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Battle against Ebola hampered by gaps in data, hidden cases
Geneva, October 3
Ebola's rapid spread through West Africa has been quickened by the difficulty of keeping track of the deadly disease, and filling in the huge gaps in knowledge about the epidemic is key to eventually containing it, health experts say.

People waiting to be screened against the Ebola virus at a border crossing with Sierra Leone in Liberia's Cape Mount province. People waiting to be screened against the Ebola virus at a border crossing with Sierra Leone in Liberia's Cape Mount province. afp

Putin inks law on ratifying EEU treaty
Moscow, October 3
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that he had signed a law on ratifying a treaty creating the Eurasian Economic Union.

BRIEFLY

EARLIER STORIES

	Tensions soar in Hong Kong as police bring in rubber bullets October 3, 2014
	Hong Kong marks National Day with protests October 2, 2014
	HK protesters prepare for long haul October 1, 2014
	New Afghan Prez Ghani takes oath September 30, 2014
	31 hikers feared dead after volcano erupts in Japan September 29, 2014
	UK plans to nail British militants in Iraq, Syria September 28, 2014
	Wary of air strikes, IS fighters change tactics September 27, 2014
	US-led strikes hit IS-held oil sites in Syria September 26, 2014
	At UN, Obama vows to dismantle Islamic State’s ‘network of death’ September 25, 2014

