KATHMANDU, NEPAL — A Nepal government committee formed after a bad mountaineering season on Mount Everest has recommended requiring climbers to have scaled tall peaks, undergone proper training, and possess certificates of good health and insurance that would cover rescue costs if required. 
 
A report by the committee released Wednesday says people must have successfully climbed a peak higher than 6,500 meters (21,320 feet) before they can apply for permits to scale Mount Everest. Each climber would also be required to have a highly experienced guide. 
 
Of the 11 people who died during the spring climbing season this year, nine were climbing from the southern side of the peak in Nepal, making it one of the worst years on the mountain.  
  
The government was criticized for allowing too many climbers on the world’s highest peak.  
  
Mountaineering authorities were also criticized for not stopping inexperienced climbers who had difficulty coping with harsh conditions on Everest and slowed down other climbers on the trail to the 8,850-meter (29,035-foot) summit. 
 
The government is expected to amend its mountaineering regulations following the recommendations. 
 
The March-May climbing season is when weather conditions are best for climbing the Himalayan mountain. 

Canada’s ethics commissioner said Wednesday that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau improperly pressured the country’s former attorney general to halt the criminal prosecution of a company, a development that could imperil his re-election chances. 

The report comes just before the official start of campaigning for the Oct. 21 general election and it threatens to re-inflame a scandal that rocked the government earlier this year, causing a drop in poll ratings that had since abated.

Ethics commissioner Mario Dion said Trudeau’s attempts to influence the former attorney general and justice minister, Jody Wilson-Raybould, were contrary to the constitutional principle of prosecutorial independence.

“The prime minister, directly and through his senior officials, used various means to exert influence over Ms. Wilson-Raybould,” Dion wrote. 

“The authority of the prime minister and his office was used to circumvent, undermine and ultimately attempt to discredit the decision of the director of public prosecutions as well as the authority of Ms. Wilson-Raybould.” 

Trudeau said at a news conference that he takes responsibility “for everything,” but said he “can’t apologize for standing up for Canadian jobs.”  

Wilson-Raybould believes she was demoted from her role as attorney general and justice minister to veterans’ affairs minister in January because she didn’t give in to pressure to enter into a remediation agreement with a Canadian company accused of bribing officials in Libya.

That potential solution would avoid a potential criminal conviction that would bar Quebec engineering giant SNC-Lavalin from receiving any federal government business for a decade. The company is a major employer with 9,000 employees in Canada and about 50,000 worldwide.

The report said Trudeau “directed his staff to find a solution that would safeguard SNC-Lavalin’s business interest in Canada.”

“What happened over the past year shouldn’t have happened,” Trudeau said. “I take responsibility for the mistakes that I made. At the same time, we learned many lessons.”

But Trudeau said he didn’t agree that any contact with the attorney general on the issue was inappropriate. He said his job is to consider the impact decisions have on Canadians.

He noted that deferred prosecution agreements are frequently used in many countries and it would be up to his new justice minister on whether the company gets one. 

The scandal led to multiple resignations, including that of Gerry Butts, Trudeau’s top aide and best friend. And it damaged the party for weeks. Butts has since rejoined Trudeau’s re-election campaign team. 

Opposition Conservative leader Andrew Scheer renewed calls for police to investigate and called SNC-Lavalin a “Liberal” linked corporation that defrauded some of the poorest people on earth. 

Scheer said Trudeau hasn’t lived up to promises to be open and honest when he was elected.

“Trudeau may not face a court of law for his role in this scandal, but he will have to face the Canadian people over the next few weeks,” Scheer said. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said it is “examining this matter carefully with all available information and will take appropriate actions as required” and declined further comment. 

Nelson Wiseman, a political science professor at the University of Toronto, said the report is very damaging and said the scandal could topple Trudeau’s Liberal government. 

“The SNC-Lavalin controversy is certainly reignited and fits with the Conservative narrative that the Trudeau is no angel,” Wiseman said. “I expect the Liberals to drop in the polls by 5% or so. Whether they can recover by election day is an open question. I wouldn’t bet on it.”

