Six In The Morning Wednesday October 15

Ebola outbreak killing 70 percent of victims

WHO official says infection levels could reach 10,000 new cases a week by December, up from the current rate of 1,000. Last updated: 15 Oct 2014 04:40

The Ebola outbreak in West Africa kills seven out of 10 victims and new cases could hit 10,000 a week within two months if it is not brought under control, the World Health Organisation has said.

The organisation's assistant director-general Dr Bruce Aylward said on Tuesday that the death rate was higher than the official 50 percent rate and that "a lot more people will die" if the West Africa outbreak was not stopped.

"What we're finding is 70 percent mortality," said Aylward, adding that he had a "working forecast" of 5,000 to 10,000 new cases a week by December to guide the international response.

"It's been running at about a thousand cases a week now for about three to four weeks," he said. "The labs sometimes can't keep up with the amount of specimens they're getting."

WHO figures released on Tuesday show 8,914 confirmed cases and a total of 4,447 people dead. However, the organisation has said several times that the tallies are unreliable due to difficult recording conditions and workload.

15 October 2014 Last updated at 07:46

Hong Kong protests: Police to investigate 'beating' video

The Hong Kong police department is investigating reports that officers used excessive force against pro-democracy protesters.

Local TV showed images of officers apparently beating a handcuffed protester on Wednesday in some of the worst clashes since the protests began.

Hong Kong's security chief said the officers had been "temporarily removed from their current duties".

The incident occurred as police cleared an underpass near government buildings.

The police advance came when protesters blockaded the underpass after being cleared out of other areas of the city on Tuesday.

World is ‘talking the talk but not walking the walk’ on women’s rights, according to new report

The rhetoric is not being matched by action, says children's charity

JONATHAN OWEN

 

 

Wednesday 15 October 2014

Well-meaning rhetoric on women’s rights is not being matched by meaningful action, with girls suffering the “double jeopardy” of being young and female, according to a new report.

The world is failing to deliver on gender equality, says the study by children’s charity Plan UK. There is no country where women and men have equal opportunities, equal pay or equal distribution of assets, and domestic violence remains “pervasive, cutting across geography, age, class and race,” states the Pathways to Power report.

More than a quarter of girls and women under 20 have experienced violence at the hands of a partner. Improvements in the legal protection of women are often “fragile” and “not matched by implementation on the ground”.

Opinion: Turkey's balancing act between pressures and fears

Turkey has drawn criticism for being an idle observer to the fight against the "Islamic State" instead of supporting the Kurds. Its strategy puts the NATO member state in a dangerous position, argues DW's Baha Güngör.

Turkish tanks are positioned on the border to Syria like pearls on a string, observing the fierce fighting on the neighbor country's territory from a safe distance. Since Kurdish stronghold Kobani came under attack from the "Islamic State" terrorists, Turkey has been facing expectations of crossing the border into Syria and using its ground combat troops to put an end to the IS offensive single-handedly.

Good reasons against a Turkish invasion

Critics of the current Turkish policy do not seem to give serious thought to the possible consequences of any such intervention. Is Turkey supposed to act as an occupying power in Syria? What would be the consequences of a counteroffensive by IS troops? And what if Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad deployed troops against Turkey, sent out on a mission to protect his own territory? Would not, then, Syrian backers Russia and Iran try to support Assad? And who would assume responsibility if one Middle East country after another - including Israel - was drawn into a war on multiple fronts?

Brazil election candidates spar over corruption, nepotism

 

By Anthony Boadle2 hours ago

Brazil's two presidential candidates traded accusations of lies, corruption and nepotism on Tuesday night in a bruising television debate that had no clear winner ahead of the hotly contested Oct. 26 election runoff.

Leftist incumbent President Dilma Rousseff warned Brazilians that the election of her pro-business challenger Aecio Neves would lead to unemployment and put at risk social benefits gained under 12 years of rule by her Workers' Party.

Neves charged that the Rousseff campaign propaganda was a pack of lies that had misinformed voters that he was planning to end cash transfer programs and privatize state banks.

NASA's Maven Orbiter Weathers Its First Solar Storm at Mars

A NASA Mars orbiter has been busy since it arrived at the Red Planet late last month.

NASA's $671 million Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN mission (Maven for short) is designed to probe Mars' thin atmosphere, to help scientists understand what caused the planet to change from the warm and wet world it was long ago to the cold and dry one it is today.

The spacecraft entered into orbit around Mars on Sept. 21, and it has already beamed back some amazing new data about Mars' upper atmosphere, researchers said.

In Maven's first few weeks of instrument testing at the Red Planet, scientists have already created some of the most complete maps of atomic hydrogen, oxygen, carbon and ozone in the Martian atmosphere ever made. One of Maven's instruments even collected data as energetic particles blasted out by a massive solar eruption made it to Mars. [See amazing MAVEN images]