Fwd: AlertNet Weekly Digest 6 August 2014 - Ebola death toll climbs as W. Africa struggles with emergency, Gaza truce holds and tens of thousands flee Islamist assault in Iraq

The top humanitarian headlines this week include: Ebola death toll climbs as W. Africa struggles with emergency, Gaza truce holds and tens of thousands flee Islamist assault in Iraq

AFRICA

EBOLA: Relatives of Ebola victims in Liberia defy government orders and dump infected bodies in the streets as West African governments struggle to enforce tough measures to curb an outbreak of the virus that has killed 887 people.

• WHO urged to allow experimental drugs in "dire" Ebola outbreak
• FEATURE-Tobacco-derived 'plantibodies' enter the fight against Ebola
• Sierra Leone, Liberia deploy troops as Ebola toll hits 887
• Development banks, U.S. up support for Ebola-hit countries
• Taxis, planes and viruses: How deadly Ebola can spread
• SPOTLIGHT: Ebola outbreak in West Africa

SOUTH SUDAN: The warring sides have opened a new round of talks as regional mediators warn time is running out for a country which aid agencies say is on the brink of famine.

• SPOTLIGHT: South Sudan crisis

MIDDLE EAST

ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN CONFLICT: A Gaza ceasefire is holding for a second day and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, echoing Israel's position, linked a lifting of blockades of the devastated enclave to Hamas giving up its rocket arsenal.

• UNICEF laments Gaza child casualties, warns of task ahead
• Israelis on Gaza border threat from tunnels isn't over
• From fruit basket to scorched earth, Gaza town changed by war
• VIDEO: Truce offers brief window for Gazans to bury dead
• Palestinian foreign minister to push for Israel war crimes case at ICC
• UK minister Sayeeda Warsi says resigns over government Gaza policy
• Hope among the ruins: Gaza looks to post-war aid to rebuild
• "We come in sadness, we go in sadness": Gaza family briefly returns home
• VIDEO: Bloodshed at UN school in Gaza
• Gaza patients die without help, health services struggle to provide emergency care - WHO
• SPOTLIGHT: Israeli-Palestinian conflict

IRAQ: Tens of thousands of people fled an assault by Islamic State on the town of Sinjar in northern Iraq on Sunday and are now surrounded, the United Nations says. The Iraqi army is assessing the possibility of humanitarian air drops to the displaced people.

• Maliki orders air force to help Kurds against the Islamic State
• SPOTLIGHT: Iraq divided and in crisis

ASIA

PHILIPPINES: An historic peace settlement in the southern Philippines is at risk of breaking down as Muslim rebels accuse the government of going back on its word over a proposed law to create self-rule for the war-torn region

• SPOTLIGHT: Philippines-Mindanao conflict

SRI LANKA: Authorities in Sri Lanka are clamping down on the activities of civil society groups, who accuse the government of trying to discourage survivors of the country's civil war from giving evidence to a U.N. war crimes investigation, critics say.

• SPOTLIGHT: Sri Lanka conflict

CHINA:  An earthquake in China at the weekend triggered landslides that have blocked rivers and created rapidly growing bodies of water that could unleash more destruction on survivors of the disaster that killed 410 people, state media reports.

NATURAL DISASTERS: More than 400,000 people in eastern India face the risk of flooding after a landslide that has killed at least nine people in neighbouring Nepal, an Indian government official says; athousands are evacuated.

• SPOTLIGHT: Natural disasters

AID:  Thousands of women displaced by fighting in Pakistan are struggling to get food and other aid because they lack identity cards and conservative Muslim elders have forbidden them from going to distribution centres.

INDIA: Rescuers in India have waded waist-deep through swirling sludge to dig their way into dozens of submerged homes and found more than 100 people swallowed up by a landslide that flattened almost an entire village.

MORE ON TRUST.ORG

The story of "Air" – a child slave in Thailand – Thin Lei Win, Thomson Reuters Foundation

Blog: Deadly Indian landslide may have been a man-made disaster – Nita Bhalla, Thomson Reuters Foundation

Victoria Beckham charity sale to benefit African mothers with HIV – Katie Nguyen, Thomson Reuters Foundation

Child malnutrition costs Africa its future growth – Stella Dawson, Thomson Reuters Foundation

Floods disrupt development on Cameroon's Bakassi Peninsula - Elias Ntungwe Ngalame, Thomson Reuters Foundation

Famine looms in South Sudan, aid cash for seeds runs out – Katy Migiro, Thomson Reuters Foundation

Sri Lanka launches drought relief measures for farming families – Amantha Perera, Thomson Reuters Foundation

Town vs town, faction vs faction as Libya descends into "hurricane" - Reuters

Zimbabwe to build new solar power plants, but who will pay? – Madalitso  Mwando, Thomson Reuters Foundation

Somalia's president expects new military push to begin in days – Reuters

Lights set to go out in Afghanistan's Kandahar after US aid winds down – Reuters

C.African Republic ceasefire in tatters after clashes – Reuters

U.S., South Sudan prod rebels as peace efforts sputter – Reuters

Libya's new parliament calls for unity as rival militias clash – Reuters

Billions of dollars in deals and funding to be announced at Africa Summit – Reuters

Jobs, education, security top list for Africans, ONE poll shows – Reuters

 

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