East Africa’s most important transit hub has imposed new restrictions. “The Kenyan government has taken the step of closing its borders to travelers from West African countries affected by the growing Ebola outbreak. The suspension applies to Kenyan ports of entry for people traveling from Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, the country’s Health Ministry says. It goes into effect Tuesday at midnight. “This step is in line with the recognition of the extraordinary measures urgently required to contain the Ebola outbreak in West Africa,” the Health Ministry said in a statement.” (BBC)
- Ebola
- To try to control the Ebola epidemic spreading through West Africa, Liberia has quarantined remote villages at the epicenter of the virus, evoking the “plague villages” of medieval Europe that were shut off from the outside world. (Reuters)
Liberian officials fear Ebola could soon spread through the capital’s largest slum after residents raided a quarantine center for suspected patients and took items including bloody sheets and mattresses. (AP)
Armed men claiming that “there’s no Ebola” in Liberia raided a quarantine center for the deadly disease in Monrovia overnight, prompting at least 20 patients infected with the deadly virus to flee, a witness said Sunday. (VOA)
Guinea said on it would reopen an Ebola clinic in its remote southeast as sick nationals living in Liberia and Sierra Leone spill over the borders in search of better treatment. (Reuters)
Health care workers in Liberia have administered three doses of the rare, experimental drug ZMapp to three doctors suffering from Ebola, two medical workers in Monrovia said. (Reuters)
- Africa
- Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe on Sunday urged southern Africa to reduce its dependence on foreign aid and to make better use of its natural resources such as minerals and land. (Reuters)
Two UN peacekeepers were killed and nine others injured in a suicide attack on a patrol base in northern Mali, the U.N. peacekeeping mission said. (Reuters)
When a Ugandan court overturned the country’s Anti-Homosexuality Act this month, rights activists worldwide claimed a victory. But not gay Ugandans who fled persecution to live in a refugee camp in neighboring Kenya. (AP)
- MENA
- Kurdish forces have made key gains in northern Iraq against the Islamic State. They are now in control of the Mosul dam. (BBC)
The Islamic State militant group has executed 700 members of a tribe it has been battling in eastern Syria during the past two weeks, the majority of them civilians, a human rights monitoring group and activists said. (Reuters)
The United Nations condemned a new round of fighting between rival militias around Tripoli international airport, saying the clashes were undermining Libya’s political process. (AP)
The new U.N. special envoy to Libya plans to visit Tripoli as early as next week to seek a ceasefire between armed factions whose clashes have turned parts of the capital into a battlefield, his office said. (Reuters)
Gazans face a daily struggle to get water, a precious resource in the Hamas-controlled enclave which has been under Israeli blockade since 2006. (AFP)
- Asia
- Floods triggered by heavy rains in the Himalayas have inundated nearly 1,500 villages in northern India, killing at least 28 people and leaving thousands homeless, officials said on Sunday. (VOA)
Rescuers on Sunday found four more bodies buried under mud as the death toll from landslides and flooding in Nepal climbed to 89, sparking fears of a cholera outbreak. (AFP)
Australia will offer to resettle some 4,400 people fleeing violence in Iraq and Syria, Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said Sunday, adding the places had been freed up by success in stopping asylum-seeker boats. (AP)
- The Americas
- Tens of thousands of Brazilians gathered on Sunday in the northeastern city of Recife to bid farewell to presidential candidate Eduardo Campos, killed in a plane crash four days ago, as debate swirled about the impact of his death on the October election. (Reuters)
Victims of Colombia’s 50-year-old war pleaded with peace negotiators to reach a deal and said they were willing to forgive heinous acts of cruelty, urging Colombians to unite behind the effort to end the bloodshed. (Reuters)
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Elias Jaua announced the sending of a second plane with humanitarian aid for the Palestinian people affected by the conflict with Israel, in Gaza. (Prensa Latina)
- Opinion/Blogs
- Charles Kenny takes a look at the issue of police corruption in the USA and around the world. (Bloomberg)
World peace? These are the only 11 countries in the world that are actually free from conflict (The Independent)
Fake Cures For AIDS Have A Long And Dreadful History (NPR)
Activism vs slacktivism: it’s about context not tools (Wait… What?)
Why This Ebola Outbreak Is Different Than Earlier Versions (NPR)
- Research/Reports
- Doctors are warning of a worsening tuberculosis epidemic in Eastern Ukraine as the continuing conflict there begins to take a heavy toll on public health. (IPS)
A United Nations team is now developing a toilet for disaster areas. The experimental project is called eSOS — for the Emergency Sanitation Operation System. The system is lightweight and operates on sunlight power. (VOA)
