Clinical trials of a preventative vaccine for the Ebola virus made by pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline may begin next month and made available by 2015, the WHO said on Saturday.
“We are targeting September for the start of clinical trials, first in the United States and certainly in African countries, since that’s where we have the cases,” Jean-Marie Okwo Bele, the WHO’s head of vaccines and immunization, told French radio.
Jean-Marie Okwo Bele said he was optimistic about making the vaccine commercially available.
Clinical trials of a preventative vaccine for the Ebola virus made by GSK may begin next month and made available by 2015
“We think that if we start in September, we could already have results by the end of the year.
“And since this is an emergency, we can put emergency procedures in place … so that we can have a vaccine available by 2015.”
There is currently no available cure or vaccine for Ebola, a virus that causes severe fever and, in the worst cases, unstoppable bleeding.
It has claimed close to 1,000 lives in the latest epidemic to spread across West Africa this year. Fatality rates can approach 90 percent, although the latest outbreak has killed around 55 to 60 percent of those infected.
Several vaccines are being tested, and a treatment made by San Diego-based Mapp Biopharmaceutical, ZMapp, has shown promising results on monkeys and may have been effective in treating two Americans recently infected in Africa.
David Duchovny and Tea Leoni have filed for divorce, TMZ reported.
The couple previously announced their separation back in June 2011.
David Duchovy, 54, filed papers, citing an irretrievable breakdown of the relationship.
David Duchovny and Tea Leoni have filed for divorce (photo Getty Images)
The actor and Tea Leoni, 48, will have joint legal custody of their two children, daughter Madelaine, 15, and son Kyd, 12. Tea Leoni will have primary physical custody.
Other terms of the divorce include David Duchovny having to pay $8,333 a month in child support and $40,000 a month in spousal support.
David Duchovny and Tea Leoni married in 2007. Before announcing their separation in 2011, they also briefly split in 2007.
In October 2008, David Duchovny voluntarily entered a rehabilitation center for s** addiction for two months.
Former Morris County Clerk Joan Bramhall, who once worked with Republican Governor Chris Christie, was found dead along with her husband inside their New Jersey home.
The incident appeared to be a murder-suicide, officials said on Friday.
Police discovered the bodies of Joan Bramhall and her husband, John, inside their Denville home on Thursday, but the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office declined to identify the victims until Friday.
Joan Bramhall was the former Morris County clerk and stepped down in 2013 after her 14th consecutive year in that position
An autopsy revealed that Joan Bramhall was shot dead and her husband died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.
The statement did not say that John Bramhall shot his wife, though it did say there was no evidence of any intruders in the home and added that the community was not at risk.
Joan Bramhall was the former Morris County clerk and stepped down in 2013 after her 14th consecutive year in that position.
She previously had served as the chairwoman of the Morris County Republican Committee.
Joan Bramhall was long a fixture in New Jersey politics, holding a five-year post as a county freeholder alongside Christie in the 1990s.
According to a pilot study by Imperial College London, infusing stem cells into the brain may help boost recovery after a stroke.
Scientists believe the cells encourage new blood vessels to grow in damaged areas of the brain.
They found most patients were able to walk and look after themselves independently by the end of the trial, despite having suffered severe strokes.
Larger studies are needed to evaluate whether this could be used more widely.
In this early trial – designed primarily to look at the safety of this approach – researchers harvested stem cells from the bone marrow of five people who had recently had a stroke.
Infusing stem cells into the brain may help boost recovery after a stroke
They isolated particular types of stem cells – known as CD34+. These have the ability to stimulate the growth of new blood vessels.
They were infused directly into damaged sections of the brain, via the major artery that supplies this area.
Scientists monitored the patients for six months, charting their ability to carry out everyday activities independently.
Four of the five patients had suffered particularly severe strokes – resulting in the loss of speech and marked paralysis down one side of the body.
This type of stroke usually has a high fatality and disability rate.
However, researchers found three of the four patients were able to walk and look after themselves independently at the end of the six-month period.
With some help, all five were mobile and could take part in everyday tasks.
Though other stem cell treatment has shown promise as stroke therapy before.
Scientists hope getting to patients early will improve chances of success.
The study is published in Stem Cell Translational Medicine.
