Hundreds of French high schools shut as new violence erupts

-
By Frédéric Bourigault and Stuart Williams AFP | Posted by TOE French high school students lit fires outside schools and faced off with police on Friday as a protest movement that has forced the closure of some 400 establishments showed no sign of abating. The movement, which began last week in the Paris region and rapidly spread nationwide, has seen teenage pupils at lycees in their final years of schooling block access to buildings and clash with police. The students say their school hours are excessively long, conditions inadequate including overheated classrooms, and that there are too many staff absences. The government says the grievances are legitimate but has condemned what it has described as “urban violence”. Students have accused police of using excessive force and causing injuries by regularly firing tear gas canisters to disperse the protests. In Paris on Friday, fire damaged the entrances of two high schools — Leonard de Vinci in ...
Post a Comment

Thousands flee Congo Ebola-hit camp, stoking concerns about disease spread

-

By Emma Farge and Clement Bonnerot Reuters | Posted by TOE

Thousands of displaced residents at an Ebola-hit camp in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have fled after soldiers entered ​the site, UN and Congolese officials said on Thursday, raising concern about ‌the disease’s spread.

  • Security forces went to the Kigonze camp looking for weapons and clashes ensued, causing camp residents to flee over the last week, according to Congolese and health officials
  • The camp for ​some 19,000 displaced residents in Ituri province now lies abandoned, UN Senior ​Ebola Coordinator Julien Harneis said in a statement
  • Reuters reported in June ⁠that more than 30 people had died in the camp in just over a ​month, many from Ebola
  • Two health officials with knowledge of the situation said that about ​1,000 Ebola contacts were resident in the camp. Only about a fifth of those have since been traced, one of the sources added
  • “The enormous challenge of halting the spread of Ebola in ​the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) just became even harder…,” the UN said. It ​said an Ebola transit centre where suspected Ebola cases could be isolated, tested and treated was ‌also ⁠burned down
  • The UN refugee agency told Reuters there have been 88 confirmed Ebola cases in Congo displacement sites and 56 deaths, including those in Kigonze. The toll was likely an underestimate, it said
  • Ebola often spreads quickly in displacement camps where aid groups ​say overcrowding and ​poor sanitary conditions ⁠are common. The International Organization for Migration, which did not have data for the Kigonze site, said its fatality rate for ​Ebola cases in other camps was more than 80% — much higher ​than the ⁠average of around 50%
  • Ituri, South Kivu and North Kivu in eastern Congo have been devastated by decades of conflict and are home to more than 5 million displaced people
  • Ituri ⁠is the ​worst affected province of the current outbreak, which ​was declared in May. It is already the deadliest outbreak in Congo’s history, having killed at least 3,982 people.


from The Times Of Earth https://ift.tt/uyzAr9C

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Myanmar earthquake death toll rises as fresh tremors further complicate rescue efforts

-
Image
A5.1-magnitude earthquake struck near Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city, on Sunday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The tremor was part of a series of aftershocks following Friday’s devastating 7.7-magnitude earthquake, which resulted in the collapse of numerous buildings and significant infrastructure damage. The death toll has risen to over 1,600, with more than 3,400 individuals reported missing; these numbers are expected to increase as rescue operations continue. Foreign rescue teams and supplies arrived in Myanmar on Sunday to help the impoverished country cope with an earthquake that killed over 1,600 and left many near the epicentre scrambling for help without proper equipment. The 7.7-magnitude quake, one of Myanmar’s strongest in a century, jolted the Southeast Asian nation on Friday, leaving 1,644 people dead, 3,408 injured and 139 missing, the military government said. India, China and Thailand are among Myanmar’s neighbours that have sent relief ...
Read more

Israel says situation on Lebanon border ‘not sustainable’

-
By James Mackenzie Reuters  Israeli officials and media reacted with satisfaction on Monday after a  long-expected missile attack  by the Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement appeared to have been largely thwarted by pre-emptive Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon. Both Hezbollah and Israel seemed content to let Sunday’s attack, in retaliation for the  killing of a senior Hezbollah commander  in Beirut last month, count as settled for the moment. Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer said Hezbollah had suffered a “crushing blow” from the Israeli strikes but that a longer lasting solution was still needed. “The current situation is not sustainable,” he told a briefing, referring to the tens of thousands evacuated from their homes in northern Israel, a situation mirrored on the other side of the border in southern Lebanon. “Israel will do its duty and return its population to our sovereign territory.” Hopes that children might return for the start of the ...
Read more