A vaping industry group sued the U.S. government on Wednesday to delay an upcoming review of thousands of e-cigarettes on the market.

The legal challenge by the Vapor Technology Association is the latest hurdle in the Food and Drug Administration’s yearslong effort to regulate the multibillion-dollar vaping industry, which includes makers and retailers of e-cigarette devices and flavored solutions.

The vaping group argued that the latest deadline of next May to submit products for review could wipe out many of the smaller companies. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Kentucky. 
 
E-cigarettes first appeared in the U.S. more than a decade ago and have grown in popularity despite little research on their long-term effects, including whether they can help smokers quit cigarettes.

In recent years, health authorities have warned of an epidemic of vaping by underage teenagers, particularly the leading brand Juul, known for its high nicotine content and easy-to-conceal device, which resembles a flash drive. 
 
Nicotine is what makes both cigarettes and e-cigarettes addictive, and health experts say the chemical is harmful to developing brains.

San Francisco-based Juul is among 800 member companies of the vaping association. 

Moving deadlines
 
The 2009 law that gave the FDA power over the traditional tobacco products did not mention e-cigarettes. And it wasn’t until 2016 that the agency expanded its own regulations to include the devices. But since then FDA regulators have repeatedly pushed back the timeline, at one point until 2022, to begin reviewing the legions of vaping products that have come to market.

Frustrated by the delays, anti-tobacco groups including the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids sued the FDA to speed up the process. In June, a federal judge sided with the groups and set a deadline of next May for all companies to submit their products for federal review. The FDA did not appeal the decision.

The vapor group’s lawsuit said the FDA has now set five different deadlines.

“It is time for FDA to stop moving the goalposts and changing the rules in the middle of the game to the detriment of our manufacturers and small businesses,” said Tony Abboud, the group’s executive director, in a statement.

Vaping executives have long said that most companies will not be able to afford to conduct large, expensive studies needed for FDA review. Only products that meet FDA standards would be permitted to be sold. 
 
The FDA declined to comment on the lawsuit. 

Tunisia’s independent electoral body says 26 candidates have qualified to run in the country’s early presidential election on Sept. 15, out of 96 who were seeking the job.

The number of candidates could increase when the final list is announced on Aug. 31, after the appeals process.  
 
Among those sure to bid for Tunisia’s highest office, according to Wednesday’s announcement, are Prime Minister Youssef Chahed and his defense minister who resigned to run in the presidential race, Abdelkrim Zbidi. Lawyer Abdelfattah Mourou plans to be a candidate for Islamist party Ennahdha, which now holds the most seats in parliament. 
 
The early election follows the July 25 death of Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi, 92, the North African nation’s first democratically elected president.

An Indian court Wednesday acquitted six people accused of murdering a Muslim man who was attacked while transporting cows, which Hindus revere.

Pehlu Khan, a 55-year-old farmer, died after around 200 vigilantes attacked trucks carrying cattle on a highway in the western state of Rajasthan in April 2017.

Nine people were accused of killing Khan, with six of them acquitted by a local court in Rajasthan on Wednesday.

The three other accused are minors and are being tried in a juvenile court, Indian media reported.

The Khan family’s legal team told AFP the prosecution plans to file an appeal against the verdict in the High Court.

Police told AFP that the arrests were made after examining video footage shot by onlookers and eventually broadcast by media. 

The verdict comes two months after New Delhi rejected a U.S. State Department report which said religious violence against minorities had spiked under the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government.

Cow slaughter is illegal in many Indian states and vigilante squads that roam highways checking livestock trucks for animals being transported across state borders have proliferated since the BJP came to power in 2014.

Rajasthan is among the states that ban cow slaughter, and authorities also require anyone transporting the animals across state borders to have a license.

Marieme Jamme was trafficked from Senegal to France at the age of 13 to work as a prostitute. Later, she lived in a refugee center before making her way to Britain, where Jamme became interested in computer programming. She became a success, and she made it her mission to teach one million women and girls — including refugees — how to program by 2030. Ruud Elmendorp reports from Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya.