Guinea has decided to close its borders with Liberia and Sierra Leone to contain the spread of Ebola, which has killed 959 people in the three countries.
The latest Ebola outbreak is thought to have begun in Guinea, but Liberia and Sierra Leone are currently facing the highest frequency of new cases.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday the spread of the virus was a global health emergency.
The Ebola virus is transmitted between humans through bodily fluids.
Animals such as fruit bats carry the virus, which can be transmitted to humans through contact with blood or consumption of bushmeat.
In recent weeks, countries around the world have advised their citizens not to travel to the affected countries.
The infections have spread to Nigeria, which has recorded two deaths and several more cases.
The total number of cases in the current outbreak stands at 1,779, the WHO said on Friday.
The most recent figures from August 5 and 6 showed 68 new cases and 29 deaths.
Guinea has decided to close its borders with Liberia and Sierra Leone to contain the spread of Ebola
They included 26 new cases in Sierra Leone and 38 in Liberia, but no new cases in Guinea, where the outbreak began.
Guinea said it was closing its borders in order to stop people from entering the country.
“We have provisionally closed the frontier between Guinea and Sierra Leone because of all the news that we have received from there recently,” Health Minister Remy Lamah told a news conference.
Remy Lamah added that Guinea had also closed its border with Liberia.
Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia have already declared varying levels of emergency over the spread of the virus.
The most intense outbreak in Guinea was located in the region along the border with Liberia and Sierra Leone.
The WHO had said the worst-affected area, which straddles the borders between the three countries, would be isolated and treated as a “unified zone”.
It is not clear what effect Guinea’s announcement will have on the strategy.
The WHO said a co-ordinated response was essential.
The Ebola virus was first discovered in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1976.
Experts say the current outbreak is unusual because it started in Guinea, which has never before been affected, and is spreading to urban areas.
The US army has conducted its second air-drop of food and water to Iraqi people hiding in mountains from jihadist fighters, the Pentagon says.
The humanitarian aid came hours after the US launched fresh air strikes against militants from the Islamic State (IS).
The IS had recently made fresh gains in northern Iraq and is threatening the Kurdish city of Irbil.
The US is also piling pressure on Iraqi leaders to form a unity government capable of dealing with the jihadists.
The US army has conducted its second air-drop of food and water to Iraqi people hiding in mountains from jihadist fighters
President Barack Obama said on Friday that Iraq’s Shia Arab majority had “squandered an opportunity” to share power with the Sunni Arabs and Kurds.
IS, a jihadist group formerly known as Isis, has taken control of swathes of Iraq and Syria and has also seized Iraq’s largest dam.
In a statement, the Pentagon said the latest air-drop dispersed 72 bundles of supplies.
The aid was dropped into the mountains around the town of Sinjar, where up to 50,000 members of the Yazidi religious sect fled an IS advance a week ago.
Iraq’s human rights ministry believes the militants have seized hundreds of Yazidi women. Ministry spokesman Kamil Amin said some were being held in schools in Iraq’s second largest city Mosul.
The first US air strike on Friday saw two 500lb bombs dropped on IS artillery being used against forces defending Irbil.
Late on Friday, the Pentagon confirmed a second wave of attacks. It said drones and fighter jets attacked a mortar position and a seven-vehicle convoy carrying fighters also threatening Irbil.
Oprah Winfrey took to Instagram on August 7 to share a picture of herself enjoying a seafood dinner with her longtime partner Stedman Graham at Captain James Landing in Baltimore.
“Crab feast in Baltimore! #CaptainJames,” Oprah Winfrey, 60, captioned the photo, which shows the former talk show host and Stedman Graham, 63, each holding up crabs and smiling on their date.
Oprah Winfrey enjoying a seafood dinner with her longtime partner Stedman Graham at Captain James Landing in Baltimore (photo Instagram)
Oprah Winfrey has been channeling her inner foodie while promoting The Hundred-Foot Journey, the new film she produced with Steven Spielberg starring Helen Mirren.
In a Facebook Q&A, Oprah Winfrey opened up about bonding with her partner of 28 years over meals.
“I cook for Stedman all the time,” Oprah Winfrey shared with her fans on August 4.
