saturDAY, october 25, 2014
guyanatimesgy.com
15
Around the world
Mali Ebola victim Millions of Ebola vaccine doses by end of 2015 – WHO travelled while contagious M
illions of doses of experimental Ebola vaccines will be produced by the end of 2015, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has announced. It said “several hundred thousand” would be produced in the first half of the year. And vaccines could be offered to health workers on the frontline in West Africa as soon as December 2014. However, the WHO cautioned that vaccines would not be a “magic bullet” for ending the outbreak. There is no proven cure or vaccine for Ebola. In response to the largest epidemic of the disease in history, the WHO is accelerating the process of vaccine development It normally takes years
The WHO says vaccines are likely to be key to ending the outbreak, even if cases fall in the next few months
to produce and test a vaccine, but drug manufacturers are now working on a scale of weeks. In other developments: Dozens of people are being monitored in Mali af-
“We won’t pay,” furious Cameron tells EU over surprise bill
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n a vivid display of fury at European Union (EU) technocrats, British Prime Minister David Cameron refused to pay a surprise 2.1-billion-euro bill on Friday as EU leaders ordered an urgent review of the calculations used. Eurosceptics at home branded the EU a “thirsty vampire” for seeking an additional, immediate sum worth a seventh of London’s annual payment following a major statistical review of national incomes. Cameron demanded action from fellow leaders at a summit, calling the sudden bill “completely unacceptable”. He found some sympathy. Cameron told reporters Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi lambast-
ed “bureaucrats without a heart”, who made it harder to fend off the attacks of Eurosceptics. Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, which like France is to get a refund in the same exercise, offered understanding for the peremptory way such a hefty demand was made – though she said Cameron did not tell his fellow leaders he would not pay at all. “He just had concerns about the short deadline,” she said. But in a show of anger in front of television cameras that some found at odds with a more collegial atmosphere in the summit room, Cameron said: “It’s an appalling way to behave.” (Excerpt
from Reuters)
ter the country confirmed its first case of Ebola Both nurses who were infected with Ebola in Dallas, Texas are now clear of the virus. Health officials in New
York are seeking people who came into contact with a doctor who tested positive after returning from Guinea, the fourth case of the virus in the US European Union leaders agreed to increase their financial help to fighting Ebola in West Africa from some 600 million euros (US$758 million) to one billion Two experimental vaccines, produced by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and the Public Health Agency of Canada, are already in safety trials. The GSK vaccine is being tested in Mali, the UK, and the US. Research on the Canadian vaccine is also under way in the US with further trials expected to start in Europe and Africa soon. (Excerpt from BBC News)
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ali's first Ebola victim, a twoyear-old girl, has died of the disease amid an alert she travelled across the country by bus while contagious, Al Jazeera reported. The WHO on Friday said the two-year-old girl was bleeding from her nose during her journey on public transport and may have infected many people. The girl was travelling from Guinea with her grandmother and passed through several towns in Mali, spending two hours in the Malian capital of Bamako before ending their journey in the west-
ern city of Kayes. Her death was confirmed on Friday by health officials speaking to news agencies. Her infection makes Mali the sixth West African country to record a case of the disease. The WHO said 43 people who came into contact with the child, including 10 health workers, were being monitored for symptoms and held in isolation. "The child's symptomatic state during the bus journey is especially concerning, as it presented multiple opportunities for exposures – including highrisk exposures – involving many people." (Aljazeera)
China punishes 17 officials after deadly village clash
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hinese authorities have arrested an official and punished 16 others following a deadly clash earlier this month in Yunnan, state media say. Eight people died, including four construction workers who were burnt to death, and 18 others were injured in the violence in Fuyou village. Villagers were reportedly unhappy about a land deal involving the construction of a trade and logistics centre. The arrested official was the village chief who state media said took bribes. There have been several high-profile village clashes over land deals in recent years amid rapid development. All land in China is stateowned and farmers often have little say when stateappointed local officials sell off large tracts of land to de-
Villagers were seen guarding the Fuyou village entrance following the October 14 incident
velopers, some pocketing bribes in the process and paying inadequate compensation to villagers forced to relocate.
Xinhua news agency said that following the October 14 incident, authorities undertook an “in-depth investigation” of local offi-
cials, which included some involved in the Pan-Asia Trade and Logistics Centre project. It found that 16 of them had “shirked their responsibilities and did not adequately resolve problems that had been forcefully pointed out by the people, resulting in serious and terrible consequences”. Six of them had either been suspended or fired, while the others were “still being dealt with”. Xinhua named the arrested official as Li Jiaming, the chief of Fuyou Village Council, who had “received bribes several times during the project’s construction”. Villagers had told local media they were unhappy with the amount of compensation and the developer had refused to show them proof of approval. (Excerpt from BBC News)
Rwanda suspends BBC broadcasts Dozens die in Sinai army checkpoint attack over genocide film
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wanda has suspended BBC broadcasts in the Kinyarwanda language with immediate effect because of a film questioning official accounts of the 1994 genocide. The Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Agency (Rura) said it had received complaints from the public of incitement, hatred, revisionism and genocide denial. At least 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus died in the genocide. The BBC has denied that any part of the programme constitutes a “denial of the genocide against the Tutsi”. On Wednesday, Rwandan Members of Parliament approved a resolution calling
There are numerous memorials around Rwanda to those killed in the genocide
on the Government to ban the BBC and to charge the documentary-makers with
genocide denial, which is a crime in the country. Those killed in the gen-
ocide are generally believed to be mostly members of the minority ethnic Tutsi group, and Hutus opposed to the mass slaughter. The BBC programme “Rwanda, The Untold Story”, includes interviews with US-based researchers who say most of those killed may have been Hutus, killed by members of the then-rebel Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), which has been in power since 1994. The programme also included interviews with former aides of RPF leader President Paul Kagame, accusing him of plotting to shoot down the presidential plane – the act seen as triggering the slaughter. (Excerpt from
BBC News)
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ozens die in Sinai army checkpoint attack At least 26 soldiers have been killed in an attack on an army checkpoint in Egypt's North Sinai, state media has reported. The attack on Friday afternoon hit an army checkpoint at Karm al-Qawadeis, southwest of Sheikh Zuweid. Egyptian sources told Al Jazeera that a suicide car bomber detonated his explosives near the checkpoint's magazine, causing it and an army vehicle to explode. Fighters then attacked the site with guns and rocket-propelled grenades. The source said the group attacked as soldiers were on break inside their tents. State media reported that 28 people were wounded, several of whom
were in critical condition. "Most have been seriously injured and not all of them have been taken to hospital yet," Health Ministry official Tareq Khater told the AFP news agency. Three more members of Egypt's security forces were killed in a separate attack at a checkpoint outside nearby alArish. It was not immediately clear whether the dead were soldiers or Police. The Egyptian President, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, announced three days of national mourning after the attack, and promised to eradicate those responsible. Local media said the President also ordered a meeting of the Government's national defence council following the blast. (Excerpt from Al Jazeera)