News in the Humanosphere: A profoundly disturbing climate change report

The latest from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change offers the starkest warning yet of the social and economic consequences of inaction on climate change. “The gathering risks of climate change are so profound that they could stall or even reverse generations of progress against poverty and hunger if greenhouse emissions continue at a runaway pace, according to a major new United Nations report. Despite growing efforts in many countries to tackle the problem, the global situation is becoming more acute as developing countries join the West in burning huge amounts of fossil fuels. … Failure to reduce emissions, the group of scientists and other experts found, could threaten society with food shortages, refugee crises, the flooding of major cities and entire island nations, mass extinction of plants and animals, and a climate so drastically altered it might become dangerous for people to work or play outside during the hottest times of the year.” (NYT http://nyti.ms/1pgthql)

The Gates Foundation gives malaria funding big boost … “Philanthropist Bill Gates says he wants to end malaria in his lifetime and will give more money toward that goal, part of his broader fight against tropical diseases that are getting unusual public attention because of the Ebola epidemic. In an interview with The Associated Press and in a speech Sunday at a global health conference in New Orleans, the Microsoft co-founder said his Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation would increase its malaria program budget by 30 percent, to more than $200 million per year. That’s on top of the foundation’s other donations to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.” (ABC http://abcn.ws/1pgtKZu)

Suicide attack on the Pakistan-India border… “At least 45 people were killed on Sunday when a suicide bomber blew himself up near the Pakistani-Indian border, police said, just after a daily ceremony when troops from both sides simultaneously lower the two nations’ flags. The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was a response to the Pakistani army’s actions against their positions in tribal areas straddling Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan.” (Reuters http://reut.rs/1pgtiKL)

Ebola

Quarantines ordered by some U.S. states for doctors and nurses returning from West African countries hit by Ebola have a “chilling effect” on aid work in those countries, aid group MSF has said. (Al Jazeera http://aje.me/1pgtytn)

This is what it’s like inside an Ebola testing lab in Mali. (Quartz http://bit.ly/1pgtpWJ)

Ebola is spreading up to nine times faster in parts of Sierra Leone than two months ago, a report by the Africa Governance Initiative said on Sunday. (AFP http://bit.ly/1pgu8qO)

Visiting Guéckédou, Guinea, where the unprecedented outbreak of Ebola in West Africa is believed to have started, the United Nations envoy coordinating the massive global crisis response said that while there are now “basically zero” cases in the town, the challenge will be to replicate the strategy to defeat the disease throughout the country and the wider region. (UN http://bit.ly/1pgtxpk)

Africa

Burkina Faso’s military has said it will install a transitional government, days after it seized power as President Blaise Compaore’s resigned. (BBC http://bbc.in/1pgtWYA)

The Malian military says two soldiers were killed by an explosive device in the country’s volatile north. (ABC http://abcn.ws/1pgtnOv )

A portrait of the hardships faced by African migrants in Russia (LAT http://lat.ms/1pgtrhd)

MENA

A gunman killed the head of a Yemeni liberal political party in Sanaa on Sunday, his family said, as Al-Qaeda suspects killed 18 troops and captured 15 others farther west. (AFP http://yhoo.it/1pgtYQd)

1.9 million people are displaced in Iraq. (OCHA http://bit.ly/1pgu2Q0)

Asia

Bangladesh has restored power in most of the country, a day after a transmission line bringing electricity from neighboring India failed, causing a nationwide blackout, officials have said. (Al Jazeera http://aje.me/1pgtmKC)

The Americas

Haiti’s President Michel Martelly vowed Sunday to call elections early next year if a political impasse – that saw long-delayed polls postponed last week – forces him to rule by decree. (AFP http://yhoo.it/1pgtTMA)

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