“Stedman is a delight to cook for because it doesn’t matter what it is…he’s always excited.”Â
Kim Kardashian has signed a deal with Rizzoli publishing and is set to release a book of selfies in April 2015.
Previously, Kim Kardashian, 33, admitted to taking 1,200 selfies while on vacation in Thailand earlier this year.
Titled Kim Kardashian Selfish, the collection will be available for only $19.95.
Kim Kardashian has signed a deal with Rizzoli publishing and is set to release the book of selfies in April 2015 (photo Rizzoli)
Kim Kardashian explains how the “selfish” book idea came about in an episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians, telling her family it all started when she was making a personal book for husband Kanye West.
“I couldn’t think of what to get Kanye [for Valentine’s Day],” Kim Kardashian told Brody, Kylie and Bruce Jenner while eating in Thailand.
“So I had Stephanie [her assistant] get a Polaroid and we were taking photos around the entire house … making this cool book and it ended up turning out so cool we came up with this idea to do a selfie book…”Â
When asked by her stepbrother Brody Jenner if the book will stay only for Kanye West, Kim Kardashian hinted: “Yeah, but I might share some of them. Some of them!”
The book will have 352 pages and is to be released in April 2015.
Christina Ricci and husband James Heerdegen have welcomed their first child, a baby boy, Us Weekly reported.
Christina Ricci and husband James Heerdegen have welcomed their first child (photo Getty Images)
The former Addams Family star, now 34, first sparked pregnancy speculation in late May when she stepped out at LAX airport in Los Angeles with a tell-tale baby bump, confirming the news via publicist shortly thereafter.
Christina Ricci and James Heerdegen, who first met on the ABC series Pan Am in 2011, tied the knot on the Upper East Side in New York City in October 2013.
Turkey’s first direct presidential election will be held on Sunday, August 10.
Candidate and current PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan is due to hold his final rally in the central Anatolian city of Konya.
The post of president, previously chosen by parliament and largely ceremonial, is being put to a popular vote for the first time.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said he wants to enhance presidential powers.
At his penultimate rally in the Turkish capital, Ankara, on Friday, Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on his supporters to “explode ballot boxes on Sunday and deal a democratic slap” to his political opponents.
Candidate and current PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan is due to hold his final rally in the central Anatolian city of Konya (photo AP)
With the clock ticking down to the end of campaigning, his two rivals also reached out to voters on Friday.
Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu visited the town of Soma, which in May was the scene of Turkey’s worst ever mining disaster.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s handling of the tragedy, in which 301 miners were killed, was widely criticized and he has steered clear of the area during his campaign.
Kurdish candidate Selahattin Demirtas held the biggest rally of his campaign in Turkey’s largest Kurdish city of Diyarbakir on Friday.
Tens of thousands of people waving Kurdish flags turned out to hear him speak.
Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, 71, is the joint candidate of the two main opposition parties, the centre-left Republican People’s Party (CHP) and the far-right Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).
Selahattin Demirtas, 41, is a member of the left-wing People’s Democratic Party.
Correspondents say the election has become a referendum on Recep Tayyip Erdogan, an Islamist-rooted politician whose support base lies in Turkey’s conservative, pious heartland.
The winner must get more than 50% of the vote.
If no candidate reaches this mark in the first round, a run-off will be held on August 24.
Nigeria’s President Goodluck Jonathan has declared the outbreak of Ebola “a national emergency” and approved more than $11 million to help contain it.
The move comes after the World Health Organization (WHO) said the spread of the virus in West Africa was an international health emergency.
WHO says 961 people have died from Ebola in West Africa this year, two of them in Nigeria.
The total number of cases stands at 1,779, the UN health agency said.
In a statement, President Goodluck Jonathan called on Nigerians to report any suspected Ebola cases to the nearest medical authorities.
Goodluck Jonathan also urged the public not to spread “false information about Ebola which can lead to mass hysteria”.
Nigeria has declared the outbreak of Ebola a national emergency
Nigeria became the fourth West African country involved in the outbreak when a dual US-Liberian citizen infected with Ebola arrived in Lagos after flying from Liberia via Togo on 20 July.
He died five days later and eight people who came into contact with him were also later diagnosed with Ebola. One of them, a nurse, died on Tuesday.