U.S. President Donald Trump attacked China’s trade and financial policies, but refused to criticize Beijing’s pressure on Hong Kong. In a speech Tuesday in Pittsburgh, Trump said China has manipulated the World Trade Organization and the Chinese currency to its advantage. But he said tensions between Beijing and Hong Kong are to be resolved between them. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports.

Donald Trump Jr. promoted two Trump-branded resorts in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, on Tuesday, and defended against allegations that the Trump Organization’s global business empire continues to create conflicts of interest for his father’s administration. White House correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has this story.

Getting around in a wheelchair takes some maneuvering, but Wheelie makes it as easy as raising your eyebrows. Tina Trinh reports.

Venezuela’s opposition leader Juan Guaido warned President Nicolas Maduro on Tuesday that any attempts to bring forward parliamentary elections would end in “disaster” for the government.

Elections to renew the National Assembly, the only branch of government under opposition control, are set for December 2020.

But the Constituent Assembly, a rival body created by the Maduro regime and given extraordinary powers superseding the National Assembly, has hinted at the possibility of ordering early elections.

Such a maneuver could threaten the opposition’s hold on the National Assembly and with it Guaido’s claim as head of the legislature to be the country’s legitimate president.

But Guaido insisted it would backfire, further isolating Maduro, who has so far withstood opposition challenges to his presidency with the support of the military.

“What would happen if the regime dared to — and it could — bring forward an irregular convocation for elections without any conditions?” said Guaido.

“They will drown in contradictions, in isolation — they will drown in disaster.”

Constituent Assembly president Diosdado Cabello, the most powerful regime figure after Maduro, admitted on Monday the move was a “counter-attack” after the United States increased its sanctions on the government.

Venezuela has been locked in a political crisis since the legislature branded Maduro a “usurper” in January over his controversial re-election last year in a poll widely denounced as rigged.

As the head of the National Assembly, Guaido demanded Maduro step down and declared himself acting president in a move recognized by more than 50 countries.

The government and the opposition have engaged in Norwegian-mediated talks but those negotiations appear blocked over the opposition’s demand that Maduro step down so new elections can be held.

In the meantime, the regime has stepped up pressure on opposition legislators by stripping 25 of them of their parliamentary immunity over their alleged support for a failed April uprising instigated by Guaido.

The European Union’s foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini’s spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic said these moves were “another direct attack on the only democratically elected body in Venezuela.”

U.S. President Donald Trump’s National Security Advisor John Bolton urged the “international community to hold the tyrant Maduro accountable.”

Democrat Stacey Abrams, who vaulted onto the national political stage championing voting rights during an unsuccessful 2018 run for Georgia governor, announced on Tuesday that she’s launching a new multistate voter protection initiative and not running for president in 2020.

Abrams revealed plans for the multimillion-dollar initiative, called Fair Fight 2020, during a speech before a labor union convention in Las Vegas. The project will staff and fund voter protection teams in battleground states across the country ahead of next year’s elections.

The move follows months of speculation over what Abrams’ next move in politics might be, including whether she’d join the crowded field of 2020 presidential hopefuls.

“We’re going to win because there are only two things stopping us in 2020: making sure people have a reason to vote and that they have the right to vote. Well I’ve decided to leave it to a whole bunch of other folks to make sure they have a reason to vote,” Abrams said, referring to the field of Democratic candidates.

“But I’m here today to announce Fair Fight 2020 to make sure everyone has the right to vote,” she said.

Abrams spokesman Seth Bringman confirmed that Abrams was not running for president and would instead focus on the new initiative.

Abrams faced Republican Brian Kemp during her unsuccessful bid for Georgia governor last year. Kemp was secretary of state during their race, and Abrams frequently accused him of using his position to suppress votes, especially in minority communities.

Kemp vehemently denied the claim.

