Russia Denies Its Vehicles Destroyed In Ukraine

Drivers prepare to show cargos to journalists in a field where the aid convoy is parked in Kamensk-Shakhtinsky, Russia, Friday, Aug. 15, 2014. The Ukrainian government threatened to use all means available to block the convoy if the Red Cross was not allowed to inspect the cargo. Such an inspection would ease concerns that Russia could use the aid shipment as cover for a military incursion in support of the separatists, who have come under growing pressure from government troops.

KAMENSK-SHAKHTINSKY, RUSSIA (ASSOCIATED PRESS) — NATO on Friday said a Russian military column ventured overnight into Ukraine, and the Ukrainian president said his forces destroyed most of it. Russia denied all of this, but the reports spooked global markets and overshadowed optimism driven by agreement over a Russian aid convoy bound for eastern Ukraine.

The White House said it was looking into what it called unconfirmed reports that Ukraine's security forces disabled vehicles in a Russian military convoy inside Ukraine. The Russian aid convoy of more than 250 trucks has been a source of tensions since it set off from Moscow on Tuesday. Kiev and the West were suspicious that the mission could be a pretext for a Russian military incursion into eastern Ukraine, where government forces are battling pro-Russia separatists and clawing back rebel-held territory.

Throughout the eastern crisis that erupted in April, there have been consistent allegations that Russia is fomenting or directing the rebellion. Moscow rejects the allegations and the high-profile aid convoy could be aimed, in part, at portraying Russia as interested in cooling the conflict. Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared to cultivate that perception in a Thursday speech in which he said Russia hopes for peace in Ukraine.

It was not clear what Russia could hope to gain by sending in a military column while world attention was trained on its efforts to get the aid convoy into eastern Ukraine. But some foreign journalists reported that Russian armored personnel carriers were seen crossing into Ukraine on Thursday night. On Friday, a statement on Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko's website said "the given information was trustworthy and confirmed because the majority of the vehicles were destroyed by Ukrainian artillery at night."

NATO secretary-general Anders Fogh Rasmussen also confirmed that Russian military vehicles had entered Ukraine, but he gave no specifics. In Moscow, a spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry insisted that no Russian military vehicles were destroyed because none had crossed into Ukraine. Yet Britain said it summoned Russian Ambassador Alexander Yakovenko in to clarify reports of the Russian incursion.

In Washington, National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said the U.S. government is working to gather more information about the reports. She said the U.S. remains concerned about repeated Russian and Russian-supported incursions into Ukraine.

Markets sold off heavily Friday, spooked by thought of Ukrainian troops engaging with Russia forces inside Ukraine. Germany's DAX, which had been trading over 1 percent higher, ended the day 1.4 percent lower.

The crossing reportedly took place near the southern Russian town where the aid trucks have been parked, awaiting permission to go into Ukraine. After days of controversy, Russia nominally consented to let Ukrainian officials inspect the convoy while it was still on Russian soil and agreed that the Red Cross would distribute the goods in Ukraine's region of Luhansk.

In Washington, a Pentagon spokesman said Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoygu "guaranteed" Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Friday that no Russian troops are involved in the transport of humanitarian relief supplies to eastern Ukraine.

In their first telephone conversation since late April, Shoygu assured Hagel that the Russian convoy "was not to be used as a pretext to further intervene in Ukraine," according to the spokesman, Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby. Kirby did not mention whether the two discussed Ukraine's claim that it had attacked Russian military convoy vehicles.

Laurent Corbaz, the International Committee of the Red Cross' director of operations in Europe, described a tentative plan in which the trucks would enter Ukraine with a single Russian driver each — as opposed to the current crew of several people in each truck — accompanied by a Red Cross worker. In line with Red Cross policy, there would be no military escort, he said.

However, some Russian military vehicles near the aid convoy were seen Friday carrying a Russian acronym standing for "peacekeeping forces" — a signal that Moscow was considering a possible military escort.

Germany, meanwhile, said Chancellor Angela Merkel pressed Putin to end the flow of military goods and personnel into Ukraine ahead of a weekend meeting of foreign ministers aimed at easing tensions. Merkel spokesman Steffen Seibert said the two leaders spoke Friday evening ahead of a meeting Sunday between the Russian, Ukrainian, German and French foreign ministers in Berlin.

He said Merkel urged Putin to de-escalate the situation "and in particular put an end to the flow of military goods, military advisers and armed personnel over the border into Ukraine." The fighting in eastern Ukraine has claimed nearly 2,100 lives, half of those in the last few weeks as the Ukrainian troops regained more and more rebel-held territory. It began in April, a month after Russia annexed Ukraine's Black Sea peninsula of Crimea.

The eastern Ukrainian city of Luhansk has suffered extensively from an intense military barrage over the last few weeks. The city remains cut off from power and water supplies, and its mobile and landline telephone systems barely function, local authorities said Friday. Little food is available but bread is still being made using portable generators.

Ukraine, meanwhile, proceeded with its own aid mission to the Luhansk area. Trucks sent from the eastern city of Kharkiv were unloaded Friday at warehouses in the town of Starobilsk, where the goods were to be sorted and transported further by the Red Cross. Starobilsk is 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of Luhansk.

Other Ukrainian aid was taken to the town of Lysychansk, which retaken by Ukrainian forces late last month but has seen sporadic clashes until earlier this week. Dozens of houses showed signs of damage Friday in Lysychansk — some had windows blown out, while others had been blasted or burned to the ground. An Associated Press reporter saw small children playing in the rubble of one destroyed house.

