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Ebola Starting To Take An Economic Toll In Region

Freetown (AFP) - The UN's health agency said the scale of the Ebola outbreak in West Africa has been vastly underestimated and "extraordinary measures" were needed to contain the disease.

As the official toll climbed to 1,069, according to World Health Organisation, the United States ordered the evacuation of diplomats' families from Sierra Leone, one of the three countries at the epicentre of the outbreak along with Liberia and Guinea.

The Geneva-based WHO said in a statement, released Thursday, it was coordinating "a massive scaling up of the international response", in a bid to tackle the worst epidemic of haemorrhagic fever-causing virus since its discovery four decades ago.

"Staff at the outbreak sites see evidence that the numbers of reported cases and deaths vastly underestimate the magnitude of the outbreak," it said.

"The outbreak is expected to continue for some time. WHO's operational response plan extends over the next several months," the organisation warned.

A serious outbreak in Lagos, where the epidemic claimed a fourth victim on Thursday, could severely disrupt the oil and gas industry in Nigeria if international companies are forced to evacuate staff and local operations are shut down, the Moody's rating agency warned.

Any "decline in production would quickly translate into economic and fiscal deterioration," said Matt Robinson, senior credit officer at Moody's.

Meanwhile, US President Barack Obama called President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia and Sierra Leone's leader Ernest Bai Koromo.

The calls came as the US State Department ordered families of its diplomats in Sierra Leone to leave the country to avoid exposure.

"In his conversations with both leaders, the president underscored the commitment of the United States to work with Liberia, Sierra Leone, and other international partners to contain the outbreak and expressed his condolences for the lives lost," the White House said in a statement.

In Sierra Leone's parliament on Thursday, the country's chief medical officer, Dr Brima Kargbo, spoke of the difficulties health workers were facing in fighting the epidemic.

"We still have to break the chain of transmission to separate the infected from the uninfected," Kargbo said. But, he added: "There is a rejection among people of the existence of Ebola and hostility towards health workers."

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A U.N. convoy of soldiers passes a screen displaying a message on Ebola on a street in Abidjan Augus …

The disease has taken its toll on those trying to help its victims.

Sierra Leone disclosed Thursday that 32 nurses died from Ebola while performing their duties between May 24 to August 13.

South Africa has stepped in to help the country by sending a mobile laboratory to be installed in the capital Freetown to ease the problem of having to send blood samples elsewhere for analysis, Sierra Leone's health ministry said.

- 'Need more centres' -

In Liberia, which has suffered more than 300 deaths, work began on Thursday to expand its Ebola treatment centre in the capital Monrovia -- one of only two centres in the country of 4.2 million.

"We need to increase the size of this place because more and more people arrive every day due to the awareness programme," Nathaniel Dovillie, head of the centre, told AFP.

The cost of tackling the virus threatens to exact a severe economic toll on the already impoverished west African nations at the epicentre of the outbreak -- Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea -- the Moody's rating agency warned.

"The outbreak risks having a direct financial effect on government budgets via increased health expenditures that could be significant," it said.

Liberia spent $12 million (nine million euros) tackling the Ebola outbreak between April and June, and looks set to spend much more in the coming weeks.

Increasingly draconian restrictions have been put in place across the region.

Guinea, where the outbreak has killed at least 377, declared a "health emergency" on Wednesday and ordered strict controls at border points and a ban on moving bodies "from one town to another until the end of the epidemic".

A number of airlines have cancelled flights in and out of West Africa. Gambia suspended all flights from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, according to a transport ministry document obtained by AFP.

Although the World Health Organisation confirmed that other African countries, including Kenya, were labelled at "high risk" due to their popular transport hubs, it also emphasised that "air travel, even from Ebola-affected countries, is low risk for Ebola transmission" because the virus is not airborne.

- Experimental treatments -

Canada's Health Minister Rona Ambrose said between 800 to 1,000 doses of a vaccine called VSV-EBOV, which has shown promise in animal research but never been tested on humans, would be distributed through the WHO.

