Situation Report

washingtonpost.com - by Thad Moore and Drew Harwell - August 21, 2015

A worldwide sell-off pushed U.S. stocks to their worst week since 2011 as spooked investors scattered amid worries of an economic slowdown in China and the potential for higher interest rates at home.

The Dow Jones industrial average capped a four-day losing streak by dropping more than 500 points to close at 16,459.75, sinking 10 percent from its May peak and following even steeper market declines in Asia and Europe.

The rout will further rattle workers whose 401(k) retirement accounts have taken a troubling hit. Investors have lost billions in recent weeks and are flocking to safety-net Treasury bonds as they wait for the bleeding to stop.

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THE PATRIOTIC VANGUARD   Aug. 20, 1015

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone --The Chief of Staff in the Office of the President Saidu Conton Sesay (pictured) has described the role of civil society as very vital in strengthening good governance in Sierra Leone.

He made this statement during a meeting with a consortium of civil society organizations Tuesday 18th August, 2015 at State House, Freetown. The purpose of the meeting was to work in collaboration with Office of the Chief of Staff in the implementation of the National Ebola Recovery Plan to enhance trust between citizens and government.

The Chief of Staff promised that his office is ready to work with civil society organizations in the implementation of the post-Ebola recovery plan not only to help establish public trust, but also keep informing each other about areas that need attention.

"The better society we have, the better the governance," Sesay said, adding that his office has posted two officers each to all districts - one facilitator and one analyst who will be engaging local councils to update them in detail. He expressed desire to meet with the consortium upon the return of officials assigned to the districts for better planning and understanding.

THE GUARDIAN   by Sarah Bosley                              Aug. 20, 2015
FREETOWN--The long-running Ebola epidemic in Sierra Leoneis all but over after nearly 13,500 cases and almost 4,000 deaths, those fighting the disease believe.

             People celebrate being released from Ebola quarantine on 14 August 2015. Photograph: Sunday Alamba/AP

The last case in Sierra Leone was an eight-month-old child, who was hospitalised nearly two weeks ago and died four days later.

None of the 29 people who had contact with the child and were moved from the densely packed Freetown slum of Magazine Wharf to a voluntary quarantine facility have so far shown signs of illness.

The Lake Borgne Surge Barrier, which rises 26 feet above sea level, is designed to be overtopped by storm surges created by a hurricane with a 1 percent chance of occurring in any year, the so-called 100-year storm, hits the area. The overtopping water will be stored in the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway and the Industrial Canal in New Orleans. Larger storms will cause even more water to overtop the wall.

nola.com - by Mark Schleifstein - August 18, 2015

The rebuilt New Orleans area hurricane levee system remains inadequate to protect the heart of the nation's 45^th largest metropolitan area from another Hurricane Katrina or larger storm, nationally-known engineers and scientists said almost a decade after the 2005 storm.