As Ukrainian emergency workers discussed how to distribute the aid, clusters of older women and small children began appearing on the town's streets. Residents said the aid was the first they had seen since fighting had ended.

Heintz reported from Kiev, Ukraine. Peter Leonard in Kiev; Vitnija Saldava in Lysychansk, Ukraine; Lynn Berry and Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow; Karl Ritter in Stockholm; Geir Moulson in Berlin and Danica Kirka and Pan Pylas in London contributed to this report.

Pope To Koreas: Avoid 'Fruitless' Shows Of Force

Pope Francis poses with South Korean President Park Geun-hye, for photographers at the presidential Blue House in Seoul Thursday, Aug. 14, 2014. Pope Francis became the first pontiff in 25 years to visit South Korea on Thursday, bringing a message of peace and reconciliation to the war-divided peninsula.

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA (ASSOCIATED PRESS) — Pope Francis called Thursday for renewed efforts to forge peace on the war-divided Korean Peninsula and for both sides to avoid "fruitless" criticisms and shows of force, opening a five-day visit to South Korea with a message of reconciliation as Seoul's rival, North Korea, fired five projectiles into the sea.

North Korea has a long history of making sure it is not forgotten during high-profile events in the South, and Thursday's apparent test firing off its eastern coast made its presence felt. In the first speech of his first trip to Asia, Francis told South Korean President Park Geun-hye and government officials that peace required forgiveness, cooperation and mutual respect. He said diplomacy must be encouraged so that listening and dialogue replace "mutual recriminations, fruitless criticisms and displays of force."

The Argentine pope spoke in English, the first English speech of his pontificate. Usually he speaks in Italian or his native Spanish, but the Vatican said he would deliver at least four speeches in English on the trip to accommodate his Asian audiences.

North Korea's apparent test firing was conducted from Wonsan on its east coast and the initial three short-range projectiles flew about 220 kilometers (135 miles), according to a South Korean Defense Ministry official who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing office rules. It wasn't immediately clear what the projectiles were. After an initial three firings an hour before Francis arrived, North Korea followed up with two others a short time after he landed.

North Korea has conducted an unusually large number of short-range missile and artillery test firings this year. It has expressed anger over annual military drills between the United States and South Korea, which it says are invasion preparations. A new round of drills, which Seoul and Washington call routine and defensive, are expected to start in coming days.

Neither Francis nor Park referred to the firings in their public remarks. Organizers of the pope's trip had invited a delegation of North Korean Catholics to attend his Aug. 18 Mass for peace and reconciliation at Seoul's main cathedral. But late last month, North Korean authorities told the organizers that they wouldn't participate for various reasons, a Vatican spokesman said.

North Korea's constitution guarantees freedom of religion, but in practice only sanctioned services are tolerated by the government. The U.S. State Department says North Korea permits no religious freedom at all. Currently, there are no Vatican-sanctioned institutions or resident priests operating in North Korea.

As he arrived at an airport just south of Seoul on the first papal visit in a quarter century, the pope shook hands with four relatives of victims of a South Korean ferry sinking that killed more than 300 and two descendants of Korean martyrs who died rather than renounce their faith. Francis plans to beatify 124 Korean martyrs who founded the church on the peninsula in the 18th century, hoping to give South Korea's vibrant and growing church new models for holiness and evangelization.

Some elderly Catholics wiped tears from their faces, bowing deeply as they greeted the pope on the tarmac. A boy and girl in traditional Korean dress presented Francis with a bouquet of flowers, and he bowed in return. The pope then stepped into a small, black, locally made car for the trip into Seoul where the official welcome ceremony and speeches took place.

Park, the South Korean president, said she hoped the pope's presence would heal the Korean Peninsula's "long wounds of division," referring to the 1950-53 Korean War, which continues to divide the Koreas along the world's most heavily guarded border.

"Division has been a big scar for all Koreans," she said. Francis sought to encourage the pursuit of peace. "Korea's quest for peace is a cause close to our hearts, for it affects the stability of the entire area and indeed of our whole war-weary world," he said. "May all of us dedicate these days to peace: to praying for it and deepening our resolve to achieve it."

As his plane flew through Chinese airspace early Thursday, Francis sent a telegram of greetings and prayers to Chinese President Xi Jinping. It was a rare opportunity for an exchange since the Holy See and Beijing have no diplomatic relations, and furthers a low-key push for better ties with China and efforts to heal a rift between the Chinese authorities and those Catholics who worship outside the state-recognized church.

Other highlights of Francis' visit include his participation in a Catholic festival for young believers from around Asia. The pope is also expected to meet with some families of the South Korean ferry sinking in April. The government's response to the disaster, which killed mostly high school students, has angered many South Koreans.

Park said she hoped the pope's visit would heal the pain many South Koreans are feeling because of the sinking and the recent deaths of young soldiers. "A lot of bad things keep happening in our country right now, and people are going through tough times," said Ryun Sun-hee, a 19-year-old college student. "So I hope this event can encourage people and bring more positive things to our country."

It's the first papal visit since Pope John Paul II traveled to South Korea in 1989. In January, Francis plans to visit Sri Lanka and the Philippines. South Korea's church, which has been growing steadily over the last half century, is seen as a model for the future. Local church officials hope for a continuing increase in believers in a country that once welcomed missionaries to help spread the faith but now sends its own priests and nuns abroad to evangelize in other countries.