Voters in that election reported a myriad of problems casting ballots including malfunctioning voting equipment and long wait times that caused some voters to give up in frustration.

Abrams said her new group will fight “systematic” voter suppression across the country.

A statement from Fair Fight says the initiative will “either directly fund, or assist in raising the funds for, robust voter protection operations, which will be run by Democratic state parties and allies.”

“Fair Fight staff will provide ongoing support to these operations,” it says.

Earlier this year, Abrams announced she would not run in 2020 for the U.S. Senate seat held by incumbent Georgia Republican Sen. David Perdue, after being heavily recruited by Senate Democratic leadership to run.

President-elect Alejandro Giammattei said Tuesday that Guatemala will not be able to hold up its side of an immigration agreement with the United States by serving as a “safe third country” for asylum seekers.

Giammattei told The Associated Press his country cannot tend to its own people, let alone those from other countries. The agreement signed with the United States in July by Guatemala’s current administration would require asylum seekers from other countries transiting Guatemala to seek asylum here rather than in the U.S.

“In order to be a safe country, one has to be certified as such by an international body, and I do not think Guatemala fulfills the requirements to be a third safe country. That definition doesn’t fit us,” said Giammattei, a conservative who won Sunday’s presidential runoff election.

“If we do not have the capacity for our own people, just imagine other people,” Giammattei said.

Guatemalans make up one of the largest groups emigrating from Central America because of poverty, unemployment and crime. Critics say it is hard to see how the country could offer a safe haven to migrants from other nations.

The agreement, signed by the government of outgoing President Jimmy Morales, is aimed at reducing the number of asylum seekers arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border. U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration pressured Guatemala to sign the deal by threatening to punish Guatemala with taxes.

Giammattei, who takes office Jan. 14, said that annexes to the agreement are still being negotiated with the United States and that he would ask Morales to include members of his transition team in those talks.

The president-elect also noted that the agreement would have to be ratified by the congresses of both nations to go into force. There has been widespread criticism of the deal in Guatemala.

Giammattei pledged to recognize the importance of Guatemalan migrants living in the United States by creating a Washington-based Cabinet-level position to attend to migrant affairs.

“It is about time we had a government that cared for the people,” he said. “It is these people (migrants) who are supporting us” with the remittance money they send back to relatives in Guatemala, he added.

“I do not think physical walls, or walls of weapons, can stop migration,” Giammattei said. “I think what can stop migration are walls of opportunities.”

On another matter, the incoming leader distanced himself from Morales’ unpopular decision to not renew the mandate of the U.N.-sponsored anti-corruption commission that has played a key role in sending high-ranking politicians, including ex-presidents, to jail. But Giammattei also indicated he wouldn’t work to bring back the commission, known as CICIG.  

“The mandate has been terminated; the United Nations accepted that,” he said.

 He said he has no legal capacity or any other authority to ask Morales to renew the commission.

“The CICIG is disappearing and history will judge whether Morales’ decision was right or not,” he said.

A Mexican judge has ordered former cabinet minister Rosario Robles detained pending criminal proceedings involving the disappearance of public funds, a lawyer for Robles said Tuesday, in a case hailed by President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador as part of his campaign against corruption.

Robles served in the cabinet of former President Enrique Pena Nieto from 2012 to 2018, first as secretary of social development and then as secretary of agrarian, land and urban development, and earlier became the first woman to serve as mayor of Mexico City.

Prosecutors have accused Robles of “improper exercise of public service.” Robles has appeared in court over prosecution claims that more than 5 billion pesos ($258 million) destined for welfare programs during her tenure had gone missing, according to local media reports.

The investigation has fueled accusations that the money was siphoned off, allegations denied by Robles. Julio Hernandez, a lawyer for Robles, said on local television that she will fight the accusations.

“Truly, Rosario Robles is innocent,” Hernandez said. 

Lopez Obrador made rooting out corruption a cornerstone of his campaign for the presidency. The investigation into Robles represents one of the highest-profile cases during his administration.