Nigeria’s state oil company said on Friday it had shut down one of its clinics in Lagos following a suspected case.
US health authorities said on Friday they were sending extra personnel and resources to Nigeria.
“We are starting to ramp up our staffing in Lagos,” US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention spokesman Tom Skinner told AFP news agency.
“We are really concerned about Lagos and the potential for spread there, given the fact that Lagos – and Nigeria for that matter – has never seen Ebola.”
International companies are also taking protective measures and the world’s largest steelmaker, ArcelorMittal, says it has begun evacuating some workers at its iron ore mines in Liberia.
Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia have already declared national emergencies over the spread of the virus.
WHO said on Friday that 68 new cases and 29 deaths were reported over the course of two days this week.
They included 26 new cases in Sierra Leone and 38 in Liberia, but no new cases in Guinea, where the outbreak began.
The agency said a co-ordinated response was essential to reverse the spread of the virus.
“The possible consequences of further international spread are particularly serious in view of the virulence of the virus,” WHO said after a meeting on Friday.
The Ebola virus was first discovered in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1976. Experts say this outbreak is unusual because it started in Guinea, which has never before been affected, and is spreading to urban areas.
Two US citizens infected with Ebola while working in West Africa are currently being treated at a hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. Both have been treated with an experimental drug.
James Brady’s death has been ruled a homicide, 33 years after he was wounded in an assassination attempt, police in Washington have said.
The former White House press secretary was shot in the 1981 attempt on President Ronald Reagan’s life by John Hinckley Jr.
James Brady suffered brain damage and partial paralysis and died this week at 73.
John Hinckley Jr. has been confined to a psychiatric hospital since he was found not guilty by reason of insanity.
James Brady died on August 4 at the age of 73.
James Brady’s death has been ruled a homicide, 33 years after he was wounded in an assassination attempt
A lifelong Republican, James Brady had served in the Nixon and Ford administrations and as a Senate aide before joining Ronald Reagan’s 1980 presidential campaign.
On March 30, 1981, John Hinckley Jr. opened fire on Ronald Reagan’s party outside the Washington Hilton Hotel, striking four people, including James Brady and President Reagan.
James Brady was shot in the head and was the most seriously wounded. Ronald Reagan was shot in one lung. A Secret Service agent and a police officer suffered lesser wounds.
Photos and video of the incident show the wounded press secretary sprawled on the ground as Secret Service agents rushed the president into his vehicle and others wrestled John Hinckley Jr. to the ground.
The former press secretary suffered brain damage, partial paralysis, short-term memory impairment and slurred speech.
John Hinckley Jr. was tried and found not guilty due to insanity. Since the trial he has been committed to a Washington DC psychiatric hospital, but has been allowed to spend limited time at his mother’s home.
James Brady, who served in three Republican administrations, became an advocate for stricter gun control.
He lobbied for legislation to require background checks for handgun sales. The so-called Brady Bill was signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1993.
According to a large-scale study conducted by researchers at Cardiff University, type 2 diabetes patients treated with metformin live longer than people without the disease.
The surprising benefits of metformin could be expanded for use in non-diabetics.
The study was published in the journal Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism.
Metformin’s attributes had been circulating within the scientific community, and the findings of the Cardiff University study not only build on its benefits but are of particular interest due to the massive sample size of 180,000 participants.
Researchers compared survival rates of type 2 diabetes patients taking metformin, a first-line therapy, with those of patients on a less-prescribed diabetes drug called sulphonylurea, known for undesirable side effects such as weight gain and hypoglycemia.
“What we found was illuminating,” said lead author Prof. Craig Currie from Cardiff University’s School of Medicine.
According to Dr. Craig Currie, patients undergoing metformin treatment exhibited small yet statistically important survival increases by comparison to non-diabetics.
As for those treated with sulphonylureas, their rate of survival was consistently reduced when compared to that of non-diabetics.
Researchers used data from the UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink, representing around 10% of the UK population.
They identified 78,241 patients who were prescribed metformin as a first-line therapy and 12,222 patients prescribed a sulphonylurea as a first-line therapy.
Each patient was then compared to a non-diabetic.