Park credited Catholics in South Korea with playing a big part in making the country what it has become: South Korea has risen from poverty, war and dictatorship into Asia's fourth biggest economy. She called the Korean martyrs "pioneers who spread freedom and equality," and said their sacrifice helped develop Korean society.

There was high anticipation in South Korea ahead of the visit. Banners and posters welcoming the pope decorated streets and subway stations. The Yonhap news agency reported an increase in sales of rosaries and other Catholic goods, and special displays of books on the pope and Catholicism sprung up in book stores.

Associated Press writer Christopher Bodeen in Beijing contributed to this story.

Ukraine-Bound Russian Convoy Stuck Amid Bickering

convoy of white trucks carrying humanitarian aid passes along the main road M4 (Don highway) Voronezh region, Russia, Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2014. Russia on Tuesday dispatched some hundreds of trucks, although only a small proportion were counted in this convoy, covered in white tarps and sprinkled with holy water on a mission to deliver aid to a rebel-held zone in eastern Ukraine.

VORONEZH, RUSSIA (AP) — Hundreds of Russian trucks carrying aid intended for rebel-held eastern Ukraine remained parked Wednesday in the southern city of Voronezh, their fate shrouded in mystery as Ukraine accused Moscow of plotting to use them as a cover for invasion.

Fighting between government troops and pro-Russian separatists increased as the U.N.'s human rights office released figures showing the number of people killed in eastern Ukraine appears to have doubled in the last two weeks to more than 2,000.

Other than what appeared to be a few supply runs, the roughly 262 vehicles in the convoy lay idle at a military base in the southern city of Voronezh well into the afternoon, one day after making the 400-mile (650-kilometer) drive from a town outside Moscow.

Ukraine and Russia on Tuesday tentatively agreed that the aid would be delivered to a government-controlled crossing in Ukraine's Kharkiv region, which hasn't been touched by the months of fighting that have wracked neighboring regions. The cargo would then have to be inspected by the International Committee of the Red Cross.

But accord has soured into acrimony with the spokesman for Ukrainian President Poroshenko accusing Moscow of possibly planning a "direct invasion of Ukrainian territory under the guise of delivering humanitarian aid."

Andriy Lysenko, a spokesman for Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, said that he "had information" that the convoy won't go through Kharkiv, but that "nobody knows where it will go." That leaves the option for the convoy to go through a portion of the border further south that is under the control of the armed pro-Russian separatist rebels that the government has been battling for the last four months. This scenario would all but certainly not involve the Red Cross and is viewed with profound hostility by the Ukrainian government.

Lysenko said that any deliveries of aid "that don't have the mandate of the Red Cross ... are taken as aggressive forces and the response will be adequate to that." Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, insisted that the aid convoy was on the move inside Russia, but declined to comment on the route. He said the operation was proceeding in full cooperation with the Red Cross.

But Red Cross officials in Ukraine said they have been left in the dark about the whereabouts of the Russian aid. "The final route is not known. Even at the moment I am trying to find out where the convoy is," said Andre Loersch, a spokesman for the ICRC mission in Ukraine.

Amid the tensions, Putin traveled to Crimea, a Black Sea peninsula that Russia seized from Ukraine in March, where he chaired a session of his Security Council. A meeting with Putin's entire Cabinet and most Russian lawmakers has been scheduled for Thursday.

The estimated 2,000 metric tons of aid, which reportedly includes goods ranging from baby food to portable generators, is intended for civilians in the Luhansk region, the scene of some of the fiercest fighting between government troops and pro-Russian separatists. The regional capital of Luhansk has had no electricity for 11 days and only the most essential goods are available, city authorities said.

A spokeswoman for the U.N.'s human rights office, Cecile Pouilly, said in a statement Tuesday that the U.N.'s "very conservative estimates" show the overall death toll has risen to at least 2,086 people as of Aug. 10 from 1,129 on July 26.

Pouilly said at least 4,953 others have been wounded in the fighting since mid-April. Intense fighting was still taking place in the main rebel-held city of Donetsk. At least 12 militiamen fighting alongside government troops were killed in an ambush outside the besieged city, a spokesman for their radical nationalist movement said Wednesday. Inside the city, at least three people were killed overnight Tuesday as the government intensified its shelling.

Artem Skoropatsky said the Right Sector volunteer fighters were shot dead while traveling on a bus and many others on the bus were wounded and taken captive. He did not know how many. "There is a suspicion that the wounded will be treated very harshly and could be shot," he said.

Right Sector played a marginal if highly visible role in the protests that culminated in the overthrow of President Viktor Yanukovych in February. Its far-right nationalist affiliations have made it a target of lurid reporting in Russia state media, which has sought to cast the post-Yanukovych government as extremists.

Lysenko, the National Security and Defense Council spokesman, said Wednesday that 11 servicemen were killed in the previous day's fighting, but he could not immediately say whether that figure included the Right Sector militiamen.

Government troops have laid siege to Donetsk and nearby rebel holdings in their push to quash the pro-Russian insurgency. They have largely refrained from street-to-street fighting, favoring often inaccurate rocket fire.