Hard-hit nations were also anxiously awaiting a consignment of up to 1,000 doses of the barely tested drug ZMapp from the United States, which has raised hopes of saving hundreds infected with the disease.

There is currently no available cure or vaccine for Ebola, which the WHO has declared a global public health emergency. The body has said it is ethical to try largely untested treatments "in the special circumstances of this Ebola outbreak".

Associated Press Videos
Raw: Vigils Around Nation for Ferguson Shooting

NEW YORK (AP) — Thousands of people across the country attended protest vigils Thursday for an unarmed black Missouri teenager fatally shot by a white police officer and other victims who organizers say died as a result of police brutality.

The vigils, observed in more than 90 cities as part of a National Moment of Silence, came days after the shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown and the death of a New York man caused by a police officer's chokehold.

In downtown St. Louis, in a tiny park near the Gateway Arch, several hundred people, seemingly an equal number whites and blacks, gathered in Brown's memory.

The site is a short drive from suburban Ferguson, where Brown was killed, stoking racial unrest. In Ferguson, two-thirds of the 21,000 residents are black and all but three of the 53 police officers are white.

The St. Louis gathering was peaceful in contrast with a night of looting and clashes between demonstrators and police in Ferguson earlier in the week.

The attendees included Brown's mother, Lesley McSpadden, who didn't address the crowd but waved, drawing applause as she wiped away tears.

Peace Prevails at Ferguson ProtestPlay Video

The observance was among many staged nationwide, each with a minute of silence for Brown and others who died at the hands of police.

Bishop Elliott Coleman, of St. Louis' El Bethel Temple Church, said in opening the observance there that people were coming together "for this reason of healing."

"Realize there are tears in every city, tears in homes, tears in the eyes of young people, tears in the eyes of old people," Coleman said. "The tears need to be wiped away, and the hearts need to be healed."

In New York, thousands of people peacefully gathered in Manhattan's Times Square and Union Square, invoking the rallying cries "hands up, don't shoot" and "I can't breathe," alluding to the death of 43-year-old Eric Garner, who was arrested on Staten Island on suspicion of selling loose, untaxed cigarettes and was placed in an officer's chokehold.

Garner, who had asthma, can be heard on tape shouting "I can't breathe!" and died a short time later.

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CHANGES THE WORD SEIZED TO TOOK - Capt. Ronald Johnson of the Missouri Highway Patrol hugs Angela Wh …

The police commissioner in New York has said officers will be retrained on the use of force. Police in Ferguson have said Brown was shot after an officer encountered him and another man on the street and one of the men pushed the officer into his squad car and physically assaulted him.

Antonia Moe, who attended the Union Square vigil with her 12-year-old son, said incidents like Brown's death have changed the way she talks to her son about being black.

"When things like this happen you kind of have to remember to remind him that some of the rules that apply to others don't necessary apply to you," she said.

In Orlando, Florida, about 15 miles outside the Sanford suburb where unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin was shot and killed by neighborhood watch leader George Zimmerman in 2012, a multicultural crowd of about 100 people gathered in front of a park amphitheater.

One woman carried a sign that read: "No Justice, No Peace. We Stand With Ferguson." Another man's sign said: "Hands up. Don't Shoot! RIP Mike Brown."

In Chicago, hundreds of people gathered downtown at Daley Plaza, where chants of "No justice! No peace! No racist police!" were heard.

In Nevada, about 40 people gathered outside the federal courthouse in Reno, and dozens gathered in Seattle, holding up signs that read "Unite Against Racism" and "Solidarity With Ferguson."

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Associated Press writer Jim Suhr in St. Louis contributed to this report.

ABC News Videos
President Obama Calls for 'Peace and Calm' in Ferguson

The president promises to ensure "justice is done" in the fatal shooting of an unarmed teenager.
'Now is the time for healing'

CNBC Videos
What's next after Putin softens tone on Ukraine?