Patients with type 2 diabetes are often forced to resort to more aggressive treatment options as their disease progresses, so a long life expectancy is no guarantee, although Dr. Craig Currie plans to concoct a long-term treatment plan for diabetics to circumvent this transition.
Metformin is a cheap drug and has exhibited preventative capabilities in the domains of cancer and cardiac disease.
Dr. Craig Currie points out that it can prevent those at risk for diabetes from actually developing the disease and he says his findings indicate that the drug could be beneficial for those with type 1 diabetes.
Citing physical and emotional reasons, Kevin Durant has announced he withdraws from the US national team and will not be playing in the 2014 basketball World Cup.
Paul George broke his leg in a scrimmage while training for next month’s games in Spain, but Kevin Durant said that had nothing to do with his decision.
However, after watching his Oklahoma City Thunder teammate Russell Westbrook go through three knee surgeries, and then playing extended minutes because he was out, Kevin Durant may have decided the extra wear on his body and mind would be too much.
Kevin Durant has announced he withdraws from the US national team and will not be playing in the 2014 basketball World Cup (photo Getty Images)
“This was an extremely difficult decision as I take great pride in representing our country,” Kevin Durant said in a statement.
“After going through training camp, I realized I could not fulfill my responsibilities to the team from both a time and energy standpoint. I need to take a step back and take some time away, both mentally and physically in order to prepare for the upcoming NBA season.”
Kevin Durant was third in the league in minutes played last season, averaging 38.5 per game. He was third in minutes played in the playoffs, averaging 42.9.
He is the biggest loss yet for a weakening American squad that will go to Spain without the leading scorer on its past two gold medal winners.
The NBA’s MVP took part in the Americans’ training camp in Las Vegas last week, but then informed team officials that he wasn’t going to continue.
At 6-foot-10, Kevin Durant is big enough to play as a power forward internationally, creating a matchup nightmare for opponents who can’t defend him on the perimeter. He led the tournament in 3-pointers attempted and made in the 2010 worlds.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has banned all US airlines from flying over Iraq until further notice.
The FAA said the ban was introduced due to the “hazardous situation” created by fighting between militants from the Islamic State (IS) and Iraqi security forces.
The FAA has banned all US airlines from flying over Iraq until further notice
The US launched air strikes against IS in Iraq on Thursday.
The FAA had previously banned all air travel over Iraq below 30,000 feet on July 31.
On Saturday, Australian airline Qantas said it had suspended flights over Iraq, following similar actions by German airline Lufthansa, Dubai-based Emirates, Virgin Atlantic and Air France.
Flying over conflict areas has come under increasing scrutiny since the crash of MH 17 in Ukraine in July.
Earlier in July, the FAA and other European carriers briefly suspended flights to Israel’s Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv after a rocket landed near the airport.
German bank BayernLB has rejected a 25 million euros settlement from Bernie Ecclestone.
BayernLB claims he collected commissions, and undervalued its stake in the global motor racing business, which it sold in 2005.
This week a German court halted a bribery trial against Bernie Ecclestone, relating to the sale of Formula 1 rights, in exchange for a payment of $95 million.
BayernLB has rejected a 25 million euros settlement from Bernie Ecclestone (photo Getty Images)
The 83-year-old Formula 1 boss had been accused of funneling some $42 miliom to jailed BayernLB banker Gerhard Gribkowsky to ensure that a company he favored could buy a stake in F1.
Bernie Ecclestone had denied wrongdoing, and his payment was accepted by the district court in Munich.
He walked free and continues running the sport. It also meant Bernie Ecclestone was found neither guilty nor innocent.
Gerhard Gribkowsky was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison in 2012 for accepting bribes.
Bernie Ecclestone’s lawyers last week had offered to pay public-sector bank BayernLB 25 million euros, but also said that damage to the company was not evident.
The offer expired on Friday with the bank rejecting it, without giving reasons.
It has not said what its next move would be – it could either negotiate another sum or could launch civil proceedings against him.
In 2005 BayernLB sold its stake in Formula 1 to the private equity firm CVC, making it the largest stakeholder in the business.
A new study suggests that older people who have a severe vitamin D deficiency have an increased risk of developing dementia.