Residents said the intermittent artillery barrage lasted around two hours. City authorities said 10 residential buildings and the wing of a hospital were struck. Associated Press reporters saw two bodies lying in a street Wednesday morning in Donetsk's southwestern Petrovsky district. The city government reported three deaths.

The shelling has damaged power plants and gas pipelines, leaving large parts of the city without electricity or gas. The fighting in eastern Ukraine began in April, a month after Putin annexed Crimea.

Grits reported from Donetsk, Ukraine. John Heilprin in Geneva, Yuras Karmanau in Donetsk and Peter Leonard in Kiev, Natalya Vasilyeva in Sevastopol, Crimea, contributed to this report.

 Blood covered pieces of glass and a military cap lie in the bus at a security post on the outskirts of Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, Wednesday, Aug. 13, 2014, where at least 12 militiamen fighting alongside government troops against pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine have been killed in an ambush, a spokesman for their radical nationalist movement said Wednesday.

Palestinians Consider Proposal For Gaza Truce

A displaced Palestinian female stands on the balcony of the U.N. school where her family sought refuge during the war, in Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2014. Tens of thousands of Palestinians have been displaced in the Israel-Hamas war that began July 8, at least 10,000 housing units have been destroyed and many have found refuge at U.N. schools turned into shelters.

CAIRO (AP) — Palestinian negotiators considered an Egyptian proposal to end the monthlong Israel-Hamas war as the latest 72-hour cease-fire in the Gaza Strip was due to expire at midnight Wednesday.

Since the truce went into effect Sunday, Israel has halted military operations in the coastal territory and Gaza militants have stopped firing rockets. The cease-fire was meant to give the two sides time to negotiate a more sustainable truce and a roadmap for the coastal territory.

A member of the Palestinian delegation to Egyptian-brokered talks in Cairo said Wednesday that his team was considering an Egyptian proposal, which was tabled Tuesday. Egyptian mediators have been ferrying between the Palestinians and their Israeli counterparts in an attempt overcome the differences between the sides.

The Egyptian proposal calls for easing parts of the Israeli blockade of Gaza, bringing some relief to the territory, according to Palestinian officials in the talks. But it leaves the key areas of disagreement, including Hamas' demand for a full lifting of the blockade and Israeli calls for Hamas to disarm, to later negotiations.

The Palestinian negotiator said he had some reservations about the proposal and would try to improve it. "We would like to see more cross-border freedom, and also to have the question of a Gaza seaport and airport discussed," he said.

The Palestinian officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss negotiations with the media. An Israeli government spokesman had no comment on the negotiations. In recorded remarks broadcast on Hamas radio Wednesday, Ismail Haniyeh, the top Hamas leader in Gaza, said that "achieving a permanent truce can come only through lifting the blockade on Gaza."

Amid the cease-fire, an Associated Press video journalist and a freelance Palestinian translator working with him were killed Wednesday when ordnance left over from the war exploded as they covered a story about the conflict's aftermath.

Italian national Simone Camilli, 35, and Ali Shehda Abu Afash, 36, died when an unexploded missile believed to have been dropped in an Israeli airstrike blew up as Gazan police engineers worked to neutralize it in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahiya.

The war began on July 8 with Israel's air campaign against Gaza's Hamas rulers, whom Israel blamed for the kidnapping and murder in June of three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank. Nine days later, Israel sent in ground troops to destroy Hamas' underground cross-border tunnels constructed for attacks inside Israel.

The fighting has so far killed more than 1,900 Palestinians, the majority of them civilians, Palestinian and U.N. officials say. On the Israeli side, 67 people have died, all but three of them soldiers.

The latest outbreak of fighting is the third between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza since Hamas took over control of the densely-populated territory in 2007. Hamas has been consistently pushing for an end of an Israeli Gaza blockade, which Israel says is necessary to prevent the group from gaining access to weapons and munitions it deploys against Israelis.

Associated Press writer Ibrahim Barzak in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, contributed to this report.

AP Video Journalist, Translator Killed In Gaza

Associated Press video journalist Simone Camilli. The 35-year-old Italian national has been killed in an ordnance explosion in the Gaza Strip, together with a Palestinian translator and three members of the Gaza police.

GAZA CITY, GAZA STRIP (AP) — An Associated Press video journalist and a freelance Palestinian translator were killed Wednesday when ordnance left over from the Israeli-Hamas war exploded as they were reporting on the conflict's aftermath.

Simone Camilli and Ali Shehda Abu Afash died in a blast as Gaza police engineers were trying to defuse unexploded ordnance fired by Israel during the recent fighting. Police said four police engineers also were killed. Three people, including AP photographer Hatem Moussa, were badly injured.

Moussa told a colleague that they were filming the scene when an initial explosion went off. He said he was hit by shrapnel and began to run when there was a second blast, which knocked him out. He woke up in a hospital and later underwent surgery.

Police said the blast took place at a special site in the northern town of Beit Lahiya where authorities have collected unexploded ordnance to be defused. An official said an Israeli tank shell caused the first explosion, triggering a more powerful blast that included unexploded missiles dropped in Israeli airstrikes during a month of fighting.

Camilli, a 35-year-old Italian national, had worked for the AP since 2005, when he was hired in Rome. He relocated to Jerusalem in 2006, and often covered assignments in Gaza. He had been based recently in Beirut, returning to Gaza after the war began last month.

