The World Health Organization announced a new protocol for people with HIV. In short, patients should begin treatment immediately after testing positive. It is in line with what other countries, including the U.S., have recommended. It is no small deal since it means 37 million people living with HIV now need treatment. Doing so won’t be cheap. “To work as a tool to control the epidemic, (these guidelines) will require drastic changes and increased investment,” said Dr. Tom Ellman, director of the Southern Africa Medical Unit for Doctors Without Borders. “Nobody’s going to end AIDS with business as usual.” (AP http://yhoo.it/1iLVmTP)
Peace in the south Asia? Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday proposed a new peace initiative with historical rival India. Speaking at the U.N. General Assembly, Sharif called for the demilitarization of the divided Himalayan region of Kashmir, and for both countries to respect a 2003 cease-fire on the de facto frontier where there has been an increase in cross-border firing. (AP http://yhoo.it/1hbjLB3)
Stat of the day: Slumping imports in China, currency market swings and falling commodities prices have led the World Trade Organization to cut its forecast for global trade in 2015 by half a percentage point. (AP http://yhoo.it/1KSbv1w)
Africa
At least two people died in clashes between gangs and militias in Central African Republic’s capital, where peacekeepers and pressure from world powers have failed to halt more than two years of violence, witnesses said. (Reuters http://bit.ly/1P5OxsQ)
Guinea-Bissau’s largest opposition party, the Party of Social Renewal, will not be joining a new government that is seeking to turn the page on a crisis that has threatened to destabilize the nation, its spokesman said on Tuesday. (VOA http://bit.ly/1P5NDwu)
Unidentified gunmen have killed an opposition party official in Burundi’s Muramvya province, authorities and a colleague of the victim said on Wednesday. (Reuters http://bit.ly/1RghnWL)
More than 20 people were killed in a shootout at the weekend between Mozambican forces and gunmen in a convoy carrying the leader of the main opposition party, a government spokesman said. (Reuters http://bit.ly/1P5Ow8g)
About 500 fishermen in Angola’s Cabinda province are demanding compensation from Chevron Corp., saying it was behind an oil spill that prevented them from catching fish for nearly two weeks, an industry body said. (Reuters http://bit.ly/1P5OzkA)
Political turmoil in Burkina Faso over the past year has taken a toll on the economy. The transitional government is reporting nearly $70 million in losses in the 10 days that followed a short-lived coup by members of the presidential guard earlier this month. (VOA http://bit.ly/1P5NHMC)
Zimbabwe will beginning next year ban the use of electric water geysers and give users five years to migrate to solar-powered water heaters in a bid to save up to 400 megawatts of electricity, energy officials said on Wednesday. (Reuters http://bit.ly/1P5Oz3Q)
MENA
The International Committee of the Red Cross urgently needs funds to cover an unprecedented budget shortfall caused by the conflict in Syria and Iraq, a senior official said, warning that unless needs are met in the region, more refugees will make the hazardous journey to Europe. (Guardian http://bit.ly/1hb6hoL)
Dutch diplomats have dropped their attempt at the top U.N. human rights body to launch a fact-finding mission in war-torn Yemen, clearing the way for a rival initiative led by Saudi Arabia – a major protagonist in the conflict. (AP http://yhoo.it/1Vnva3r)
Asia
Bangladesh’s home minister said Tuesday that there was no evidence that Islamic State terrorists carried out the recent assassination of an Italian aid worker in the capital, Dhaka. (VOA http://bit.ly/1iLJwc5)
With the Afghan government hospital shut down, a facility run by Doctors Without Borders is now the only place for people needing urgent trauma care to be treated in Kunduz, which was taken by the Taliban on Monday. (IRIN http://bit.ly/1P5Nmtx)
A cease-fire agreement soon to be signed by Myanmar’s armed rebel groups and the government is likely to fall short of its goals and will exclude a major group, officials involved in the talks said on Wednesday. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/1Vnv23Y)
Critics of Thailand’s military government are expressing skepticism about promises made by the junta leader during a recent interview. (VOA http://bit.ly/1P5NEAG)
Thousands of Filipino children, some as young as 9 years old, risk their lives by working in illegal, small-scale gold mines under terrifying conditions and the government has not done enough to protect them, a human rights group said Wednesday. (AP http://yhoo.it/1KSbvyv)
Indian trucks carrying food and fuel began trickling into Nepal on Wednesday, a welcomed development for a nation grappling with shortages caused by a blockade during protests against the country’s new constitution. (AP http://yhoo.it/1Vnv1gr)
The Americas
Campaigners want an end to laws that make donating food more costly than destroying it in Peru, a country with huge harvests but high infant malnutrition. (Guardian http://bit.ly/1P5NeKk)
Nicaragua’s normally sleepy northern Caribbean coast in recent weeks has erupted in deadly clashes between Miskito Indians and settlers from the country’s west. (AP http://bit.ly/1P5NFo3)
Brazil has reduced deforestation in the Amazon by 82 percent, the country’s president, Dilma Rousseff, said at the United Nations on Sunday, as she announced Brazil’s contribution to an anticipated new global deal to curb climate change. (TRF http://yhoo.it/1KSbuKL)
The U.K. is to spend £25 million on building a new prison in Jamaica so that foreign criminals can be sent home to serve sentences in the Caribbean rather than in the U.K. (BBC http://bbc.in/1jz9PTB)
…and the rest
Hungary called Tuesday for the United Nations to set global quotas on accepting migrants, saying it was unfair for Europe to take so many refugees fleeing Syria. (AFP http://yhoo.it/1KSbudM)
Finland said on Wednesday it has suspended decision-making on asylum claims by Iraqis and Somalis while it continues to assess the security situation in the two countries. (Reuters http://yhoo.it/1Vnv9fP)
The head of the International Monetary Fund said Wednesday that global growth will likely be weaker this year as the world economy confronts a host of problems, including a refugee crisis in Europe, an economic slowdown in China and a pending rise in U.S. interest rates. (AP http://yhoo.it/1KSbQ49)
Opinion/Blogs
Reflecting on Lessons Learned from Ebola Outbreak (UN Dispatch http://bit.ly/1jztlzl)
The Party’s Over for U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals (Inter Press Service http://bit.ly/1KS2khy)
The obscure global organisation that’s unwittingly undermining civil society (Guardian http://bit.ly/1OGCZNk)
Humanitarians against humanity (WhyDev http://bit.ly/1OGSViB)
Childhood Stress May Prime Pump For Chronic Disease Later (Goats and Soda http://n.pr/1P5Oyx5)
10 things to know about refugees and displacement (ODI http://bit.ly/1OGCYcf)
The Unfinished Sexual Revolution #developmenteconomics (Policy Innovations http://bit.ly/1P5Ujuq)
The United States Doesn’t Want to Reform the U.N. Security Council (Foreign Policy http://atfp.co/1P5UfuI)
No, the Palestinians didn’t just cancel the peace process. Here’s what actually happened. (Vox http://bit.ly/1VnBwzT)
Embracing the global goals as a new model for development cooperation (Devex http://bit.ly/1M2d0Ki)
What drives corruption in Malawi and why it won’t disappear soon (The Converation http://bit.ly/1M2cE6D)
Global goals must fight the poor nutrition that kills 3 million children every year (Guardian http://bit.ly/1M26mUk)
At What Point Does A Fundraising Ad Go Too Far? (Goats and Soda http://n.pr/1Rghr8M)