Asked whether the Robles case represented an achievement for his administration, Lopez Obrador said, “I believe that it is an accomplishment that there is no impunity.”

Robles is one of several officials from Pena Nieto’s administration, including a former head of state oil company Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, to end up in the crosshairs of Lopez Obrador’s government. Robles has been a high-profile figure in Mexican politics for two decades. Lopez Obrador succeeded her as mayor of the capital.

During his regular morning news conference, Lopez Obrador said the investigation of Robles will determine whether other people who have served in government are implicated in the case.

Lopez Obrador said that a judge will decide the next steps in the Robles case, stressing the independence of judicial authorities.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy signed a decree Tuesday offering citizenship to Russians suffering political persecution, and also to foreigners who fought on Kyiv’s side in the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

Zelenskiy had announced such a move last month in response to a Russian decree expanding the number of Ukrainians who can apply for fast-track Russian passports.

Separately Ukraine’s state security service declared a Russian consular officer in the western city of Lviv as persona non grata, accusing him of spying. The officer had already left the country, a statement said.

Russia’s foreign ministry said Moscow had expelled a Ukrainian consular worker from St. Petersburg in response, TASS news agency reported.

Relations between Kyiv and Moscow plunged after Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and its support for fighters in the eastern Donbass region in a conflict that has killed 13,000 people despite a notional cease-fire.

Zelenskiy has prioritized achieving peace in the Donbass region, but days after his election victory in April Russian President Vladimir Putin eased rules for residents of rebel-controlled parts of Donbass to receive passports. In July, he extended the offer to government-held areas.

Zelenskiy’s decree would apply to citizens of the Russian Federation who had been persecuted for political reasons, a statement on the presidential website said.

They would need to provide a certificate from Ukraine’s foreign ministry or a diplomatic mission or a consular post confirming they were being persecuted in their native country for their political beliefs.

Next step

It is now up to the government and parliament to legislate for the proposal to take effect.

The president’s Servant of the People party will be the largest in the new parliament following its landslide victory in a snap election in July.

Zelenskiy last week pressed Putin for a resumption of peace talks after four Ukrainian soldiers were killed by shelling in the Donbass region. Putin in turn said Ukrainian forces must stop the shelling of settlements in the Donbass that led to civilian casualties.

At least 10 state attorneys general say they will join conservation groups in suing the Trump administration from making drastic changes to the U.S. Endangered Species Act.

U.S. officials have announced a revision of the nearly 50-year-old set of laws that environmentalists credit with saving numerous animals, plants and other species from extinction.

About 1,600 species are currently protected by the act and the administration says streamlining regulations is the best way to ensure those animals stay protected.

“The revisions finalized with this rule-making fit squarely within the president’s mandate of easing the regulatory burden on the American public without sacrificing our species’ protection and recovery goals,” Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said. 

The proposed changes include considering the economic cost when deciding to save a species from extinction. The law currently says the cost to logging or oil interests will have no bearing on whether an animal, bird, or other species deserves protection.

The revised act would also end blanket protection for a species listed as threatened — a designation that is one step away from declaring an animal population as endangered — and reduce some wildlife habitat.

Conservation and wildlife groups took little time in denouncing the changes, calling them President Donald Trump’s gift to logging, ranching, and oil industries.

‘Beginning of the end’

“These changes crash a bulldozer through the Endangered Species Act’s lifesaving protections for America’s most vulnerable wildlife,” the Center for Biological Diversity’s Noah Greenwald said. “For animals like the wolverine and monarch butterflies, this could be the beginning of the end.”

The center’s Brett Hartl added that putting a price tag on whether a species deserves to live opens the door for political interference. 

“You have to be really naive and cynical and disingenuous to pretend otherwise. That’s the reason Congress prohibited the Fish and Wildlife Service from doing that. It’s a science question — is a species going extinct, yes or no?” 

Attorneys general from 10 states along with environmental groups say they will take the administration to court to preserve the Endangered Species Act. Several congressional Democrats are also denouncing the changes.