He is survived by a longtime partner and a 3-year-old daughter in Beirut, as well as his parents and two sisters. Camilli is the 33rd AP staffer to die in pursuit of the news since AP was founded in 1846, and the second this year. On April 4, AP photographer Anja Niedringhaus was killed and veteran AP correspondent Kathy Gannon was badly wounded by a gunman in Afghanistan.

He is the first foreign journalist killed in the Gaza conflict, which took more than 1,900 Palestinian lives and 67 on the Israeli side. Abu Afash, a 36-year-old Gaza resident, is survived by his wife and two daughters, ages 5 and 6. He often worked with the international media as a translator and news assistant.

"Simone was well known throughout Europe, and especially to our video team in London, where his death has hit AP deeply," Gary Pruitt, the AP's chief executive, said in a memo to staffers. "As all of you know, this has been a very difficult year for AP," he said. "As conflict and violence grows around the world, our work becomes more important but also more dangerous. We take every precaution we can to protect the brave journalists who staff our front lines. I never cease to be amazed at their courage."

He said the AP was providing assistance to Camilli's family. Camilli was a welcome face in Gaza who loved the story so much that he recently turned down an assignment in Iraq to come to the seaside strip, said Najib Jobain, the AP's chief producer in Gaza.

"He was my brother. I have known him for almost 10 years. He was so happy to be with me working in Gaza," Jobain said. "He was asked, 'Do you want to go to Irbil or Gaza?' He said, 'I'll go to Gaza.'"

Diaa Hadid, a longtime colleague, described Camilli as warm and funny. "To think he is not here is really just too much," she said. Camilli began his career in Rome while still a university student at the Sapienza University, helping cover Pope John Paul II.

Over the years, he worked on major stories across Europe and the Middle East, including the independence of Kosovo, the war in Georgia, the arrest of Bosnian Serb military leader Radko Mladic, the 2006 war between Israel and Lebanon, Hamas' takeover of Gaza, the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI. Most recently, he had covered the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Syrian refugee crisis.

Chris Slaney, the former senior producer in Jerusalem, said he brought Camilli to the region during Israel's war against Hezbollah in 2006, and "he immersed himself in the Middle East story, which unfortunately is mostly a story of conflict."

Tomislav Skaro, the AP's Middle East regional editor for video, said praised Camilli's "incredible eye for detail" and said he was able to personalize stories and portray human drama. "He was incredibly calm, mature beyond his age, gentle and the friend that everybody wants to have," Skaro said.

Federman reported from Jerusalem.

Africa Will Be Home To 2 To In % Children By 2050--UNICEF Report

Investing in Africa’s children now is best hope to reap demographic dividend 

UNICEF, August 13, 2014

An unprecedented projected increase in Africa’s child population size provides policymakers with a once-in-a-generation opportunity to craft a child-focused investment strategy that enables the continent, and the world, to reap the benefits of Africa’s demographic transition, UNICEF said in a report issued today.

According to the Generation 2030/Africa Report, high fertility rates and rising numbers of women of reproductive age mean that over the next 35 years, almost two billion babies will be born in Africa; the continent’s population will double in size; and its under-18 population will increase by two-thirds to reach almost a billion children.

Among the report’s most important findings is a massive shift in the world’s child population towards Africa. Projections indicate that by 2050, around 40 per cent of all births, and about 40 per cent of all children, will be in Africa, up from about 10 per cent in 1950.

“This report must be a catalyst for global, regional and national dialogue on Africa’s children,” said Leila Gharagozloo-Pakkala, UNICEF’s Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa. “By investing in children now – in their health, education and protection – Africa could realize the economic benefits experienced previously in other regions and countries that have undergone similar demographic shifts.”

While child survival rates have improved across Africa, the continent still accounts for about half of child mortality globally, and the proportion could rise to around 70 per cent by 2050. The report notes that three in 10 African children live in fragile and conflict-affected contexts, and that almost 60 per cent of Africans could be living in cities by 2050. The report calls for special attention for  Nigeria, which already has the greatest number of births in the continent, and will account for almost one in 10 births globally by 2050. 

Equity-based programming and policy for children will help determine whether African children can transform the continent and break vicious cycles of poverty and inequality, said Manuel Fontaine, UNICEF Regional Director for West and Central Africa. 

“However, if investment in Africa’s children is not prioritized, the continent will not be able to take full advantage of its demographic transition in the coming decades. Without equitable and inclusive policies, the pace of population growth could potentially undermine attempts to eradicate poverty and increase disparities.” 

Generation 2030/Africa calls specifically for investment in expanding access to reproductive health services and efforts to empower girls and keep them in school. National development plans must adapt to prepare for demographic shifts, notably through stronger civil registration and vital statistics systems. “The seismic demographic shifts that Africa’s child population will experience are among the most important questions facing the continent, and indeed vital issues for the world,” the report notes. 

Additional Key Facts from Generation 2030/Africa Report:

Global population projections indicate that by mid-century, Africa will be home to: 

• Around 41 per cent of all the world’s births

• 40 per cent of all global under-fives 

• 37 per cent of all children under-18 

• 35 per cent of all adolescents.

The future of humanity is increasingly African: 

• Today, 16 among 100 of the world’s inhabitants are African

• Based on current trends, within 35 years, 25 in 100 people will be African

• This will continue to rise to almost 40 in 100 people by the end of the century. 

Africa also has the world’s highest child dependency ratio: 

• 73 children under age 15 per 100 persons of working age in 2015

• This is close to double the global average. 

