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Fall in UK aid impacts on Ebola, warnings over global warming and Alzheimer’s link in ‘moody’ women

As Ebola continues to devastate parts of Africa, the House of Commons international development select committee has said cuts in UK aid to Sierra Leone and Liberia might have contributed to the rapid spread of the disease.

The Guardian reports the committee’s belief that a fall in UK aid by almost a fifth to the two African countries could have hit their health systems and consequently their ability to tackle Ebola.

The committee chair, Lib Dem MP Sir Malcolm Bruce, was also critical of plans for the UK to further cut its funding to the Liberian health sector.

The Daily Mail identifies ‘fury’ following the British Medical Journal’s decision to devote 11 pages of its latest issue to warn doctors of the harmful consequences of global warming.

The newspaper finds a think tank to brand the BMJ ‘alarmist’, but it reports an editorial by the journal’s editor, Dr Fiona Godlee, predicting that global warming could cause ‘mayhem’, which would make the current Ebola outbreak ‘pale into insignificance’.

Meanwhile, The Telegraph reports research that has concluded that ‘moody’ women were twice as likely to be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in later life.

The Swedish study, which tracked 800 women over four decades, found those who scored highly for neuroticism and stress in personality tests were far more likely to be diagnosed with dementia in old age.