Republican President Richard Nixon signed the Endangered Species Act into law in 1973 as part of the new environmental awareness that was sweeping the country in the early 1970s, which included Earth Day and the Clear Water and Air acts.

Democrats are using public outrage over this month’s mass shootings in Texas and Ohio to try pressuring President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on curbing gun violence and investigating white supremacists.
 
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s office says the New York Democrat wants Trump to divert $5 billion he’s sought to build a wall along the southern border to instead investigate domestic terrorism and research gun violence.
 

No. 2 House Democrat Steny Hoyer and colleagues planned a Tuesday news conference to press McConnell to allow a vote on House-passed legislation requiring background checks for most gun purchases.
 
Trump and McConnell have long opposed many gun control measures.
 
Both have expressed an openness to unspecified curbs since 31 people were killed in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio.

Two Ebola patients who were treated with new drugs in the city of Goma in eastern Congo have been declared “cured” and returned to their home.

Top doctors fighting Ebola quickly used the case on Tuesday to press the message that people can recover from the potentially deadly disease if they seek proper care.
 
Ebola is dangerous but it is also curable with correct treatment, said Dr. Jean-Jacques Muyembe, director of Congo’s National Institute for Biomedical Research.

“Ebola kills quickly and Ebola heals quickly. That’s the message,” said Muyembe, at a press conference in Goma.

“These cases were detected very quickly. The husband was infected, he was at home for 10 days and his wife and son were infected,” said Muyembe. “As soon as the response teams detected these cases, they brought them here to the treatment center. We gave them treatment that is effective and here in a short time both are cured.”

Muyembe said two new drugs “are now be used to treat Ebola patients because, according to the studies and the results we obtained in the lab, these are the two drugs that are effective.”

Muyembe and other scientists announced this week that preliminary results from two trials in Congo found two drugs made by Regeneron and the U.S. National Institutes of Health seem to be saving lives. Researchers said more study is needed to nail down how well those two compounds work. The drugs are antibodies that block Ebola. In the trial, significantly fewer people died among those given the Regeneron drug or the NIH’s, about 30%, compared to those who received another treatment.
 
Esperance Nabintu rejoiced that she and her young son had survived Ebola.

“May the Lord be praised, I thank the Lord very much. I and my child were sick with Ebola, but God has just healed us.”
“My brothers, we must not doubt. Ebola exists, “said Nabintu, whose husband was the second Ebola victim to die in Goma. No other Ebola death has been detected since then.

After a public announcement that Nabintu and her son, Ebenezer Fataki, 1, had recovered from Ebola, the response team accompanied the two former patients their home in the Kiziba area, where the medical team educated the residents about proper Ebola treatment.
 
There is less danger that Ebola will spread through Goma, the capital of North Kivu province with more than 2 million inhabitants, because about 200 contacts and suspected cases have been identified and have received proper medication, said Muyembe. He said people arriving in Goma are being monitored at the city’s entry points.

“People who come from Beni and Butembo (nearby cities where there are many Ebola cases) must be carefully examined, “said Muyembe. “All of the 200 contacts we are following are doing well. We are waiting until the end of the 21-day surveillance period. We are at day 13, so there are still 8 days to go before we can say that Goma has won against Ebola.”

Health officials have also vaccinated tens of thousands of people in Congo and surrounding countries in an attempt to stop the outbreak, but the virus has now continued to spread for more than a year. Response efforts have been repeatedly hampered by attacks on health workers and continuing mistrust among the affected communities; many people in the region don’t believe the virus is real and choose to stay at home when they fall ill, infecting those who care for them.

Two Ebola patients who were treated with new drugs in the city of Goma in eastern Congo have been declared “cured” and returned to their home.

Top doctors fighting Ebola quickly used the case on Tuesday to press the message that people can recover from the potentially deadly disease if they seek proper care.
 
Ebola is dangerous but it is also curable with correct treatment, said Dr. Jean-Jacques Muyembe, director of Congo’s National Institute for Biomedical Research.