YALTA, Crimea (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin traveled to a much-hyped meeting in Crimea amid expectations of more saber-rattling over Ukraine, but he instead struck a conciliatory note and called for peace in a speech Thursday that received surprisingly brief coverage on Russian television.

Putin's cautious statements and the terse reports in state media could signal a Kremlin desire to de-escalate the worst crisis in Russia-West relations since the Cold War. Putin's remarks contrasted with hawkish speeches by senior lawmakers in a carefully choreographed performance apparently intended to contain the nationalist fervor that has become a problem for the Kremlin.

Putin's show came as a large Russian aid convoy pulled close to the Ukrainian border amid tense arguments over its route and border clearance. Ukraine has threatened to use all means to block it if it's not duly inspected by Ukrainian border and customs officers and the Red Cross, but Russia sent it toward a rebel-controlled checkpoint instead in a clear show of defiance.

During a meeting with hundreds of lawmakers, Putin spoke with a restraint that contrasted sharply with lawmakers' bellicose speeches.

Referring to a suggestion by firebrand nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky that the Kremlin should take as an example the czar's decision to enter World War I and test new Russian weapons on Ukrainian forces, Putin said that "Russia should learn from mistakes."

Contrary to the long-established pattern of broadcasting key Putin's speeches live and covering them prominently in every news program throughout the day, Russian state television stations had no live feed from Yalta and buried the event deep in their programs, only showing Putin with a voiceover.

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Drivers of a Russian convoy of trucks carrying humanitarian aid for Ukraine show the contents of the …

Other television crews in Crimea were not allowed into the room to film it, even though the meeting had been advertised as a major political event.

There was no explanation for the unprecedented brevity of the media coverage, but it could reflect Kremlin efforts to tone down rhetoric and soothe passions over Ukraine.

Russian state media have for weeks clamored over a "fascist junta" in Kiev and purported atrocities committed by Ukrainian troops in their campaign against pro-Russian rebels in the east, whipping up rage among ordinary Russians. In a seeming response to the public's indignation, Russian lawmakers who met Putin at a giant conference hall in the resort town of Yalta called for blood.

Sergei Mironov, leader of the Just Russia party, called for Russia to assume "a tougher stance" against Kiev, arguing that "the lack of a vocal position of our country prevents us from fully protecting the people and stopping the bloodshed."

But Putin called for a quick end to the conflict: "The country has plunged into a bloody chaos, a fratricidal conflict, a humanitarian catastrophe has hit southeastern Ukraine. We will do all we can to stop this conflict as soon as possible and end bloodshed in Ukraine."

Putin convoy heads towards borderPlay Video

Putin has resisted nationalist calls for sending the Russian army into Ukraine, apparently realizing that it would trigger devastating Western sanctions that could send the Russian economy into a nosedive and quickly erode his power.

The Kremlin has dismissed Ukrainian and Western claims that it was fomenting the rebellion in the east with soldiers and weapons and insisted that Russian citizens fighting there were acting on their own. Moscow also has rejected U.S. and NATO claims of a military buildup along the Ukrainian border.

Speaking Thursday in Arendal, Norway, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the alliance expects Russia to pull back its troops from the border and stop supporting the mutiny.

"If it's a sincere attempt to de-escalate the situation, I would warmly welcome the speech and the following steps from the Russian side," he said, asked about Putin's remarks. "Unfortunately, we have seen such statements previously without seeing them transformed into concrete action."

Putin listened on impassively as the flamboyant Zhirinovsky suggested that Russia call itself an empire and change the title of the head of state to Supreme Leader. The president later took the microphone to say that Zhirinovsky was expressing personal views that do not reflect the government's position.

While issuing conciliatory statements, Putin said the government would modernize the military and beef up its forces in Crimea, which Russia annexed in March after the ouster of Ukraine's pro-Russia president following months of protests.

