EBOLA OUTBREAK: Obstacles To Ending Ebola Remain In West Africa

 

Critical obstacles to ending the epidemic in Guinea and Sierra Leone

A spike in the number of Ebola victims in Guinea has citizens and health officials in West Africa concerned about a possible return of the deadly disease.

One of several obstacles to ending the epidemic in Guinea and Sierra Leone is the climate. It's the start of the rainy season in West Africa, when roads turn to mud, making it hard to get medicine and supplies to those with Ebola.

3 Killed As Car Plows Through Crowd In Austria, Driver Goes On 'Stabbing Spree'

#BREAKING - Deadly attack with SUV at shopping mall city of #Graz in #Austria, at least two killed & 50 wounded (Twitter: Roeland Roovers ‏@r0eland)

At least three people have been killed and dozens injured in the Austrian city of Graz where a man drove his van into a crowd and then reportedly went on to stab people. A seven-year-old boy is reportedly among the victims of the attack.

RT.com reports some of the thirty-four injured are in critical condition, Austrian Wiener Zeitung reports. Other sources put the number of those injured at up to 50.

Witnesses of the event say that a man drove his SUV into the crowd at random and, when the vehicle stopped, went out wielding a knife. He then started stabbing the near-by people. The screaming crowd ran into shops to seek help.

South African Parliament To Debate Controversy Over Sudan President Bashir

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir.

A prominent South African opposition lawmaker says President Jacob Zuma’s government flouted the constitution by refusing to carry out a court order that sought to prevent Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir from leaving the country following the recent African Union summit held in Johannesburg.

South Africa’s parliament plans to open a debate on Tuesday about the administration’s refusal to prevent President Bashir from leaving the country despite the court’s ruling.

South Korea Reports No New MERS Cases For First Time In 16 Days; Thailand Says 175 People Exposed

South Korea reported no additional deaths and no new cases from its MERS outbreak, raising hopes the country is winning the battle to contain the deadly virus ©Jung Yeon-Je (AFP)

South Korea on Saturday said that there had been no new cases of MERS reported for the first time in 16 days, raising hopes the country is winning the battle to contain the deadly virus.

The number of fatalities also remained unchanged at 24, while confirmed cases were stable at 166 over the past 24 hours, the health ministry said.

AFP reports six more patients had recovered and were released from hospital, cutting to 106 the number now undergoing treatment, while restrictions on more than 700 people were lifted Saturday, leaving some 5,200 people in quarantine.

Saudi Arabia Warns Citizens Against Sharing "Faked" Documents After Wikileaks Release

Jeddah Light Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia on Saturday urged its citizens not to distribute "documents that might be faked" in an apparent response to WikiLeaks' publication on Friday of more than 60,000 documents it says are secret Saudi diplomatic communications.

The statement, made by the Foreign Ministry on its Twitter account, did not directly deny the documents' authenticity.

The released documents, which WikiLeaks said were embassy communications, emails between diplomats and reports from other state bodies, include discussions of Saudi Arabia's position regarding regional issues and efforts to influence media.

Reuters was not able to independently verify the authenticity of the released documents.

Mass Extinction 'Already Triggered'; Sixth Great Extinction Of Animal Species Driven By Humans, Say Scientists

The start of Earth's sixth mass extinction has already been triggered, scientists say

Humans have already triggered the start of Earth's sixth mass extinction, thereby threatening their own future as a species, a hard-hitting new study has claimed.

The window of opportunity to prevent the worst diversity disaster since dinosaurs were swept from the planet 65 million years ago is "rapidly closing", warn the authors.

In the last century vertebrates have been disappearing at a rate 114 times higher than would normally be expected without the destructive influence of humans, according to the scientists, who insist their analysis is "extremely conservative".

FIFA CORRUPTION PROBE Putin: We Won World Cup Bid Fairly

Vladimir Putin says Russia won the hosting rights for the World Cup 'in a fair fight'

Russian president Vladimir Putin has insisted that the 2018 World Cup will go ahead in his country, despite the launch of an investigation into alleged corruption during the bidding process.

And Putin said England's failure to secure the tournament came about because the bid team did not exhibit its country's potential as a host.

America ‘Continues To Be A Racist Country’ In Wake Of SC Shooting – Political Scientist

A crowd gathers outside the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church following a prayer vigil nearby in Charleston, South Carolina, June 19, 2015 (Reuters / Brian Snyder)

A South Carolina church shooting left nine African-Americans dead and the nation searching for answers, but the specter of unresolved racial issues continues to loom large, with one political scientist telling RT that America remains a racist country.

As debate over the meaning of Wednesday’s shooting in Charleston, which took place at a historic African-American church, heats up, political scientist Dr. Wilmer Leon, who also hosts a Sirius XM radio program called “Inside the issues,” told RT that the roots of such violence date back to America’s beginnings.

 “This is an act of terror,” he said. “It fits into a much broader historical narrative in this country, of how Africans in America – and then African-Americans – have been treated since we arrived on these shores in 1619 at Point Comfort near Hampton, Virginia.”

London Tour Bus Driver Throttles Woman Who 'Filmed Her Running Red Light' – VIDEO

A London tour bus driver is filmed apparently throttling a passerby after witnesses say the victim filmed her running a red light. The driver leaves her Golden Tours bus running in the middle of Stamford Street, Waterloo, during the incident. Other pedestrians come to the aid of the victim, who can be heard screaming before falling to the ground

 

Google To Block 'Revenge Porn'

Google is to block 'revenge porn' pictures from search results

Internet giant Google is to block "revenge porn" images from showing up in its search results.