Continuous urbanization will lead to the majority of Africa’s people living in cities in less than 25 years: 

• In 2015, 40 per cent of Africa's population lives in cities. By the late 2030s, more than half of Africa’s population will live in urban areas.

While child survival has improved in Africa:

• One in every eleven children born still dies before their fifth birthday, a rate 14 times greater than the average in high-income countries. 

• The continent also currently accounts for more than 50 per cent of the world’s child deaths. 

World Health Organization Endorses Use Of Experimental Ebola Drugs

By Nick Cumming Bruce and Alan Cowell

New York Times, August 13, 2014

GENEVA — The World Health Organization endorsed the use of untested drugs to combat the Ebola virus on Tuesday, hours after a Spanish priest who had been supplied with experimental medication became the first European to die in the world’s worst known outbreak of the disease.

No proven cure or vaccine exists for the Ebola virus, which the WHO says has killed 1,013 people in four West African countries — Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone. Around half of the people infected in the outbreak, first reported in March, have died. Last week, the WHO declared the outbreak a global health emergency.

The Spanish priest, Miguel Pajares, 75, worked in a hospital in Liberia and was the first European to return home after being infected with Ebola. Citing medical confidentiality rules, hospital officials in Madrid declined to say whether the priest had ultimately been treated with the experimental drug, ZMapp, made in the United States, but the Spanish Health Ministry said Monday it had obtained the medication for him.

The provision of ZMapp, a previously untested drug in extremely limited supply, to foreign aid workers evacuated from West Africa has raised broad ethical questions about the disparities in treatment between white outsiders and the Africans who form the overwhelming majority of the victims. Two US aid workers, Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol, who were evacuated to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, received the drug as well, prompting questions from some African officials about why their nations had not received the medication.

On Tuesday, the government of Liberia announced it would receive ZMapp after a request to the United States by its president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. It said the drug would be used to treat two doctors battling for their lives against the Ebola virus.

That would be the first known use of the drug to treat Africans, but it also might be the last for a little while. The manufacturer, Mapp Biopharmaceutical, said that it had complied with a request received over the weekend from a West African nation, though it noted in a statement that the available supply of the drug was now “exhausted.”

In Geneva, the WHO convened an ethics panel Monday to debate the broader use of untested drugs. In a statement on its website Tuesday, it said that given “the particular circumstances of this outbreak,” the panel had reached a consensus that “it is ethical to offer unproven interventions with as yet-unknown efficacy and adverse effects, as potential treatment or prevention.”

The panel said the use of untested drugs should be guided by ethical criteria, including transparency about all aspects of the care provided, informed consent of the patient, freedom of choice, and patient confidentiality.

WHO officials said another meeting would be held at the end of the month to deal with another delicate and politically charged question: how to allocate scarce treatments.

Dr. Marie-Paule Kieny, assistant director-general of the WHO, said at a news conference in Geneva on Tuesday several drugs and vaccines have shown some promise in animal testing and might conceivably be deployed in the outbreak.

However, she said, none “is available in unlimited supplies right now.” She added, “I don’t think that there could be any fair distribution of something which is available in such a small quantity.”

Kieny said that intensifying public health measures to contain the outbreak was more important than drugs.

“It is very important to not give false hope to anybody that Ebola can be treated now,” she said.

The Spanish priest, Pajares, was flown back to Madrid on Aug. 7. A dozen doctors and nurses looked after Pajares, who died Tuesday morning. He will be incinerated in a sealed coffin, without carrying out any autopsy, to reduce the risk of further contagion.

Mapp and the US government, which has financed most of the company’s work, are making plans to increase supplies of ZMapp. But it is expected to take several months to increase supplies, and even then, there may be no more than a few hundred doses available, according to federal officials and corporate executives.

US Sends 130 More Troops To Iraq

Displaced Iraqis from the Yazidi community gather for humanitarian aid at Nowruz camp, in Derike, Syria, Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2014. In the camps here, Iraqi refugees have new heroes: Syrian Kurdish fighters who battled militants to carve an escape route to tens of thousands trapped on a mountaintop. While the U.S. and Iraqi militaries dropped food and water to the starving members of Iraq’s Yazidi minority, the Kurds took it on themselves to rescue them, a sign of how Syria’s Kurds, like Iraq’s, are using the region’s conflicts to establish their own rule.

CAMP PENDLETON, CALIF. (ASSOCIATED PRESS) — Another 130 U.S. troops arrived in Iraq on Tuesday on what the Pentagon described as a temporary mission to assess the scope of the humanitarian crisis facing thousands of displaced Iraqi civilians trapped on Sinjar Mountain and evaluate options for getting them out to safety.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced the deployment in remarks to Marines at this Southern California base on the final stop of a weeklong, around-the-world trip that also took him to India, Germany and Australia.

"This is not a combat boots on the ground kind of operation," Hagel said. "We're not going back into Iraq in any of the same combat mission dimensions that we once were in in Iraq," he added, referring to the eight-year war that cost more than 4,400 U.S. lives and soured the American public on military involvement in Iraq.

Another defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity to provide additional details on the sensitive mission, said the extra troops were Marines and special operations forces whose mission was to assess the situation in the Sinjar area and to develop additional humanitarian assistance options beyond current U.S. efforts there. Still another official said the mission for the 130 troops could last less than one week.

