The top doctor in Sierra Leone leading the fight against Ebola has died less than a week after contracting the virus. The death of Sheik Umar Khan comes less than a week after the death of the top doctor fighting the virus in Liberia.
“It is a big and irreparable loss to Sierra Leone as he was the only specialist the country had in viral hemorrhagic fevers,” said Sierra Leone’s chief medical officer, Brima Kargbo.
The 39-year-old Khan is being called a “national hero” by the government for his refusal to avoid being on the front lines to help victims of the virus. Khan died just hours before the President of the country was arriving to check on his condition.
The Ebola outbreak has now officially killed 672 people in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone but local officials say the toll is much higher because of families that are not bringing their sick relatives to medical facilities. The isolation of the family members is being seen as oppressive by many of the more rural residents of those countries.
Guinea has reported that a new cluster of cases has developed in a mining town in the eastern part of the country and a new isolation ward had to be set up in Siguiri to handle the patients.
Also, some airlines have stopped flights into the countries after an American man who was in Liberia died in Nigeria from the virus after flying after being infected by his sister.
Israeli Defense Forces say that tank fire which struck near a school killing 19 people who were sheltering inside came in response to Hamas terrorists using the school grounds as a base to fire mortar attacks.
“Earlier this morning, militants fired mortar shells at (Israeli) soldiers from the vicinity of the UNRWA school in Jabaliya (refugee camp). In response, soldiers fired towards the origins of fire, and we’re still reviewing the incident,” a military spokeswoman told the Jerusalem Post.
The incident occurred just hours after the United Nations reported finding Hamas missiles and weapons being stored inside one of their schools for the third time in two weeks. A U.N. spokesman said unlike the previous two times, the weapons are not being turned over to local authorities who in turn return them to Hamas.
However, a U.N. weapons disposal team that was scheduled to make the school safe for children has been unable to reach the site.
“We condemn the group or groups who endangered civilians by placing these munitions in our school. This is yet another flagrant violation of the neutrality of our premises. We call on all the warring parties to respect the inviolability of UN property,” a U.N. statement read without naming Hamas directly.
One of the top doctors in Liberia who had treated hundreds of patients of Ebola has died from the disease.
Dr. Samuel Brisbane died Sunday according to a release from government officials. Dr. Brisbane is the first native Liberian doctor to die from the outbreak; a Ugandan doctor who came to assist died earlier this month.
Dr. Brisbane was the medical advisor to former Liberian President Charles Taylor and had worked at the country’s largest hospital, John F. Kennedy Medical Center in Monrovia.
Local officials say that Dr. Brisbane was buried outside the city in an area only known to his family. Another doctor who worked with Dr. Brisbane has also been confirmed to have the virus and is undergoing treatment.
The death comes as other leading doctors in the region are fighting infections. Sierra Leone’s top doctor, Sheik Umar Khan, showed signs of the disease last week and is in treatment. 33-year-old American doctor Kent Brantly is reportedly in grave condition and fighting for his life.
European medical officials have wanted to transfer Dr. Brantly to Europe for treatment but African officials have denied the right to transfer the doctor through their airspace.
The Islamic terrorist group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria accepted responsibility for a homicide bombing in Baghdad that has left at least 31 people dead.
Another 58 people were injured in the blast, some very severely, and officials say it’s likely the death toll is going to rise.
Christian bishops in Iraq are now calling for the government to protect Christians who are being killed and driven out of their homes in masses. They’re calling for the government to also provide funding for the thousands of families suddenly displaced by Islamic extremists.
Over 35,000 Christians have been forced to flee the city of Mosul after ISIS threatened to kill them unless they convert to Islam or pay a huge fine. Many of them have fled to Baghdad, where ISIS targets them in attacks.
Christian relief group World Compassion estimates at least 750,000 Christians have been forced to leave their homes since the Islamists began their campaign in northern Iraq.
Two Americans who went to Israel to defend the country have died in service.
Max Steinberg, 24, from Southern California and Nissim Sean Carmeli, 21, from South Padre Island, Texas, died during ground operations in the Gaza Strip on Saturday. They were two of 13 Israeli Defense Force soldiers who perished in battles with Islamic terrorist group Hamas.
Stuart Steinberg, father of Max, said that his son was a sharpshooter for the Golani Brigade.
Steinberg had moved to Beersheba, Israel after he took a trip to his ancestral homeland in high school. In December 2012, he moved to the country so he could join the Israeli Defense Forces and defend the land he felt was his home.