“Ebola kills quickly and Ebola heals quickly. That’s the message,” said Muyembe, at a press conference in Goma.

“These cases were detected very quickly. The husband was infected, he was at home for 10 days and his wife and son were infected,” said Muyembe. “As soon as the response teams detected these cases, they brought them here to the treatment center. We gave them treatment that is effective and here in a short time both are cured.”

Muyembe said two new drugs “are now be used to treat Ebola patients because, according to the studies and the results we obtained in the lab, these are the two drugs that are effective.”

Muyembe and other scientists announced this week that preliminary results from two trials in Congo found two drugs made by Regeneron and the U.S. National Institutes of Health seem to be saving lives. Researchers said more study is needed to nail down how well those two compounds work. The drugs are antibodies that block Ebola. In the trial, significantly fewer people died among those given the Regeneron drug or the NIH’s, about 30%, compared to those who received another treatment.
 
Esperance Nabintu rejoiced that she and her young son had survived Ebola.

“May the Lord be praised, I thank the Lord very much. I and my child were sick with Ebola, but God has just healed us.”
“My brothers, we must not doubt. Ebola exists, “said Nabintu, whose husband was the second Ebola victim to die in Goma. No other Ebola death has been detected since then.

After a public announcement that Nabintu and her son, Ebenezer Fataki, 1, had recovered from Ebola, the response team accompanied the two former patients their home in the Kiziba area, where the medical team educated the residents about proper Ebola treatment.
 
There is less danger that Ebola will spread through Goma, the capital of North Kivu province with more than 2 million inhabitants, because about 200 contacts and suspected cases have been identified and have received proper medication, said Muyembe. He said people arriving in Goma are being monitored at the city’s entry points.

“People who come from Beni and Butembo (nearby cities where there are many Ebola cases) must be carefully examined, “said Muyembe. “All of the 200 contacts we are following are doing well. We are waiting until the end of the 21-day surveillance period. We are at day 13, so there are still 8 days to go before we can say that Goma has won against Ebola.”

Health officials have also vaccinated tens of thousands of people in Congo and surrounding countries in an attempt to stop the outbreak, but the virus has now continued to spread for more than a year. Response efforts have been repeatedly hampered by attacks on health workers and continuing mistrust among the affected communities; many people in the region don’t believe the virus is real and choose to stay at home when they fall ill, infecting those who care for them.

Japan says it does not understand why it has been removed from South Korea’s list of trusted trade partners, the latest move in an escalating trade dispute between the Asian neighbors.

Seoul announced Monday that it had moved Tokyo to a new category that brings more restrictions on exports of sensitive goods. Trade Minister Sung Yun-mo said the new category was for countries that have managed their export controls in a way that violates international norms.

Japanese Trade Minister Hiroshige Seko said on Twitter Tuesday that South Korea has not adequately explained how Japan does not conform to the global export standards.  

The move is the latest in a back-and-forth trade dispute between the two countries which has included Japan dropping South Korea from its own list of preferred trading partners.

Tokyo insists its trade decisions were motivated by national security concerns, while the moves are widely seen as retaliation for recent South Korean court rulings ordering Japanese companies to compensate Koreans who were forced to work during Japan’s colonial occupation of Korea. 

A trade war between Japan and South Korea, the world’s third and 11th largest economies, respectively, would have wide-ranging ramifications.

It could threaten global technology supply chains, since South Korea produces 70 percent of the world’s memory chips.

The change is due to go into effect in September. Once it does, South Korean companies wanting to send sensitive goods to Japan will have to go through an approvals process that takes up to 15 days, up from about five days under the current system.

Japan’s new policy begins August 28 at which time Japanese companies will need to seek case-by-case approval from the country’s trade ministry before shipping certain products to South Korea.

Russia’s growing number of political rallies are drawing many young people who – until now – had largely ignored politics. VOA’s Yulia Savchenko in Moscow says a lack of economic opportunities and – lately – images of police brutality against demonstrators are among the reasons why Russian youth are joining the rallies.