He also warned that Russia was developing new strategic nuclear weapons that would catch the West by surprise. "We will give joy to our partners with those ideas and their implementation, I mean those (weapons) systems," he said, adding that they so far have been kept under wraps.

Speaking about the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty banning an entire class of nuclear missiles that President Ronald Reagan signed with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1987, Putin said that Russia feels concerned about Pakistan and some other countries developing such weapons, and is analyzing the situation.

The U.S. administration last month accused Russia of violating the pact, a claim that Moscow rejected.

Without specifically referring to the INF Treaty, Putin warned that Russia could opt out of some agreements if it sees them as failing to meet its security needs.

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Matti Huuhtanen in Helsinki and Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow contributed to this report.

By Lanre Ola

MAIDUGURI Nigeria (Reuters) - Suspected Islamist Boko Haram fighters have abducted dozens of boys and men in a raid on a remote village in northeast Nigeria, loading them onto trucks and driving them off, witnesses who fled the violence said on Friday.

The kidnappings came four months after Boko Haram, which is fighting to reinstate a medieval Islamic caliphate in religiously mixed Nigeria, abducted more than 200 schoolgirls from the village of Chibok. They are still missing.

Several witnesses who fled after Sunday's raid on Doron Baga, a sandy fishing village near the shores of Lake Chad, said militants clothed in military and police uniforms had burned several houses and that 97 people were unaccounted for.

"They left no men or boys in the place; only young children, girls and women," said Halima Adamu, sobbing softly and looking exhausted after a 180 km (110 mile) road trip on the back of a truck to Maiduguri, capital of the northeastern state of Borno.

"They were shouting 'Allah Akbar' (God is greatest), shooting sporadically. There was confusion everywhere. They started parking our men and boys into their vehicles, threatening to shoot whoever disobeyed them. Everybody was scared."

They said six older men were also killed in Sunday's raid, while another five people were wounded.

Boko Haram, seen as the number one security threat to Africa's top economy and oil producer, has dramatically increased attacks on civilians in the past year, and what began as a grassroots movement has rapidly lost popular support as it becomes more bloodthirsty.

Its tactic - kidnapping boys and forcing them to fight and abducting girls as sex slaves - is a chilling echo of Ugandan rebel Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army, which has operated in Uganda, South Sudan and central Africa for decades.

DETERMINED FOE

The military did not respond to a request for comment. A security source said they were aware of the incident but were still investigating the details.

"Officials at the British High Commission in Abuja are urgently looking into the details. The UK stands firmly with Nigeria as it faces the scourge of Boko Haram."

Britain and the United States have offered help to try to find the missing Chibok girls, but there has been no success yet.

The kidnappers overpowered local vigilantes who had no support because this is no military presence there, the villagers said.

Talatu Abubakar, another villager who fled to Maiduguri, said the invaders had taunted the men for being unable to defend themselves.

"They were shouting 'Where is your pride? You people used to be warriors. Today you are all just women, not as brave as we thought'," he said.

He said that from his Hadeija clan alone, some 47 people were missing and feared to have been abducted.

The raid shows how mobile Boko Haram units can be.

After a military offensive in May last year broke their hold on the area around Lake Chad in the far northeast of Borno state, the rebels relocated to the south of the state, near the Cameroon border nearly 300 km (190 miles) away. Chibok, where the girls were abducted, is in this area.

Their re-appearance in the area demonstrates their ability to move across vast swathes of northeastern Nigeria without being intercepted by the military.

Nigerian forces are overstretched against a determined foe. In the past week they have fought gun battles with Boko Haram Islamists in two key towns in the south of Borno - Gwoza, the security sources said, and the garrison town of Damboa, which the militants sacked a month ago.

(Reporting by Lanre Ola; Writing by Tim Cocks; Additional reporting by Guy Faulconbridge in London; Editing by Ralph Boulton)

Boko Haram kidnaps dozens of boys, men

Several witnesses who escaped the raid on a remote village say as many as 97 people are unaccounted for.
'Everybody was scared'