- Civil society groups walked out of the World Bank's official safeguards consultation over concern about a proposed reduction in the Bank's social and environmental standards.
- Oxfam has called for the Australian Government to enact the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative.
- 24 October was World Polio Day. Check out this interactive map to see global hot spots.
- Related, this story from Pakistan, where terrorist forces aim to stop polio vaccinations. Pakistan is one of only three countries, along with Afghanistan and Nigeria, where polio is still endemic.
- 24 October was also UN Day. Read this research paper from UN watcher and New York University academic Richard Gowan: Peacekeeping at the precipice: Is everything going wrong for the UN?
- China's use of coal falls for the first time this century; but will this change its negotiating position at UN climate talks later this year?
- Lastly, a podcast from Freakonomics Radio called Fixing the world: Bang for buck edition. Economists and intellectuals decide how to spend the world's combined aid budget.
Aid & development links: Polio, UN Day, China's coal use and more
Published 27 Oct 2014
Follow @StephieDunstan
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