That official also said that while the troops were not being sent in to execute some type of rescue mission of the Yazidis on the mountain, they would assess the feasibility of a rescue or what one might look like. The also would assist in the ongoing effort to evaluate the use of airstrikes as part of the mission to protect the Yazidis from attacks by the Islamic State militants.

Hagel referred to the 130 as "assessors." The additional troops arrived Tuesday in the city of Irbil, well east of Sinjar. They were to work with representatives of the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development to coordinate plans with international partners and non-government organizations to help the trapped Yazidi civilians on Sinjar Mountain.

"They will make a very rapid and critical assessment because we understand it's urgent to try to move those people off the mountain," Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters traveling with him in Honiara, Solomon Islands.

The move shows the Obama administration is weighing the impact and implications of several days of targeted airstrikes on the Islamic State fighters and how that has affected U.S.-backed Kurdish forces opposing them in northern Iraq.

President Barack Obama has said repeatedly he will not send ground combat forces back into Iraq. One immediate dilemma was the fate of thousands of displaced Yazidis in the Sinjar area who have been provided with food and water delivered by U.S. cargo planes in recent days. Washington also was considering how to increase its military assistance to the Kurds, whose militia is outgunned by the militants.

The 130 were in addition to 90 U.S. military advisers already in Baghdad and 160 in a pair of operations centers — one in Irbil and one in Baghdad — working with Iraqi security forces. They were in addition to about 455 U.S. security forces and 100 military personnel working in the Office of Security Cooperation in the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.

U.S. officials said that while Obama put caps on the number of troops deployed to Iraq, these latest forces were being sent under the authorization for humanitarian assistance and therefore did not exceed the limits.

Burns reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Matthew Lee in Honiara, Solomon Islands, contributed to this report.

Egypt Presents Proposal To End War In Gaza

A Palestinian youth wraps a bandolier of spent bullets leftover by the Israeli army, next to his destroyed home in Beit Hanoun, Gaza Strip, Monday, Aug. 11, 2014. An Egyptian-brokered cease-fire halting the Gaza war held into Monday morning, allowing Palestinians to leave homes and shelters as negotiators agreed to resume talks in Cairo.

CAIRO, EGYPT (ASSOCIATED PRESS) — Egypt presented a proposed cease-fire to Israel and Hamas aimed at ending the monthlong war, Palestinian officials said early Wednesday after negotiators huddled for a second day of Egyptian-mediated talks meant to resolve the crisis and bring relief to the embattled Gaza Strip.

Palestinian officials told The Associated Press early Wednesday morning that Egypt's proposal calls for easing parts of the Israeli blockade of Gaza, bringing some relief to the territory. But it leaves the key areas of disagreement, including the Islamic militant group Hamas' demand for a full lifting of the blockade and Israeli calls for Hamas to disarm, to later negotiations.

If the sides accept the proposal it would have a significant impact on Palestinians in Gaza as it would improve the movement of individuals and merchandise to the West Bank, the officials said. Gaza exports and other businesses have been hit hard by restrictions imposed on the territory by Israel and Egypt after Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007.

One of the Palestinian officials who spoke to AP said that according to the Egyptian proposal the blockade would be gradually eased. He said it would stipulate that Israel would end airstrikes on militants, and a 500-meter (547-yard) buffer zone next to the Gaza and Israel frontier would be reduced over time, he said.

The Israeli and Palestinian negotiating teams retired after 10 hours of discussions and will resume the talks later Wednesday, about 12 hours before the current cease-fire is set to expire at midnight, the officials said.

It was not immediately clear if either side would accept the deal. The Palestinian officials spoke to AP on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss the negotiations with the media.

The negotiations took place after a three-day truce brokered by Egypt took effect Monday. A similar truce collapsed last Friday after Gaza militants quickly resumed rocket fire with its expiration. The monthlong Gaza war has killed more than 1,900 Palestinians, the majority of them civilians, Palestinian and U.N. officials say. In Israel, 67 people have been killed, all but three of them soldiers.

Hamas is demanding an end to an Israel-Egyptian blockade that has ravaged Gaza's economy. Israel says the blockade is needed to keep Hamas, which fired thousands of rockets into Israel during the war, from smuggling weapons. Israel is seeking guarantees that it disarm.

With the truce set to expire, Egypt pressed the sides hard to reach a deal. "The talks are difficult but serious," Moussa Abu Marzouk, head of the Hamas delegation, wrote on his Facebook page. "The delegation needs to achieve the hopes of the people."

Hamas, shunned by the international community as a terrorist organization, seized control of Gaza from internationally backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in 2007. Any deal will almost certainly include an increased role by Abbas. The Palestinian leader recently formed a unity government backed by Hamas, ostensibly putting him in charge of Gaza. But in reality, Hamas, with its thousands of fighters and arsenal of rockets, remains the real power.

Another member of the Palestinian delegation reported some progress, saying Israel had offered a number of gestures aimed at improving life for Gaza's 1.8 million residents. They included an increase in the number of trucks permitted to deliver goods into the territory from Israel each day, and the transfer of funds by Abbas' Palestinian Authority to Hamas-affiliated government employees in Gaza. The cash-strapped Hamas has been unable to pay the salaries of its employees for months.

