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From Washington, this is VOA news. A nurse in Spain becomes the first person to contract Ebola outside of West Africa's epidemic, and Australia's military joins a U.S.-led mission against Islamic State militants. I'm Michael Lipin reporting from Washington.
A Spanish nurse who treated an Ebola patient in Madrid has contracted the virus, becoming the first person to be infected outside of West Africa. Spanish health officials said Monday the nurse was part of a medical team that treated a 69-year-old Spanish priest who died of Ebola in a Madrid hospital last month. The priest had been flown back from Sierra Leone, where he became infected. U.S. President Barack Obama said he believes the chances of an Ebola outbreak in the United States are "extremely low." Speaking Monday, Mr. Obama said his administration is working on systems to screen airline passengers to identify people who might have the deadly virus. He also pledged to continue support for West African nations fighting the virus. Australian war planes have flew their first combat missions over Iraq. Australia's Defense Ministry said Monday two of its aircraft conducted the mission overnight in northern Iraq but did not fire on any targets. The Australian military action is part of a U.S.-led effort to combat Islamic State militants who have taken over large parts of Iraq and Syria. U.S. forces have conducted weeks of airstrikes against Islamic State targets in both nations. The U.S. military said Sunday its most recent attacks involved destroying tanks and firing on militant positions in the Syrian towns of Raqqa and Al Mayadin, and hitting other targets near the Iraqi towns of Fallujah, Hit and Sinjar. This is VOA news. Hong Kong student activists leading a week-long occupation of city streets are set to have more talks with a government official on Tuesday to discuss how to start a dialogue on democratic reform. The Hong Kong Federation of Students says it agreed on several terms of a public dialogue that could begin as early as this week. But it says there are still differences about what kinds of democratic reforms would be on the agenda. Hong Kong's Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying said Monday his government's desire for a dialogue is sincere. The activists have objected to a Chinese government ruling that Hong Kong can only elect its leader under universal suffrage in 2017 if candidates are vetted by a largely pro-Beijing committee. Hong Kong officials have said they must abide by that ruling. More reports about the Hong Kong protests have been among the top stories in global news programs in the past week. But Chinese state media have limited their coverage of the demonstrations and echoed Beijing's position that they are "illegal" and "doomed to fail." VOA's Bill Ide has more from the Chinese capital. On the streets in Beijing, several people that we spoke with did not even know about the protests. One Beijing resident and his friend told us they did not know about "Occupy Central" but began telling us about a recent spike in cases of dengue fever in Guangzhou, thinking that was the news we were referring to. This older Beijing resident, surnamed Liu, says the United States has its own version of democracy and so does China. He says China's version is both democratic and requires the centralization of authority. If there is democracy, but no central authority, then the country will be in chaos, he adds. However, not all were convinced that the protests were bad. One younger Beijing resident, surnamed Wang, says he has seen reports about the protests, but really does not understand what it is all about, adding that he would like to know more but cannot seem to find any information about their core demands. Bill Ide, VOA news, Beijing. The new head of NATO says the Western military alliance is concerned about the situation in Ukraine, which recently has seen repeated violations of a cease-fire between government forces and pro-Russian separatists. Speaking in Poland on Monday, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg [said] praised the Ukrainian government for, in his words, "doing a lot" to respect the cease-fire and reach a political solution to the conflict. The former Norwegian prime minister also called on Russia to use "all of its influence" to ensure that the separatists respect the truce, as well. I'm Michael Lipin in Washington. That's the latest world news from VOA. |