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From Washington, this is VOA news. Canadian shooter acted alone. Mali reports first Ebola case. I'm Ray Kouguell reporting from Washington.
Canadian authorities say the gunman who shot and killed a Canadian soldier at the War Memorial before he himself was shot and killed in the parliament building acted alone in Wednesday's shooting rampage. Canadian officials say 32-year-old Michael Zehaf-Bibeau was a Canadian-born citizen who may have also held Libyan citizenship. They say he recently applied for a Canadian passport and was hoping to travel to Syria. Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper says his country will be vigilant, but "not run scared" in the face of two attacks this week in Ottawa and near Montreal. Prime Minister Harper addressed parliament as it reopened Thursday, saying his country will not run scared. "... and as for the business of government, well, here we are, in our seats, in our chamber in the very heart of our democracy and our work." Prime Minister Harper pledged to boost the surveillance and detention powers of security forces. The lawmakers gave the parliament sergeant-at-arms, Kevin Vickers, a prolonged standing ovation, honoring him for shooting the gunman to death. The U.S. is continuing its aerial bombardment against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, launching 15 new attacks. The U.S. Central Command says it carried out nine strikes in Iraq in the last day. The U.S. also hit six targets in Syria, four of them near Kobani. The West African nation of Mali is reporting its first case of Ebola. Mali's health minister says the patient is a two-year-old girl who was brought to a hospital from neighboring Guinea, one of three countries in the epicenter of the Ebola outbreak. In New York City, health care worker who just returned from West Africa was rushed to a hospital after complaining of a high fever and nauseous. The medical aid group, Doctors Without Borders, says the patient worked in one of the countries affected by the outbreak. This is VOA news. The emergency Ebola committee of the World Health Organization is again coming out against bans on travel and trade with countries where the virus is wreaking the greatest havoc. The committee of experts believe this will not stop the spread of Ebola. Lisa Schlein has more from WHO headquarters in Geneva. The emergency committee emphasized the importance of stopping transmission of Ebola within the three main countries as the best way of preventing further international spread. The committee rejected calls for a general ban on international travel or trade as being both ineffective and counter productive. But WHO Director of Global Capacities, Isabelle Nuttall, says the committee stands by its previous recommendation that people who are sick with Ebola or have been in contact with patients in the last 21 days should not leave their countries. Lisa Schlein, for VOA news, Geneva. European Union leaders meeting in Brussels Thursday earmarked $31 million for further research aimed at developing Ebola virus vaccines and clinical trials. A bomb exploded at a bus station in northeastern Nigeria. It killed at least five people and wounded 12 others. There was no claim of responsibility for the blast which hit late Wednesday in Azare, a town in Bauchi state. A Libyan Army spokesman is calling on young men in the capital, Tripoli, to rise up and help overthrow the Islamist militia coalition controlling the city. Edward Yeranian has details. Libyans gathered in the capital Tripoli's iconic central square to mark the third anniversary of the fall of long-time strongman Moammar Gadhafi. Celebrations took place Thursday despite the on-again, off-again fighting between Islamist militias and the country's official army. At the same time, army spokesman Ahmed al Misnari in a TV broadcast called for able-bodied men in the capital to rise up against the Islamist Fajr militia coalition which has ruled the city since routing army forces in August. Edward Yeranian, Cairo. Ukraine's prime minister says Russia may try to disrupt elections Sunday in his homeland and that he has ordered a full security mobilization to prevent what he calls possible terrorist attacks. Arsenic Yatseniuk's comments came Thursday in a meeting in Kyiv with top security chiefs and election monitors. Moscow denied immediately to respond to the warning. A group of Chinese scientists says it is testing a virus that could be used to kill cancer cells without harming normal ones. The virus, known as M1, was extracted from a mosquito found in the southern province of Hainan. So far, it's only been tested on mice. Scientists plan to test the virus on monkeys beginning next week. I'm Ray Kouguell in Washington. That's the latest world news from VOA. |