Barack Obama will announce at a UN summit Tuesday that he will sign an executive order to ensure that US funds going abroad to poorer nations go to fight global warming. The executive order also will have the US handing out science and technology tools to poorer nations in order to fight it.

In an emergency session yesterday convened by the United States, 131 members of the United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution declaring the Ebola outbreak spreading now in Africa a threat to international peace and security.

The UK’s Department for International Development has pledged a further £30m to help the hundreds of thousands of people fleeing the humanitarian crisis in South Sudan.  ‘The extra support from the UK government will deliver supplies urgently needed by people who have been forced to leave their homes and move to neighbouring countries.’

In the UK’s biggest ever response to a humanitarian crisis, the government has committed over £600 million to help those affected by the conflict in Syria – the second highest total after the US. Aid is being allocated to help a million refugees in Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Iraq. 

Pushing back against criticism that its presence in Africa is mercenary, China has extended unprecedented generosity to the Western African countries in the grip of an Ebola epidemic. It is the first time that China has extended humanitarian aid to countries facing public health emergencies; state media characterized this as "fulfilling the duty of a big country" and "selfless".

As one who had the honor of serving 35 years in the U.S. military, my experience has convinced me that America’s interests are inextricably linked to the prosperity and security of other nations and their people. Today’s global crises frequently do not have a military solution, but require a comprehensive American engagement that strengthens the civilian tools of development and diplomacy that are essential in enabling countries around the world to address the challenges threatening their security and prosperity as well as ours.

Saudi Arabia has just decided to give the Lebanese military $1 billion in military aid, mostly in ammunition and small arms. This latest dollop of cash has a lot more to do with the fact that the Islamic State, which has recently shown a noticeable lack of concern about what anyone else has to say about national borders, recently bopped over into Lebanon to go raise hell, shoot up, and finally occupy a small town called Arsal in the northeast of the country.