The American firm said it would censor "nude or sexually explicit" content shared without the subject's consent from results on its search engine if it received requests to do so.

The move comes two months after the law was changed in the UK, making it a criminal offence punishable with up to two years in prison to share sexually-explicit images without consent.

Nigeria LNG Exports Reach US$85 Bn In 15 Years

Nigeria's Liquefied Natural Gas company has generated US$85bn exports since its inception 15 years ago, it says ©Pius Utomi Ekpei (AFP)

Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Company Limited (NLNG), a joint venture between the government and foreign oil majors, has generated some US$85 billion dollars from exports since its inception 15 years ago, the company announced late Friday.

"For us, it has been a success story. Between 1999 when we came on stream and now, we have realized some US$85 billion from exports of liquefied natural gas to buyers in Europe, America and Asia," chief executive Babs Omotowa told reporters in Lagos.

He said the company, which was set up to harness Nigeria's vast natural gas resources and produce liquefied natural gas for export, has also paid billions of dollars to the state in tax.

"Just a few days ago, we paid US$1.6 billion dollars to the government as tax and this will go a long way to assist the new government in solving some of its problems," he said.

Tainted Liquor Kills 84 In India's Financial Hub Of Mumbai

Family members of people who died after drinking tainted liquor wail at a slum area in Malad, in northern Mumbai, India, Friday, June 19, 2015. Deaths from illegally brewed alcohol are common in India because the poor cannot afford licensed liquor. Illicit liquor is often spiked with chemicals such as pesticides to increase its potency. (AP Photo)

Police say the death toll from drinking tainted liquor in a slum in India's financial hub of Mumbai this week has climbed to 84 in the worst incident of its kind in more than a decade.

AP reports Deputy Commissioner Dhananjay Kulkarni says another 31 people were being treated in hospital after drinking the cheap liquor in Malad area in northern Mumbai on Wednesday night. They fell sick immediately.

Kulkarni said Saturday the police have arrested five people who transported and sold the tainted liquor to poor workers.

In 2004, 104 people had died after drinking spurious liquor in Mumbai's Vikhroli area.

Deaths from illegally brewed alcohol are common in India because the poor cannot afford licensed liquor. Illicit liquor is often spiked with chemicals such as pesticides to increase its potency.

EBOLA OUTBREAK: Liberians Still Face Travel Headaches Even After Ebola

Photo taken on Sunday, Aug. 24, 2014 People stand in line, at the Roberts International Airport as they leave Liberia, with fear of the Ebola virus spreading in the city of Monrovia, Liberia. (AP Photo/Abbas Dulleh, File)

Robtel Neajai Pailey hadn't been back home to Liberia since Ebola engulfed the country's capital in July, fearful that doing so could make it harder for her to travel as countries around the globe clamped down on visitors with West African passports.

So it was a mix of shock and anger earlier this month when she couldn't get a visa to attend an important meeting in the United Arab Emirates that had been months in the making.

It didn't matter that she had not even been in Liberia during the epidemic. Nor did it matter that Liberia was declared Ebola-free more than a month ago.

Ghana Reggae Star To Face Lawmakers In Parliament After Dope Slur

Outspoken firebrand: Blakk Rasta is a reggae singer and radio personality from Accra, Ghana. Born in the north of the country, he first got inspired by Nigerian reggae singer Ras Kimono after meeting him in 1993.

Popular Ghanaian reggae singer "Blakk Rasta" has been summoned to appear before a parliamentary committee after he said that most of the West African country's legislators use marijuana, officials said on Friday.

Speaker Doe Adzaho has issued an order for the musician, whose real name is Abubakar Ahmed, to answer to lawmakers for damaging the reputation of parliament.

Buhari Has Not Ordered Sale Of 9 Presidential Jets – Presidency

Buhari arriving South Africa for 25th AU Summit aboard 'Eagle One'

Contrary to reports that President Muhammadu Buhari had ordered the immediate disposal of nine of the 11 VIP transport aircraft in the presidential fleet, the presidency on Friday denied knowledge of any such directive.

THISDAY newspaper had quoted unnamed sources as saying the president had directed the selling of serviceable and unserviceable aircrafts to cut maintenance costs in line with the government’s policy to drastically reduce its annual expenditure.

Eight of the planes in the fleet, including Boeing 737, two Gulfstream 550 jets, Gulfstream V jet, two Falcon 7X planes, the Hawker Siddeley aircraft and Augusta Westland chopper, the report said, are reserved strictly for the president’s movement.

Other aircrafts, including two Falcon 900 planes, the Dornier, the Cessna Citation, the Beechracft King Air, and two AugustaWestland choppers, are reserved for the airlifting of the Vice-President, Senate President, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Minister of Foreign Affairs, as well as visiting African heads of states.

But speaking to PREMIUM TIMES Friday, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, denied knowledge of such directive.

“The story of the order for the sale of aircrafts in the Presidential Fleet, about which so much interest is being expressed, is not known to us,” Mr. Shehu said.

Mr. Shehu said if anything like that was being contemplated, the Presidency would issue a statement through its official channels to announce it.