	Battle against Ebola hampered by gaps in data, hidden cases Geneva, October 3 Ebola's rapid spread through West Africa has been quickened by the difficulty of keeping track of the deadly disease, and filling in the huge gaps in knowledge about the epidemic is key to eventually containing it, health experts say. The UN and the World Health Organisation data show the number of cases across the region had reached 7,423 by September 29, including 3,355 deaths. That is widely agreed to be an underestimate. Many patients are not counted because they never get medical help, perhaps hidden by fearful families or turned away by overwhelmed clinics. Some villages have turned into "shadow zones" where villagers' resistance or the remote location makes investigating numerous deaths impossible. In Liberia, a surge of previously unknown patients who appear whenever a medical facility opens "suggests the existence of an invisible caseload of patients", the WHO said in August. Last week, the US Centers for Disease Control estimated there would be 8,000 cases reported in Liberia and Sierra Leone by September 30, but said the true figure would likely be 21,000 after correcting for under-reporting. The WHO says its information is the best there is, but admits its figures are under-reported and says "substantial efforts" are going into cleaning up the data. Recounts can make a huge difference, as shown by a revision of the number of health workers killed by the virus. Two weeks ago the WHO said 31 health care workers had died in Sierra Leone, but after a recount the figure more than doubled to 81. Questions are now being asked about Sierra Leone's total death toll, which appears far too low, equivalent to 24 percent of the cases the country has suffered. In Liberia and Guinea the equivalent figures are 54 percent and 61 percent, respectively, closer to the traditionally high fatality rates for the disease. One reason is that Sierra Leone's case numbers are largely laboratory-confirmed cases counted in health care facilities, WHO epidemiologists Eric Nilles and Stephane Hugonnet said in an emailed reply to a Reuters question. — Reuters Liberia imposes media curbs on Ebola coverage DAKAR: Journalists will need official permission to cover many aspects of the Ebola outbreak in Liberia under new rules that the government said aimed at protecting patient privacy. Journalists could be arrested and prosecuted if they fail to get written permission from the health ministry before contacting Ebola patients, conducting interviews or filming or photographing healthcare facilities, officials said Unprepared to handle patients: US nurses Nurses, the frontline care providers in US hospitals, say they are untrained and unprepared to handle patients arriving in their hospital emergency departments infected with Ebola Many of them say they have gone to hospital managers, seeking training on how to best care for patients and protect themselves and their families from contracting the deadly disease Nurses argue that inadequate preparation could increase the chances of spreading Ebola if hospital staff fail to recognise a patient coming through their doors, or if personnel are not informed about how to properly protect themselves
	Putin inks law on ratifying EEU treaty Moscow, October 3 Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that he had signed a law on ratifying a treaty creating the Eurasian Economic Union. "I have signed a federal law on ratification of the Eurasian Economic Union treaty," the president said. First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov, who also had worked on the project noted that Russia has completed its part of the ratification procedure. The move follows lower house ratification September 26 and the upper house ratification October 1. The Eurasian Economic Union, which envisages free movement of goods, services, capital and workforce and is based on the Customs Union of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, will become operational from January 1, 2015. The treaty to create the union was signed by presidents of Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus - Vladimir Putin, Nursultan Nazarbayev and Alexander Lukashenko in Astana May 29. — ITAR-TASS
	Kurds warn of massacre by IS Turkey vows support but makes no military promise Suruc (Turkey), Oct 3 Kurdish fighters defending a Syrian border town warned on Friday of a likely massacre by Islamic State insurgents as the Islamists encircled the town with tanks and bombarded its outskirts with artillery fire. Turkey said it would do what it could to prevent Kobani, a predominantly Kurdish town just over its southern border, from falling into Islamic State hands but stopped short of committing to any direct military intervention. US-led forces have been bombing Islamic State targets in Syria and Iraq but the action has done little to stop their advance in northern Syria towards the Turkish border, piling pressure on Ankara to intervene. Esmat al-Sheikh, head of the Kurdish forces defending Kobani, said the distance between his fighters and the insurgents was now less than 1km. "We are in a small, besieged area. No reinforcements reached us and the borders are closed," he told Reuters by phone. "My expectation is for general killing, massacres and destruction ... There is bombardment with tanks, artillery, rockets and mortars." Islamic State has earned a reputation for extreme violence, carrying out widespread killings including beheadings in the Syrian and Iraqi territory it has seized. Two large clouds of smoke rose up to the east of Kobani and there were several loud explosions from further inside the town as shelling continued and gunfire rang out, a Reuters correspondent on the Turkish side of the border said. Fighters from the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) tried to push the insurgents back, firing missiles lit up by bright red tracers from the town and striking Islamic State targets in a village a few kilometres to the east. The frontlines between the Kurds and Islamic State, a Sunni Muslim group still commonly known by its former acronyms of ISIS and ISIL, are fluid. Idris Nassan, deputy foreign minister in a local Kurdish administration, said the YPG had been able to blunt Islamic State gains over the past two days on the southeastern front. — Reuters Rare alliance: Shias join Sunnis to defend towns When Islamic State fighters tried to storm the Tigris River town of Dhuluiya this week, they were repelled by a rare coalition of Sunni tribal fighters inside the town and Shias in its sister city Balad on the opposite bank. Further north, another powerful Sunni tribe fought alongside Kurdish forces to drive Islamic State fighters from Rabia, a town controlling one of the main border checkpoints used by fighters pouring in from Syria. In western Iraq, Sunni tribes have fought alongside government troops in Hit, which was captured by Islamic State fighters on Thursday, and in Haditha, site of a strategic dam on the Euphrates.
	Clashes erupt in Hong Kong Beijing supporters storm tents of pro-democracy protesters Hong Kong, October 3 Violent scuffles broke out in one of Hong Kong's most famous and congested shopping districts on Friday, as hundreds of supporters of Chinese rule stormed tents and ripped down banners belonging to pro-democracy protesters, forcing many to retreat. As night fell and news of the confrontation spread, more protesters headed for the gritty, bustling district of Mong Kok, considered one of the most crowded places on Earth, to reinforce. Tens of thousands have taken to Hong Kong's streets in the past week to demand full democracy in the former British colony, including a free voting system when they come to choose a new leader in 2017. Hong Kong leader Leung Chun-ying agreed to open talks with pro-democracy protesters but refused to stand down. He and his Chinese government backers made clear that they would not back down in the face of the city's worst unrest in decades. Numbers dwindled at some protest sites in and around the Central financial district as rain fell on Friday and as Hong Kong people returned to work after a two-day holiday. But in Mong Kok, where notorious Triad criminal gangs operate bars, nightclubs and massage parlours, about 1,000 Beijing supporters clashed with about 100 protesters, spitting and throwing water bottles in a side-show to the main protest movement. The police formed a human chain to separate the two groups amid the wail of sirens. — Reuters Protesters cancel talks with government Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters called off planned talks with the government on electoral reforms on Friday after mobs of people tried to drive them from streets they had occupied in one of the city's main shopping areas. The Hong Kong Federation of Students, one of the groups leading the protests that swelled to the tens of thousands earlier this week, said they saw no choice but to cancel the talks. "The government is demanding the streets be cleared. We call upon all Hong Kong people to immediately come to protect our positions and fight to the end," the group said in a statement.