The United Nations set ambitious goals in 2000 to reduce global poverty and inequality by 2015, and while it successfully cut extreme poverty in half, the multinational group is conflicted about how much developing regions such as sub-Saharan Africa can improve by 2030.

Ebola is wrecking years of health and education work in Sierra Leone and Liberia following their civil wars, forcing many charity groups to suspend operations or re-direct them to fighting the epidemic.

North Korea, never a country to take the threat of foreign invasion lightly, has been under virtual lockdown since October to keep the Ebola virus from crossing its borders. But two leading travel agencies that specialize in the small but growing North Korea market say they have confirmed the North may be ready to open up its doors again soon.

While health officials say they are making headway against the Ebola epidemic in neighboring Liberia, the disease is still raging in Sierra Leone, despite the big international push. In November alone, the World Health Organization has reported more than 1,800 new cases in this country, about three times as many as in Liberia, which until recently had been the center of the outbreak.

The first wave of volunteers from Britain’s National Health Service arrived in Sierra Leone Saturday amid what the World Health Organization has described as an “intense” surge in cases.

S torytelling and plays trump smartphones to deliver messages on Ebola in some communities, illustrating how new technologies have their limits in aid delivery, humanitarian experts said on Wednesday.

A cast of UK artists and celebrities gathered, with the guidance of Sir Bob Geldof, in a song aimed at raising money to aid in the Ebola crisis, the Daily Mail reported.

The United Nations Saturday called on G20 leaders to intensify their response to the deadly Ebola outbreak in west Africa, warning of a major food crisis if they fail to act.