UK researchers, writing in Neurology, looked at about 1,650 people aged over 65.
This is not the first study to suggest a link – but its authors say it is the largest and most robust.
However, experts say it is still too early to say elderly people should take vitamin D as a preventative treatment.
Vitamin D comes from foods – such as oily fish, supplements and exposing skin to sunlight.
Older people who have a severe vitamin D deficiency have an increased risk of developing dementia
However older people’s skin can be less efficient at converting sunlight into Vitamin D, making them more likely to be deficient and reliant on other sources.
The international team of researchers, led by Dr. David Llewellyn at the University of Exeter Medical School, followed people for six years.
All were free from dementia, cardiovascular disease and stroke at the start of the study.
At the end of the study they found the 1,169 with good levels of vitamin D had a one in 10 chance of developing dementia. Seventy were severely deficient – and they had around a one in five risk of dementia.
Dr. David Llewellyn said: “We expected to find an association between low vitamin D levels and the risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, but the results were surprising – we actually found that the association was twice as strong as we anticipated.”
He said further research was needed to establish if eating vitamin D rich foods such as oily fish – or taking vitamin D supplements – could “delay or even prevent” the onset of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.
However, Dr. David Llewellyn added: “We need to be cautious at this early stage and our latest results do not demonstrate that low vitamin D levels cause dementia.
“That said, our findings are very encouraging, and even if a small number of people could benefit, this would have enormous public health implications given the devastating and costly nature of dementia.”
True Detective creator has denied claims that dialogue from its main character has been copied from a pre-existing work.
Writer Nic Pizzolatto said “nothing in the show is plagiarized”, adding Rust Cohle’s thoughts “are not unique to any one author”.
A blog post contended that his words are “borrowed” from other authors, particularly Thomas Ligotti.
True Detective creator has denied claims that dialogue from its main character has been copied from a pre-existing work
Broadcaster HBO called True Detective “a work of exceptional originality”.
“The story, plot, characters and dialogue are that of Nic Pizzolatto,” the network’s statement continued.
“Philosophical concepts are free for anyone to use, including writers of fiction, and there have been many such examples in the past.”
“We stand by the show, its writing and Nic Pizzolatto entirely,” HBO concluded.
Nic Pizzolatto maintains that his talented but troubled chief protagonist, played by Oscar-winning actor Matthew McConaughey, is an “autodidact pessimist” who “speaks toward that philosophy with erudition and in his own words”.
“The ideas within this philosophy are certainly not exclusive to any writer,” he added.
Blog writer Mike Davis, responding to research carried out by Jon Padgett of the Thomas Ligotti Online website, claimed “exact quotes” by author Thomas Ligotti had been used in scripts for True Detective.
The US army has launched an airstrike against Islamic State (IS) militants in Iraq.
The Pentagon said American aircraft attacked artillery that was being used against Kurdish forces defending the northern city of Irbil.
President Barack Obama authorized air strikes on Thursday, but said he would not send US troops back to Iraq.
The US army has launched an airstrike against IS militants in Iraq (photo Reuters)
The Sunni Muslim group IS, formerly known as Isis, now has control of large swathes of Iraq and Syria.
In June, IS took control of the city of Mosul. Earlier this week, its fighters seized Qaraqosh, Iraq’s biggest Christian town.
The advance of IS also forced tens of thousands of people from the Yazidi community – another minority group in northern Iraq – to leave their homes and seek shelter on a nearby mountain.
According to the Pentagon statement, two F/A-18 aircraft dropped 500-pound laser-guided bombs on mobile artillery near Irbil.
Pentagon press secretary Rear Admiral John Kirby said IS had been using the artillery to shell Kurdish forces defending Irbil, where US personnel are based.
The air strike is the first time the US has been directly involved in a military operation in Iraq since American troops withdrew in late 2011.
The World Health Organization has declared the Ebola outbreak an international health emergency.
WHO officials said a coordinated international response was essential to stop and reverse the spread of the virus.
The announcement came after experts convened a two-day emergency meeting in Switzerland.
The WHO has declared the spread of Ebola in West Africa an international health emergency (photo Getty Images)
So far more than 960 people have died from Ebola in West Africa this year.
The WHO said the outbreak was an “extraordinary event”.
