International

U.S. sets up rapid-response Ebola team; Dallas nurse improves

BY TERRY WADE (Reuters) – The United States is establishing a rapid-response team to help hospitals “within hours” whenever there is a case of Ebola, the top doctor leading the fight against the deadly virus said on Tuesday. Prospects for a quick end to the contagion fell as the World Health Organization (WHO) predicted that three impoverished countries in West Africa – Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea – could produce as many as 10,000 new cases […]

Why abolishing direct local elections undermines Indonesia’s democracy

Authors: Jonathan Chen and Adhi Priamarizki, RSIS (Courtesy East Asia Forum) — A bill that will transfer the election of local leaders in Indonesia from the people to the Regional Legislative Councils is currently being contested. The Indonesian parliament passed the bill to end direct local elections on 26 September. But outgoing President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono announced on 30 September that he is preparing an emergency presidential decree to overturn the decision and restore elections. Direct […]

Ebola patient in Germany died of “severe case of disease,” doctor says

(Reuters) — A U.N. medical official who caught Ebola while working in Liberia and died in a German hospital suffered from a “severe cases of the disease,” a chief physician said in Leipzig on Tuesday (October 14). Bernhard Ruf of the department of infectious and tropical diseases and nephrology at St.Georg clinic said in a video message released by the hospital that “the patient who was hospitalised … and was treated with a severe case of Ebola died yesterday due to a very severe case of the disease […]

North Korea leader Kim re-appears, with walking stick: state media

BY TONY MUNROE AND JACK KIM (Reuters) – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, shown using a cane for support, re-appeared in state media on Tuesday after a lengthy public absence that had fueled speculation over his health and grip on power in the secretive, nuclear-capable country. Several pictures on the front page of the Rodong Sinmun newspaper showed Kim smiling and gesturing on a visit to a housing development, although there was no indication which day the […]

Families torn apart as dozens of French girls join Islamist cause in Syria

(Reuters) — While Western governments have focused on the thousands of male jihadist volunteers who have left for Syria and Iraq, security officials in Europe are expressing alarm about a smaller but steady stream of female groups heading the same way. France, which is home to Europe’s biggest Muslim community, struggles with the flow of would-be jihadists to Syria and French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve believes almost a thousand French citizens are either already there or trying to go. Among them are dozens of girls […]

Protestors’ triumphs merely highlight the travails of Hong Kong’s democracy

Author: Joseph Cheng, City University of Hong Kong (Courtesy East Asia Forum) — Just before midnight on 2 October, CY Leung, Chief Executive of Hong Kong, agreed to negotiations with student protest leaders on the issue of political reform. The protesters, as well as the people of Hong Kong, can be very proud of what they have achieved so far. They have occupied not only the Admiralty area, but also several districts and ensured that […]

Sick passengers removed from flight in Boston in Ebola scare

(Reuters) – Emergency crews in protective gear removed five passengers with flu-like symptoms from a commercial airliner that arrived at Boston’s Logan Airport on Monday, but U.S. health authorities played down the possibility of Ebola. Emirates flight 237 from Dubai landed at Logan around 2:30 p.m. EDT and emergency medical workers escorted the ill passengers off the aircraft, authorities said. Massachusetts Port Authority spokesman Matthew Brelis said none of the ill passengers had recently been […]

CDC head criticized for blaming ‘protocol breach’ as nurse gets Ebola

  BY JULIE STEENHUYSEN (Reuters) – Some healthcare experts are bristling at the assertion by a top U.S. health official that a “protocol breach” caused a Dallas nurse to be infected with Ebola while caring for a dying patient, saying the case instead shows how far the nation’s hospitals are from adequately training staff to deal with the deadly virus. Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, made the declaration […]

Hong Kong police begin removing protesters’ barricades in some Central areas

Police in Hong Kong removed baricades erected by pro-democracy protesters but said protesters continue to remain in the streets.    (Reuters) — Hong Kong police on Monday (October 13) removed some barricades erected by pro-democracy protesters in the Chinese-controlled city, but said protesters could remain on the streets they have occupied for the past two weeks. At the main protest site, near government offices in the downtown district of Admiralty, scores of student protesters faced off with […]

Spanish authorities still hopeful for Ebola nurse’s recovery

(Reuters) — Spanish health authorities said on Sunday (October 12) there is still hope for Teresa Romero, the Spanish nurse who tested positive for the deadly virus a week ago. The 44-year-old nurse was conscious and sitting unaided on Saturday (October 11), as three more people joined 12 others hospitalized in Madrid for monitoring. “The amount of the virus Teresa has seems to be lowering. It is important to believe there is hope regarding her case. We have […]

U.S. military faces new kind of threat with Ebola

BY PHIL STEWART (Reuters) – At Fort Campbell in Kentucky, spouses of U.S. soldiers headed to Liberia seem to be lingering just a bit longer than usual after pre-deployment briefings, hungry for information about Ebola. For these families, the virus is raising a different kind of anxiety than the one they have weathered during 13 years of ground war in Afghanistan and Iraq. They want to know how the military can keep soldiers safe from the epidemic, a new […]

Texas health worker tests positive for Ebola

BY LISA MARIA GARZA (Reuters) – A health worker in Texas at the hospital where the first person diagnosed with Ebola in the United States died last week has tested positive for the deadly virus in a preliminary test, the state’s health department said on Sunday. The worker at the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital reported a low-grade fever Friday night and was isolated and referred for testing, the Texas Department of State Health Services said […]