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Adam Wagstaff
The World Bank - Development Research Group
Human Development and Public Services Team - Policy Research Working Paper 4821
January 2009

Available online PDF file [39p.] at:
http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/IW3P/IB/2009/01/21/000158349_20090121101737/Rendered/PDF/WPS4821.pdf

In Zimbabwe, the opposition has finally reached a power-sharing agreement with the Mugabe-controlled government, but Mugabe remains in control of crucial elements of the government in collapse, and a military that has remained loyal to him.

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DISPATCH: MUGABE'S ZIMBABWE
'Now the Terror Has Returned'

Sunday, February 1, 2009; Page B02

Media and democracy in fragile states: the promises and problems of policy relevant research
by James Deane

Disaster-affected communities are and should be the architects of their own recovery, not merely passive recipients of international goodwill
by Imogen Wall

International Epidemiologic Association (IEA)

Jaipur, India April 5-17, 2009

Website: http://www.dundee.ac.uk/iea/Welcome.htm

The deadline for applications is: February 1, 2009

Information about the course and the application form are available at: http://www.dundee.ac.uk/iea/SEAsia.htm

Eight months after Cyclone Nargis, this year's monsoon paddy harvest is less than hoped

THAUK KYAR, 7 January 2009 (IRIN) - U Nay Aung, a resident of Thauk Kyar village in Dedaye Township, is one of thousands of farmers across the cyclone-affected area who never gave up, succeeding after the fourth attempt to yield some harvest.

In May, his 4.6 hectares of paddy fields were badly affected by the tidal surge that accompanied Cyclone Nargis. When the donated seeds did not take, he borrowed money to buy his own.

By MARC CHAMPION in Davos, Switzerland, and ANDREW BATSON in Beijing

The premiers of Russia and China slammed the U.S. economic system in speeches Wednesday, holding it responsible for the global economic crisis.

Both focused on the role of the U.S. dollar, with China's Premier Wen Jiabao calling for better regulation of major reserve currencies and Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin calling over-reliance on the dollar "dangerous."

Wen Jiabao and Vladimir Putin address the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Zimbabwe's water, sanitation and health systems have collapsed
The death toll from the cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe has now passed the 3,000 mark, the UN's World Health Organization (WHO) has said.
The latest figures represent an increase of more than 1,000 deaths in just two weeks.
Meanwhile, the MDC's leader sounded more upbeat about power-sharing, a day after his party denied it had agreed to join a unity government next month.
He said it would go ahead if the rivals resolved their long-running disputes.

The army says it means to "eradicate" the Tamil rebels
Sri Lanka's government has denied Red Cross and UN reports of a major humanitarian crisis in the north, where troops are fighting Tamil Tiger rebels.

Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa told the BBC that he had a policy of "zero" civilian casualties. The Red Cross believes that hundreds of civilians have been killed and hundreds of thousands more are trapped. With aid supplies mostly blocked, the UN plans to make a new bid on Thursday to evacuate badly injured civilians.

DAVOS, Switzerland (CNN) -- The worldwide economic recession has exposed a "crisis of global governance" that can only be addressed by the radical reform of the United Nations, former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Wednesday as the World Economic Forum got under way in Switzerland.

Kofi Annan says the United Nations needs to be reformed.

This report finds that current national health care IT deployment efforts will not be sufficient to achieve the vision of 21st century health care, and calls for greater emphasis by computer science and health/biomedical informatics researchers on providing cognitive support for health care providers, patients, and family caregivers.

Committee on the State of the USA Health Indicators, Institute of Medicine, 2008

Available online at: http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=12534

“………..Policymakers, the media, and the public should focus on 20 specific health indicators as "yardsticks" to measure the overall health and well-being of Americans, says a new report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM).

Supplement on Addressing Social Determinants of Health in:
HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, Sexually Transmitted Diseases and Tuberculosis

Public Health Reports (PHR) is inviting papers for a Supplement on Addressing Social Determinants of Health in HIV/AIDS, viral hepatitis, sexually transmitted diseases and tuberculosis.

Deadline for Submission: May 15, 2009

Website at www.publichealthreports.org

By Olivier Guitta

On Monday, the Sun ran a story reporting that 40 terrorists from AQIM had died of plague in a terrorist training camp in Tizi Ouzou. Yesterday, Eli Lake from the Washington Times confirmed through one of his source in the U.S. intelligence community that an incident had taken place at a training camp that had to be shut down as a result. The deaths were not confirmed though.

A few observations at this point that give credence to this story, which has not received the coverage it deserves:

By DONALD G. MCNEIL JR
Published: January 23, 2009
In the first known case of what may be transmission of the Ebola virus from a pig to a human, a pig handler in the Philippines has tested positive for a strain of the virus, world health officials and the Philippine government announced Friday.