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World
Doctors Falling Victim to Ebola Death, illness strike physicians treating W. African outbreak
Meanwhile …
One of Liberia’s most high-profile doctors has died of Ebola, officials said Sunday, and an American physician is being treated for the deadly virus, highlighting the risks facing health workers trying to combat an outbreak that has killed more than 670 people in three West African countries — the largest ever recorded. A second American, a missionary working in the Liberian capital, has also taken ill and is being treated in isolation there, said the pastor of a Charlotte, N.C., church that sponsored her work. Dr. Samuel Brisbane, a top Libe-
SAMARITAN’S PURSE/AP
Monrovia, Liberia
Dr. Kent Brantly, left, treats an Ebola patient at the Samaritan’s Purse Ebola Case Management Center in Monrovia, Liberia. The U.S. doctor has contracted the virus.
rian health official, was treating Ebola patients in Monrovia when he fell ill. He died Saturday, said Tolbert Nyenswah, an assistant health minister. A Ugandan doctor died earlier this month. T he A mer ica n physicia n,
33-year-old Dr. Kent Brantly, was in Liberia helping to respond to the outbreak when he fell ill, according to the medical charity Samaritan’s Purse. He is receiving intensive medical care and is in stable condition, the aid group said. The
Nigerian authorities raced to stop the spread of Ebola on Saturday after a man sick with the virus brought it by plane to Lagos, Nigeria, Africa’s largest city. The fact that the traveler from Liberia could board an international flight raised new fears that other passengers could take the disease beyond Africa. Officials in the country of Togo, where the man’s flight had a stopover, also went on high alert after learning that Ebola could possibly have spread to a fifth country. (AP)
Donetsk, Ukraine Ukrainian armed forces mounted a major onslaught against pro-Russia separatist fighters Sunday in an attempt to gain control over the area where a Malaysia Airlines plane was downed earlier this month. The U.S. State Department, meanwhile, released satellite images that it says back up its claims that rockets have been fired from Russia into eastern Ukraine and heavy artillery for separatists has also crossed the border. A four-page document released by the State Department seems to show blast marks from where rockets were launched and craters where they landed. Officials said the images, sourced from the U.S. Director of National Intelligence, show heavy weapons fired between July 21 and July 26 — after the July 17 downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. Moscow has angrily denied alle-
Meanwhile … Reports of the intensifying unrest in eastern Ukraine prompted a postponement of a trip to the site by a team of Dutch and Australian police officers who had planned to start searching for evidence and the remaining bodies from the Malaysia Airlines crash. (AP)
gations of Russia’s involvement in eastern Ukraine. Russia’s foreign ministry over the weekend accused the U.S. of conducting “an unrelenting campaign of slander against Russia, ever more relying on open lies.” Secretary of State John Kerry spoke by phone Sunday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, urging him to stop the flow of heavy weapons and rocket and artillery fire from Russia into Ukraine, said a State Department official. (AP)
Israel and Hamas launched new attacks Sunday in the raging Gaza war, despite going back and forth over proposals for a temporary halt to nearly three weeks of fighting ahead of a major Muslim holiday. The failure to reach even a brief humanitarian lull in the fighting illustrated the difficulties in securing a more permanent truce as the sides remain far apart on terms. After initially rejecting an Israeli offer Saturday for a 24-hour truce, Hamas said Sunday that it
BAMAKO, MALI
Black Boxes From Mali Crash Sent to France Black boxes from the Air Algerie plane that crashed in northern Mali last week will be transferred to France for analysis, the French embassy in Mali said Sunday, as officials prepared for the process of identifying the remains of the dead. French authorities say extreme bad weather was the likely cause of the crash that killed 118 people, but they aren’t ruling out other possibilities, including terrorism. (AP) YAOUNDE, CAMEROON
American missionary, Nancy Writebol, is said to be gravely ill. Sierra Leone’s top Ebola doctor and a doctor in central Liberia also have fallen ill. The situation “is getting more and more scary,” Nyenswah said. JONATHAN PAYE-LAYLEH (AP)
U.S.: Images Show Russia Israel-Hamas Truce Crumbles Firing Rockets at Ukraine Gaza City, Gaza Strip
In Brief
had agreed to hold fire ahead of the Eid al-Fitr holiday marking the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. But as Israel’s Cabinet met to discuss the offer and the ongoing war, rockets rained down on southern Israel and Israeli strikes could be heard in Gaza. Each side blamed the other for scuttling the efforts. Hamas said that “due to the lack of commitment” by Israel, it resumed its fire. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Hamas showed it could not be trusted after it violated other cease-fire efforts. (AP)
Hearsay
“I beg you, stop. I ask you with all my heart.” — Pope Francis, who on Sunday marked the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of World War I with an impassioned plea for people to “not repeat the mistakes of the past,” urging them to embrace dialogue to overcome conflicts. Francis cited warfare between Israelis and Palestinians, as well as in Iraq and in Ukraine.
Boko Haram Kidnaps Cameroon Official’s Wife A government spokesman says Boko Haram fighters kidnapped the wife of Cameroon’s vice prime minister in an attack that also resulted in multiple deaths. The attack occurred Sunday in Kolofata. Cameroon’s government has become increasingly involved in regional efforts to combat Boko Haram, despite warnings from the armed group to stay out of its fight with the Nigerian military. (AP) BEIJING
Typhoon Matmo Kills 13 People in China A typhoon has killed 13 people in China and left thousands in need of basic living supplies, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said Sunday. The bad weather associated with Typhoon Matmo in Taiwan is considered a likely factor in a plane crash that killed 48 people Wednesday. (AP) GENOA, ITALY
Costa Concordia Wreck At Final Destination The shipwrecked Costa Concordia cruise liner completed its final journey, reaching Genoa on Sunday where it will be scrapped. Demolition and scrapping will take an estimated two years, but first, the wreck will be searched for any remains of an Indian waiter, the only body never found despite repeated missions by divers who swam through the ship when it lay on its side outside the port of Giglio. The Concordia struck a reef off Tuscany’s coast on Jan. 13, 2012, and capsized, killing 32 people. (AP)