“The possible consequences of further international spread are particularly serious in view of the virulence of the virus,” the UN health agency said in a statement.
More than 1,700 cases of Ebola have been reported in Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone.
WHO director-general Dr. Margaret Chan appealed for help for the countries hit by the “most complex outbreak in the four decades of this disease”.
Dr. Margaret Chan said there would be no general ban on international travel or trade.
Toyota is being caught in China’s anti-monopoly investigation.
The Japanese car maker said that Chinese regulators were looking into its Lexus luxury brand.
Audi, Chrysler and Mercedes-Benz are among carmakers and parts suppliers already under scrutiny for as-yet unspecified anti-competitive issues.
Toyota is being caught in China’s anti-monopoly investigation
A Toyota spokesman said the company was “co-operating fully with the queries from the authorities on Lexus”.
Although regulators have not set out the basis of their concerns, there have been reports in China of customers complaining about the high prices of imported vehicles and spare parts.
The technology and pharmaceutical sectors have also faced investigations in what analysts have said looks like an attempt to force down prices.
The investigations are being led by China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), which earlier this week raided a Mercedes office in Shanghai.
According to state news agency Xinhua, “inspectors are still collecting evidence and investigating whether Mercedes-Benz has used monopolistic tactics”.
Last month, China’s State Administration for Industry and Commerce – the body responsible for enforcing business laws – said it was looking into “alleged monopoly actions” by US tech firm Microsoft.
Oscar Pistorius’ lawyer has said in closing remarks that prosecutors have twisted the facts to discredit the South African athlete in his murder trial.
Barry Roux said Oscar Pistorius should have faced a lesser charge of culpable homicide over the shooting of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
Oscar Pistorius, 27, denies prosecution claims that he deliberately shot Reeva Steenkamp.
Barry Roux conceded that he should be found guilty for negligence for discharging a firearm in a restaurant.
Oscar Pistorius pleaded not guilty to all the charges he faces, including two counts of shooting a firearm in public and the illegal possession of ammunition.
In the early hours of Valentine’s Day in 2013, Oscar Pistorius says he mistook his girlfriend – a model and law graduate – for an intruder when he shot her through a toilet door in his home in South Africa’s capital, Pretoria.
Oscar Pistorius denies prosecution claims that he deliberately shot Reeva Steenkamp
Once concluding arguments are finished, Judge Thokozile Matilda Masipa is expected to adjourn the trial to consider her ruling. Analysts say this process could take between a week and a month as she has 4,000 pages of evidence to consider.
The prosecution is trying to characterize Oscar Pistorius as a “hothead” who intentionally killed Reeva Steenkamp after an argument.
His defense team wants to portray him as having a heightened response to perceived danger due to his disability and background.
In court on Friday, Barry Roux said growing up with a disability conditioned Oscar Pistorius always to confront danger because he could not flee.
He described it as a “slow burn” of insecurities and compared it to an abused woman shooting her abuser.
Barry Roux also dealt with phone data evidence on the night of the shooting to show that the timeline of events fits the defense’s argument that Oscar Pistorius fired the shots at the toilet door first on his stumps.
Realizing he had shot Reeva Steenkamp by mistake, the defense says Oscar Pistorius put on his prosthetics and used a cricket bat to knock down the door at 03.17 local time – five minutes after he says shots were fired.
The prosecution alleges that the noises heard at 03.17 were the shots being fired.
Barry Roux said analysis of the evidence showed there was anxious high-pitched screaming followed by shouts of “help, help, help” between the two sounds, which near neighbors say were made by a man, not a woman as other witnesses testified.
Earlier, the defense said that there had been “no respect for the crime scene”, saying the state’s case was discredited as Oscar Pistorius’ house was tampered with inadvertently, with a fan and duvet being moved.
State prosecutor Gerrie Nel, in his closing statement on Thursday, argued the athlete “cannot escape” a murder conviction, accusing him of being a “deceitful witness” who told the court a “snowball of lies”.
Known as the “bull terrier”, prosecutor Gerrie Nel said the athlete’s lawyers had presented two lines of defense that “can never be reconciled”.
Oscar Pistorius said he had fired both involuntarily and also out of fear, Gerrie Nel argued, insisting the court had to choose only one of his defenses.