Steinberg’s brother told the Associated Press that Max had always had a passion for Israel and that he would not listen to anyone who told him not to go and join the IDF. He said that his brother always had a passion for what he was doing in the IDF and was a great example to his family and friends.
Christians are fleeing the Iraqi city of Mosul after the Islamic terrorist group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria issued a “convert or die” order in the city.
The edict says that by Saturday all Christians in the city must convert to Islam, pay a large fine or be killed according to a statement read in mosques throughout the city.
“Christian families are on their way to Dohuk and Irbil,” Patriarch Louis Sako told AFP news agency. “For the first time in the history of Iraq, Mosul is now empty of Christians.”
Islamists have been going through the city marking the homes of Christians for easy identification.
Mosul reportedly contained around 35,000 Christians when the Islamic terrorist group launched their campaign to take over Iraq. Churches throughout the city have been ransacked and their possessions taken or burned.
The Islamists have also destroyed Christian or Jewish shrines or artifacts within the city, including the tomb of the Prophet Jonah.
Pro-Russian terrorists attempting to overthrow the Ukrainian government have shot down a Malaysian Airlines flight that was flying over the Donetsk region of the country.
The flight, MH17, was headed to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam according to airline officials. The plane was flying at 33,000 feet when it was shot down using a Russian made ground-to-air missile system.
The Australian government reported many on the plane were researchers and scientists on their way to a United Nations conference on AIDS in Melbourne. At least three infants are among the dead and the passenger manifest shows a number of Americans on the flight.
Witnesses say they saw a missile approaching the plane and that the plane split in two after the impact. The debris field from the flight covered over nine miles with large pieces untouched by fire; leading aviation experts to say the plane broke up mid-flight.
The terrorists in the region are trying to blame the incident on the Ukrainian government, however a posting online earlier in the day from Igor Strelkov, commander of the pro-Russian terrorists, read “we warned you not to fly over our sky.”
The posting was removed after it was reported in major media a passenger plane was shot down rather than a Ukrainian military or transport flight.
A new report from Human Rights Watch says that Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram has killed over 2,000 people so far in 2014.
HRW has outlined the attacks by the Islamic extremist group since January and noted their report is based on analysis of media reports as well as field reports from their own investigators sent into Nigeria.
“Boko Haram is effectively waging war on the people of northeastern Nigeria at a staggering human cost,” Corinne Dufka, West Africa director at Human Rights Watch, told the Christian Post. “Atrocities committed as part of a widespread attack on civilians are crimes against humanity, for which those responsible need to be held to account.”
The report said the greatest number of murders, 1,446 people, happened in Borno State, where the terrorist group was founded.
The terrorists are still holding over 200 girls that were kidnapped from a school in Chibok in April demanding the release of terrorists and other demands.
A major typhoon roared into the Philippines, leaving a dozen dead in its wake.
Typhoon Ramassun struck land with sustained winds of 93 miles per hour with gusts that topped 115 miles per hour. The storm knocked out power to most of the nation, flattened buildings and brought massive flooding to areas outside the nation’s capital, Manila.
Government officials said that the death toll is likely to rise because hundreds are missing in the wake of the storm. A family of four died when their home collapsed on top of them. A woman died when she was fleeing down the street and an electric pole fell on her.
Officials say the death toll will likely be lower because after last year’s devastating Typhoon Haiyan, residents took the warnings of a typhoon much more serious than in previous storms.
The storm moved through the country and headed toward Vietnam as a weakened storm. However, forecasters say the storm could strengthen again and cause major problems to southwest Asia.
While the islands of Japan are still dealing with a weakening Typhoon Neoguri, which continues to dump heavy rain across the country, they are now dealing with the fallout of a 6.8 magnitude earthquake.
A tsunami advisory was issued for the area with waves increasing up to a meter in height. Local officials say the currents in rivers and oceans have reached dangerous levels and are telling residents to stay out of the water.
The quake was centered about five miles deep and off the shore of Fukushima, the site of the catastrophic nuclear meltdown in 2011. No damage has been reported at the plant and no release of additional radiation beyond that which has been leaking for the last three years.
Most of Japan has been dealing with massive flooding from Typhoon Neoguri, which struck the island days ago with wind gusts over 155 miles per hour. Three people have been confirmed dead from the storm with hundreds injured. One of the dead was confirmed to be a 12 year boy who died when his home was buried in a mudslide.
