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BBC News with Neil Nunes.
The head of the World Health Organization has warned that the current Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo is on track to become the worst ever. Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said doctors were playing catch-up. "It's already the second biggest Ebola epidemic on record and it's moving faster than any previous Ebola outbreak. At its current pace, it's on track to eclipse the West African Ebola outbreak of 2014 to 2016. Officially 4,449 confirmed cases have been reported." Dr. Tedros also said two vaccines designed to counter the Bundibugyo strain behind the current outbreak have entered the phase one safety trials. President Trump says Caroline Leavitt, his White House press secretary, will step down at the end of the month to spend more time with her young family. He said she would remain what he called one of his "top outside advisers." Here's our State Department correspondent Tom Bateman. At 28, Ms. Leavitt has been the youngest ever White House press secretary, one of the most visible and often strident advocates of Mr. Trump's "Make America Great Again" movement. Often prepared to attack what the White House called the liberal "legacy media," Mr. Trump once said she had Lips that moved "like a machine gun." Her tenure at the podium has straddled the most consequential moments of Mr. Trump's second term, including his mass deportation agenda and the war in Iran, amid an increasingly tense relationship with the media which has seen the White House accused of eroding press freedoms. The Israeli military says it's deploying an additional battalion to the occupied West Bank after failing to dislodge Israeli settlers who've trapped two Palestinian families in their homes since Sunday. Soldiers had earlier clashed with Israelis blocking supplies from entering the Palestinian village of Qusra. There's been a massive increase in settler attacks in recent months. The United States has issued a rare rebuke against its Israeli ally after the Israeli defense minister insisted his troops would stay in the south of Lebanon. The State Department said it expected Israel to act in accordance with a framework deal which mandates a withdrawal. It said it fully supported Lebanon's territorial integrity. The minister, Israel Katz, made the comments as he visited southern Lebanon. "We, as the prime minister and I have made unequivocally clear, are not withdrawing from the security zone. The IDF is here to protect the communities of the north, to protect its forces. It will not budge from here. We will cleanse this area and ensure the security of the residents of the north." World news from the BBC. The Bangladeshi authorities have ordered shopping malls, markets and businesses to close by 8 p.m. every day as part of measures to conserve electricity amid an energy crisis. The directive also forces cultural and trade events across the country to close early. The measures will last indefinitely. Scientists in Britain say they've invented the world's first fully biodegradable party balloon using a new latex making process. The researchers say the "Bioloon" breaks down much faster than current products. Our correspondent Luxmy Gopal has this report. A recent study suggests that balloon fragments are the marine debris most likely to kill seabirds that eat them and standard balloons, even those labeled as biodegradable, often take years to break down and can leak harmful chemicals into the environment. Now, a team of scientists in London say they've discovered a process for creating a party balloon that biodegrades within nine months and doesn't contain toxic substances. They say it's also easier to blow up and should be available commercially within two years. Incheon Airport in the South Korean capital Seoul says it's become the world's busiest international airport for the first time boosted by air traffic shifting away from the conflict-hit Middle East. It handled more than 38 million international passengers in the first half of this year ahead of long-standing hubs such as Dubai, London Heathrow and Singapore Changi. Millions of people across Europe have witnessed the most significant solar eclipse in the region for almost 30 years. Watchers in a line covering northern Spain, Iceland and part of Greenland saw the sun completely blotted out as the moon passed in front. For hundreds of kilometers on either side, people witnessed a partial eclipse aided by clear heat wave skies. BBC News. |