World This Week : Ebola Toll Climbs to 1, 299
After the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, Indian airport satff and health officials are taking all precautionary measures at airports. A 33-year-old man from Pimpri-Chinchwad( a city in the Pune Metropolitan Region) who had travelled to an Ebola-hit African country had airport and health officials on their toes when he landed in Pune on August 14. However, later the passenger was allowed to leave after the screening.
Three persons from Ebola-affected Nigeria, who arrived in Delhi on August 16, were reported to be admitted to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, New Delhi for screening and treatment. The three Nigerians, aged 79, 37 and 4 years complained of fever.
The Union Health ministry has denied the reports of Nigerian national admitted to Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) hospital tested positive for the dreaded Ebola disease on August 19.
Meanwhile, as a precautionary measure, a forum of 1, 30,000 sex workers in West Bengal, Mahila Samanwaya Committee (DMSC) has appealed to sex workers in Kolkata’s biggest red light district area Sonagachi not to entertain Africans. They’ve warned them of a life risk, if they come in contact with an infected person.The 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa is the worst outbreak of the Hemorrhagic disease since it was discovered in 1976. The death toll continues to rise and currently stands at 1,350, the World Health Organization said Wednesday.
Of that total, 576 have died in Liberia, where the outbreak is most severe.The death tolls in Guinea and Sierra Leone stand at 396 and 374.
70,000 Devotees Attend Europe's Biggest Janmashtami Celebration
An estimated 70,000 devotees from all over the UK visited the Bhaktivedanta Manor Hare Krishna Temple in Watford for Europe's biggest Janmashtami festival, celebrating the birth of Lord Krishna.
One of the major highlights of the festival held at Watford, northwest of central London, was the recreation of the beautiful forests of Vrindavan in India where Lord Krishna played when he was growing up.
Around 1,500 volunteers, aged from 16 to 94, gave up their time to take part in helping to set up the grounds for the festival.
Srutidharma Dasa, Temple President of Bhaktivedanta Manor said “Without any doubt Janmashtami is the most special day in our calendar, because it marks the birth of Lord Krishna.
Over 6,000 Rebels Join IS
According to a report of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a total of 6,300 rebel fighters joined the Islamic State (IS) militant group in the month of July alone. The IS, previously known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), has recently proclaimed it established an “Islamic Caliphate” in parts of Syria and Iraq, threatening the political geography of the region.
The Observatory on August 18 said 6,300 fighters had joined the training camps in Syria's Northern provinces of al-Raqqa and Aleppo. Among them, 5,000 recruits are Syrians and 1,300 fighters are Arab and foreign nationals. IS pays a single Syrian fighter 400 dollars a month. Fighters from overseas get paid 800 dollars every month.
ISIS Militants Behead American Journalist
The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) posted a video on August 19 that showed the beheading of an American Journalist James Foley, who was kidnapped in Syria nearly two years ago. Mr. Foley, 40, a freelance journalist who was working for Global Post, an online publication based in Boston, disappeared in Syria on November 22, 2012.
The authenticity of the video, which was also posted on YouTube, could not be verified. Following which YouTube removed the video.
The video titled “A Message to America,” shows the journalist kneeling in a desert landscape, clad in an orange jumpsuit. The video shows a militant using a knife to decapitate a man the group identifies as James Foley. The militant group also threatened to kill another US journalist
if the US does not halt its airstrikes
in Iraq.
—Nishant Kr Azad with inputs from agencies
