The French development aid budget has been reduced by almost 20% since 2012. France hopes to cover this reduction with a tax on financial transactions, but the yields are uncertain, EurActiv France reports. 

Supporting the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and African partner nations, service members from U.S. Africa Command help facilitate the building of an Ebola Treatment Unit (ETU) in Liberia as part of Operation United Assistance, a humanitarian relief operation in Ebola-stricken West African nations.

Pilot triage clinics are being funded to help tackle the Ebola epidemic in Sierra Leone, UK officials have said.  The idea of the clinics is to test whether people with a fever have Ebola or a less serious bout of malaria.

While health workers on the ground continue to struggle to contain the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, the United Nations, international nongovernmental organizations and other donors are appealing to the private sector for help.

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 United States is ready to take leadership for a global response to the deadly Ebola virus that is ravaging West Africa, President Barack Obama said Tuesday, as he announced plans to send thousands of U.S. troops to the region.

The development community can no longer “stick its head in the sand” when it comes to tackling the political, economic and social issues that lie at the roots of fundamentalism, conflict and inequality, the head of a leading research centre has warned.

Terrorists will use Australia's deployment of troops and war planes to the Middle East as an excuse to target Australians, Prime Minister Tony Abbott warned on Monday.  Australia is preparing to contribute 600 troops and up to 10 military aircraft to the increasingly aggressive campaign against the Islamic State extremists in Syria and Iraq, the government announced on Sunday.