazi, military officials said. (Reuters http://bit.ly/ZU6299)

Israel has given the go-ahead for plans to build over 1,000 new Jewish settler homes in annexed east Jerusalem, an official said Monday, sparking a Palestinian warning of an “explosion” of violence. (Yahoo http://yhoo.it/1wCKSuK)

Damascus has provided military support to Kurdish forces to help them battle Islamic State, Syrian media said, in a move that would mean President Bashar al-Assad and his Western enemies could be backing the same forces against Islamist militants. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/ZUc3m2)

Tehran says it has banned the U.N.’s envoy for human rights in Iran from visiting the country, accusing him of political bias. (AP http://yhoo.it/1wCPgdb)

Asia

With hundreds of advanced infection-control hospital rooms left over from the fight against SARS, and with some medical professionals suggesting that the Ebola virus was inherently fragile and unlikely to spread in places with modern medical facilities, many doctors in Asia paid little attention to the disease until very recently. (NY Times http://nyti.ms/ZUac0z)

The Americas

President Rafael Correa Delgado of Ecuador does not mince words when it comes to development. ”Neoliberal policies based on so-called competitiveness, efficiency and the labour flexibility framework have helped the empire of capital to prosper at the cost of human labour,” he told a crowded auditorium at the 15th Raul Prebitsch Lecture. (IPS http://bit.ly/ZU3JD4)

Former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide returned home from exile in 2011 to a jubilant welcome, but lately he has seemed more like a prisoner. (AP http://yhoo.it/1wCKyfq)

Brazil: Rousseff’s slim, three-point margin over centrist candidate Aecio Neves came largely thanks to gains against inequality and poverty since the Workers’ Party first came to power in 2003. (GlobalPost http://bit.ly/1wCDAqE)

Haitians protest in the capital Port-au-Prince as a new postponement of long-delayed legislative and municipal elections is announced. (BBC http://bbc.in/ZUd9OH)

Opinion/Blogs

This “sexy” Ebola suit costume is bullshit (Humanosphere http://bit.ly/ZUdiSh)

Global Dispatches Podcast: The Nick Kristof interview. The journalist discusses how he got his start and some of the big stories of his career. http://www.globaldispatchespodcast.com/

Where Governments Fail, It’s Up to the People to Rise (IPS http://bit.ly/ZTsyPH)

What Does India Really Want at the WTO and at What Price? (CGD http://bit.ly/ZU6x2T)

Is it ok for researchers to mess with elections? (Chris Blattman http://bit.ly/1oRn185)

Is the International Community Abandoning South Sudan? (UN Dispatch http://bit.ly/1oRngA8)

Who wants to change the Congolese constitution? (Congo Siasa http://bit.ly/1oRnDe2)

Killing in the name (The XX Factor http://bit.ly/1oRnW8C)

How Much Is Actually Being Spent on Ebola? (CGD http://bit.ly/1oRo6gn)

The Dookoom debate in South Africa (Africa is a Country http://bit.ly/1oRqm7a)