Last month, a psychiatric report said Oscar Pistorius had post-traumatic stress disorder but no mental illness that could prevent him being held criminally responsible for his actions.
Washington authorities believe they have found the body of Jenise Wright, a 6-year-old girl who vanished from her home last weekend.
A planned autopsy by a forensic pathologist and painstaking examination and mapping of the wooded spot where the body was found are among the tools they will use.
The body believed to be that of Jenise Wright was found Thursday in woods near the Bremerton-area mobile home park where she lived. The FBI‘s Specialty Search Dogs Unit discovered the body after volunteer canine search teams reported their dogs showed interest in a particular area, Kitsap County sheriff’s Deputy Scott Wilson said.
The girl’s family was notified.
Formal identification of the body was expected Friday, Scott Wilson said.
In a statement, the sheriff’s department said a coroner will make official confirmation of the identity, but “it appears that the body is that of Jenise”.
The body believed to be that of Jenise Wright was found Thursday in woods near the Bremerton-area mobile home park where she lived (photo AP)
“This is going to be a criminal investigation, there’s no doubt about that,” Wilson told a news briefing Thursday. Authorities are trying to track down anyone responsible, and they’re “not ruling out anything,” he said.
Determination of the manner and cause of death is pending, Scott Wilson said, but “we suspect that she just did not go off by herself and fall into some bushes and die.”
There have been no arrests in the case, authorities said.
A forensic pathologist under contract to the county will perform the autopsy, Scott Wilson said.
Jenise Wright was last seen when she went to bed Saturday night. Her parents waited a day before calling for help because they say the girl had wandered around the Steele Creek Mobile Home Park on her own in the past. She was outgoing and unafraid to talk to anyone, family said.
Scott Wilson said in an interview Thursday that there were no signs of forced entry at the girl’s home and no indication that she was taken from her room.
An FBI evidence research team has finished checking the area where the body was found, and a forensic mapping team from the Washington State Patrol’s criminal investigation division planned to map the spot, Scott Wilson said Thursday evening.
More than 350 people, including officers from 15 law enforcement agencies, searched for Jenise Wright, going door to door at Steele Creek Mobile Home Park on the west side of Puget Sound, across from Seattle.
After the search began, state child welfare workers removed two other children, an 8-year-old boy and 12-year-old girl, from the home.
Jenise Wright’s father, James Wright, was charged more than a decade ago with molesting two girls, ages 8 and 15, court records show.
James Wright eventually pleaded guilty in Whatcom County Superior Court in December 2001 to a misdemeanor assault charge related to the older girl. It was not immediately clear why the molestation charges were dropped.
A judge in Whatcom County Superior Court sentenced James Wright to a year in jail but suspended the entire jail term on the condition that he follow certain conditions, including paying fees.
Scott Wilson said at a news briefing Wednesday that authorities were aware of the past charge against the father, but that officers were focused on finding the girl.
Israel has resumed air strikes in Gaza after Palestinian militants fired rockets following the end of a three-day truce on Friday morning.
The Israeli army called the renewed rocket attacks “unacceptable, intolerable and short-sighted”.
Palestinian militant group Hamas, which controls Gaza, earlier rejected any extension of the truce, saying Israel had failed to meet its demands.
Some 1,940 lives have been claimed in four weeks of fighting in Gaza.
Israel has resumed air strikes in Gaza after Palestinian militants fired rockets following the end of a three-day truce (photo PressTV)
At least 1,890 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have died, according to latest United Nations figures.
Israel’s government says 64 soldiers have been killed, along with two Israeli civilians and a Thai national. It also claims that about 900 Palestinian militants have died in the violence.
Israel launched Operation Protective Edge on July 8 with the stated aim of halting rocket fire from militants in Gaza and destroying the network of tunnels it said were used by militants to launch attacks inside Israel.
On Friday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it was striking “terror sites across the Gaza Strip” in response to renewed rocket attacks on Israeli cities.
Palestinian militants began firing missiles from Gaza shortly before the ceasefire ended at 08:00 local time.
The violence resumed after Egyptian-brokered talks between Israel and Palestinian factions hit a deadlock.
