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By Edmund Blair NAIROBI (Reuters) - Governments and international organisations plan to meet in March to work out how to rebuild three West African nations whose economies have been shattered by Ebola, a U.N. envoy said on Thursday. The number of newly detected cases of Ebola virus infection has been dropping sharply in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia in recent weeks. The World Bank in January projected they would lose $1.6 billion in income this year, over 12 percent of their combined economic output. "The plans at the moment are for a conference to look at the needs of reconstruction organised by the countries themselves, by the United Nations, by the African Union and by the European Union," said David Nabarro, the U.N. special envoy on Ebola.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — When the Los Angeles Lakers blew a nine-point lead in 70 seconds late in regulation, they certainly seemed to be careening straight toward another loss in overtime.

Apartheid death-squad leader Eugene de Kock, dubbed 'Prime Evil' for his role in the torture and murder of black South African activists in the 1980s and early 1990s, will learn on Friday whether he will be released on parole after 20 years in prison. Justice Minister Michael Masutha is due to announce his decision on de Kock's application for parole at 0730 GMT at a news conference in Pretoria. Masutha will also announce his decision on the medical parole application of right-wing politician Clive Derby-Lewis, who masterminded the 1993 assassination of South African Communist Party leader Chris Hani. As head of an apartheid counter-insurgency unit at Vlakplaas, a farm 20 km (15 miles) west of Pretoria, de Kock is believed to have been responsible for more atrocities than any other man in the efforts to preserve white rule.