Global News

By DPA | Posted by TOE Uganda discharged its last Ebola patient – a citizen of the Democratic Republic of Congo who has fully recovered – the Ugandan Health Ministry said on Thursday on X. It said the Congolese patient can now return home. The discharge triggered a 42-day period required under international guidelines after which Uganda can declare the Ebola outbreak over, provided no new cases occur. Still, the health ministry urged the public to remain alert for possible Ebola symptoms such as fever, vomiting, diarrhoea or unexplained bleeding. Situation in the Congo While Uganda is hoping for an end to the outbreak, the virus continues to spread in neighbouring Congo. Since mid-May, more than 2,000 people there have been confirmed to have contracted Ebola. The Congolese Information Ministry said the number of confirmed cases currently stands at 2,073, including 796 deaths. At present, 737 patients are being treated in hospitals and isolation centr...

By Reuters | Posted by TOE Two boats carrying more than 500 people may have capsized off the coast of Myanmar in recent days, ​UN agencies said on Thursday, as refugees from the ‌war-torn country continue to make perilous maritime journeys in search of safety and better opportunities. “According to preliminary information, the two vessels departed from ​Myanmar’s Rakhine State in late June carrying mostly Rohingya ​passengers, reportedly including some who had travelled from refugee ⁠camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh,” the International Organization for Migration ​and the UN Refugee Agency said in a joint statement, saying ​more than 500 were feared dead. Two boats carrying more than 500 people may have capsized off the coast of Myanmar in recent days, ​UN agencies said on Thursday, as refugees from the ‌war-torn country continue to make perilous maritime journeys in search of safety and better opportunities. “According to preliminary inform...

Nine killed in Pakistan-administered Kashmir clashes By Tariq Maqbool Reuters | Posted by TOE Clashes between security forces and supporters of a ‌banned protest group in Pakistan-administered Kashmir killed ‌nine people on Tuesday, officials said, a day before ​the group planned a march against controversial electoral arrangements ahead of regional elections later this month. The violence stems from a dispute over 12 seats ‌reserved in the ⁠regional assembly for refugees who live elsewhere in Pakistan, a system protesters ⁠say dilutes local representation. Poonch Divisional Commissioner Waheed Khan said protesters blocked a security convoy and attacked ​officials in ​the Poonch sector. “Police ​and security officials responded ‌in self-defence,” Khan told Reuters. Six protesters and one police officer were killed in Tararkhal, while a protester and a security official died in a separate clash in Rawalakot, he said. The Joint ‌Action Committee (J...

By Clement Bonnerot Reuters Congo’s AFC/M23 rebels have used a small Ebola outbreak in territory they control to showcase their ability to govern, mounting a response largely separate from authorities in Kinshasa and supported in part by neighbouring Rwanda, according to response teams and official documents. The response has highlighted how the rebels have extended ‌parallel administrative structures into areas captured during a lightning advance last year. Analysts, however, say the war-torn country’s fragmented response could complicate containment efforts should the outbreak spread further. Reuters reviewed documents ‌from Congo’s Health Ministry and spoke to eight sources involved in the Ebola response in rebel-held areas, including one AFC/M23 official, two members of the technical coordination committee for the response and five aid workers, most of whom spoke on condition ​of anonymity because they feared being seen as legitimising the rebel group...

By ANTON L. DELGADO and JINTAMAS SAKSORNCHAI, Associated Press  A huge fire tore through a music bar in Bangkok overnight, killing at least 27 people and leaving 25 hospitalized in critical condition in the Thai capital’s most deadly blaze in 17 years. Photos from the Rong Beer Na Ladprao bar in a northern part of the Thai capital showed people fleeing as flames shot out the single-story building and thick black smoke billowed into the sky. Shoes lost and scattered as their owners sought to flee could be seen in pictures from the aftermath of the tragedy. Bangkok city officials said the fire broke out shortly before midnight Sunday, and it was about half an hour until firefighters brought it under control. By daylight Monday morning, the site had been cordoned off as dozens of Thai forensic officers combed through the burned remains for clues about what caused the fire. The building’s street-facing windows had been blown out and debris littered the sidewalk, in...

By Associated Press | Posted by TOE Typhoon Bavi  weakened to a severe tropical storm after making landfall in eastern  China’s  Zhejiang province but was still bringing strong winds and heavy rain to eastern China on Sunday. It weakened early Sunday with maximum sustained winds of around 101 kph (63 mph) near its center, according to China’s national weather center, and is expected to move northwestward across eastern China. Bavi passed north of  Taiwan  on Saturday but did not make a direct landfall. Taiwan’s fire department said at least 134 people across the island were injured as of 7 a.m. Sunday, some sustaining injuries while riding motorcycles or bicycles under strong winds or due to slippery road surfaces. Strong winds and heavy rain are expected to impact many eastern Chinese cities on Sunday, China’s National Meteorological Center said. Shanghai evacuated more than 290,000 people from at-risk areas, state media reported. ...