Also included in the purported Israeli package, the official said, was an eventual quadrupling — to 12 miles (19 kilometers) — of the sea area in which Gaza fishing vessels are permitted to operate. But the official said Israel was linking progress on the Palestinians' biggest demands — to reopen the territory's sea and airport — to Hamas disarming. The group has rejected this demand. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was discussing ongoing negotiations. Palestinian officials said they were open to extending the talks if progress was being made.

Israeli officials declined comment on the negotiations. But in a possible sign of progress, the Ynet website said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been speaking to senior Cabinet ministers about an emerging agreement.

It said the deal would include a softening of the blockade to allow the entry of construction materials for rebuilding Gaza under strict international supervision. Israel has limited the flow of goods like concrete and metal, saying Hamas would use them for military use.

Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon said he did not know if there would be a deal by Wednesday night's deadline, and warned that fighting could resume. "I don't know if we should extend negotiations. It could be that fire erupts again," he said. "We must be on alert and ready all the time."

The U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva this week formed a commission to look into possible war crimes violations during the Gaza fighting. Israel has not said whether it will cooperate with the investigation. But the Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that it believes the commission, and its chief investigator, Canadian law professor William Schabas, are biased against Israel.

In a television interview, Schabas said he wouldn't let his history of criticizing Israeli leaders affect his ability to carry out the investigation. "What someone who sits in a commission or who is a judge has to be able to do is put these things behind them and start fresh and this is what I intend to do," he told Israel's Channel 2 TV.

He would not say whether he would investigate Hamas' actions. Israel's Foreign Ministry called the commission a "kangaroo court" whose verdict is "known ahead of time." Meanwhile, the world's largest bloc of Islamic nations called for an international donors conference for Gaza. The 56-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation also expressed its disappointment at the failure of the U.N. Security Council "to assume its responsibilities" of maintaining peace and security.

Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Saud Al-Faisal said his country would work with other donors to finance $500 million for the reconstruction of houses and facilities in Gaza. He did not elaborate. Officials have said at least $6 billion is needed.

Associated Press writers Ian Deitch in Jerusalem and Aya Batrawy in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report.

Ethiopia Habtemariam To Be Honored

Ethiopia Habtemariam: Highest ranking female at a major record label as Executive Vice President of UMG. Served as Vice President of Motown Records, a division of UMG (Universal Music Group), world's largest music company. On Friday, October 3, 2014 at the Taglyan Cultural Complex in Hollywood, Habtemariam will be honored in celebration by the Living Legends Foundation. This year marks the award show's 18th year and the first in the 23-year-old nonprofit's history hosted in Los Angeles. Image: Russ Elliot/Ad-Media, Los Angeles

Obama Administration Hopeful Diplomacy Can Ease Tensions Between Ukraine And Russia

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry gestures as he speaks to the media during a press conference at the conclusion of the AUSMIN talks at Admiralty House in Sydney, Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2014. Kerry and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel are meeting with their Australian counterparts at the annual Australia-U.S. Ministerial Consultations (AUSMIN), which will focus on regional security and enhanced military co-operation.

SYDNEY (AP) — The Obama administration is cautiously hopeful diplomacy can ease tensions between Ukraine and Russia over Moscow's insistence on sending humanitarian aid to pro-Russian areas of eastern Ukraine, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Tuesday, amid concerns that such deliveries could be used as cover for an invasion.

Speaking in Australia, Kerry said a series of meetings to be held in Europe this week between officials from the international Red Cross, Germany, Ukraine and potentially Russia could provide a formula under which assistance can be delivered without fear it is cover for direct Russian military intervention.

The comments came as a convoy of 280 Russian trucks headed for eastern Ukraine, a day after agreement was ostensibly reached on an international relief mission. But the international Red Cross, which is due to coordinate the operation, said it had no information on what the trucks were carrying or where they were going, raising fears in Ukraine and the West about the true intentions of the convoy.

Kerry did not give details of the meetings but said he hoped they could not only clear up the aid delivery, but also expedite the investigation into the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over east Ukraine and facilitate talks between the Kiev government of pro-Western President Petro Poroshenko and legitimate pro-Russian Ukrainians.

"Our hope is that in the next days and weeks we can find a way for President Poroshenko and Ukraine to be able to work with the Russians, provide the humanitarian assistance necessary in the east, facilitate the thoroughness of the investigation, begin to bring the separatists, to the degree that they are Ukrainian, into the political process," Kerry said. "Those who are not Ukrainian need to leave the country."

"Our hope is that that can happen through the diplomatic process, but we have all learned that we need to be cautious and strong and at the same time in our responses and be clear about what is acceptable and what is unacceptable," he told a news conference with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and their Australian counterparts at the conclusion of annual U.S.-Australian strategic talks known as AUSMIN.

Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop echoed Kerry's call and repeated a warning that Russia should not use humanitarian aid deliveries to disguise a military intervention. If Moscow is serious about easing the plight of civilians in eastern Ukraine, she said it should stop arming and supplying the rebels with weapons and personnel.

"There is a humanitarian situation in Ukraine that is serious and likely to worsen, but if Russia were concerned about the situation, the first step would be to stop the flow of fighters and weapons into eastern Ukraine," she said. "Any intervention into Ukraine by Russia under the guise of a humanitarian crisis would be seen as the transparent artifice that it is."

Thirty-eight Australians perished in the crash of the Malaysian plane, which the U.S. and others have said was caused by a missile fired from an area controlled by the pro-Russian separatists. Bishop said Australia would not rest until justice was done for its citizens and those of other countries who died.