WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has declared that the increase of mpox, formerly called monkeypox, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and a number of other African nations constitutes a health emergency of international concern. Global research must be strengthened and accelerated to prepare for future pandemics, warned the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) at the Global Pandemic Preparedness Summit 2024 on 1 August in Rio de Janeiro. They advocated for a broader research strategy, as outlined in a new WHO R&D Blueprint for Epidemics report, including entire families of human-infecting pathogens ' not just those with known pandemic risk ' and using prototype pathogens to develop adaptable knowledge and tools. "This framework will help steer and coordinate research into entire pathogen families, a strategy that aims to bolster the world's ability to swiftly respond to unforeseen variants, emerging pathogens, zoonotic spillover, and unknown threats referred to as pathogen X,' said Dr Richard Hatchett, CEO of CEPI....

A concerning strain of the monkeypox virus has spread rapidly across Central Africa in the past few months. The outbreak prompted the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) to declare its first-ever public-health emergency on 13 August, and the World Health Organization (WHO) is meeting on 14 August to consider a global declaration. The moves reflect scientists' deep worry that the outbreak of mpox, the disease caused by the monkeypox virus, could evolve into an epidemic that spreads across the continent ' and possibly beyond. They note that the virus is making an alarming appearance not just in rural regions, but also in densely populated areas. During the past month, mpox infections have surged in Central Africa, affecting locations including Bukavu, a city in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) that has more than 1 million residents, and four countries in the region have reported mpox infections for the first time. These infections are probably connected to an outbreak that began in late 2023 in South Kivu province, a region of the DRC that has been ravaged by violent conflict....

Donald Trump appears to dream of being an American authoritarian should he return to office. The former US president, who on Tuesday secured enough delegates to win the 2024 Republican nomination, plans to deport millions of undocumented immigrants and house scores of them in large camps. He wants to invoke the Insurrection Act to deploy the military in cities across the nation to quell civil unrest. He wants to prosecute his political opponents. There's an organized and well-funded effort to replace career civil servants in the federal government with Trump loyalists who will do his bidding and help him consolidate power. What's also concerning to legal experts, though, are the special powers that would be available to him that have been available to all recent presidents but have not typically been used. Should Trump decide to go full authoritarian, he could utilize what are called 'emergency powers' to shut down the internet in certain areas, censor the internet, freeze people's bank accounts, restrict transportation, and more....

The World Bank will offer member countries hit by natural disasters and other crises access to emergency funds from existing loan programmes, as part of the bank's Crisis Preparedness and Response Toolkit. For example, a country with $3 billion undisbursed from a $5 billion loan portfolio could receive instant access to $300 million in liquidity to tackle a natural disaster, Anna Bjerde, World Bank Managing Director for Operations told Reuters. Donations worth $640 million were pledged to Brazil's Amazon Fund for sustainable rainforests by developed nations in 2023, according to Tereza Campello, Environmental Director of fund manager the Brazilian Development Bank. The bulk of these funds have been committed by the Biden Administration over five years, which still requires the approval of US Congress. Other leading new donors include the UK, Denmark and the European Union. Deforestation rates have fallen to their lowest level since 2018. In 2023, 5,153 square kilometres (1,989.6 square miles) of the Brazilian Amazon were cleared, a 49.9% decrease from 2022, according to government data....