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Emirates has become the first major airline to halt flights to Guinea, in the west African region affected by the recent Ebola outbreak. Upon announcing the stoppage of service, the airline said, "The safety of our passengers and crew is of the highest priority and will not be compromised." The International Air Transport Associartion (IATA) and World Health Organization (WHO) each provide guidelines for airlines for pre-flight health screenings. An IATA spokesman said, "There has never been a case of contracting Ebola from being on a plane – it's extremely unlikely." The west African nations of Liberia and Sierra Leone...

Despite concerns around the globe that the Ebola virus may continue to spread and mutate into something even more deadly, the director of the CDC attempted to assuage fears about the possibility of an outbreak on U.S. soil. “It is not a potential of Ebola spreading widely in the U.S.,” director Thomas Friedman told reporters on a conference call Thursday. “That is not in the cards.” But while the CDC downplays the potential threat, emergency planners behind the scenes have been getting ready since as early as April of this year. In a report presented to Congress while the virus...

Outbreak Update The World Health Organization, in partnership with the Ministries of Health in Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Nigeria announced a cumulative total of 1323 suspect and confirmed cases of Ebola virus disease (EVD) and 729 deaths, as of July 27, 2014. Of the 1323 clinical cases, 909 cases have been laboratory confirmed for Ebola virus infection. In Guinea, 460 cases, including 339 fatal cases and 336 laboratory confirmations of EVD, were reported by the Ministry of Health of Guinea and WHO as of July 27, 2014. Active surveillance continues in Conakry, Guéckédou, Boffa, Fria, Siguiri, and Kourourssa Districts....

Things just went to 11 on the Spinal-Tap amplifier of massive infectious disease outbreaks. As AP reports, the Ebola outbreak that has killed more than 700 people in West Africa is moving faster than the efforts to control the disease, the head of the World Health Organization warned. Dr. Margaret Chan pulled no punches in her direct statement, "If the situation continues to deteriorate, the consequences can be catastrophic in terms of lost lives but also severe socio-economic disruption and a high risk of spread to other countries." Time to panic?

August 1, 2014Saliou Samb West Africa's Ebola outbreak is out of control but it can be stopped, World Health Organization chief Margaret Chan said on Friday. "This outbreak is moving faster than our efforts to control it," Chan told the presidents of Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast at a meeting in Guinea's capital Conakry. "If the situation continues to deteriorate, the consequences can be catastrophic in terms of lost lives but also severe socioeconomic disruption and a high risk of spread to other countries," she said, according to a WHO transcript.(snip)(snip)

GENEVA — The head of the World Health Organization has told the presidents of West African nations stricken by Ebola that the outbreak is moving faster than efforts to control it. Dr. Margaret Chan, WHO's director general, says if the outbreak continues to worsen, the consequences could be "catastrophic" in terms of lost lives and socio-economic disruption. Dr. Chan is in Conakry, where she met Friday with the presidents of Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Ivory Coast. WHO and the West African leaders are finalizing a $100 million plan to fight the spread of Ebola, which has claimed nearly 730 lives. ...

Fifty new cases of Ebola and 25 deaths have been reported in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea since July 3, as the deadly virus continues to spread, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.

So far, 763 people have been infected with the virus - and 468 of these have died. Most of the cases have been in Guinea where the outbreak started. But it has since spread to Liberia and Sierra Leone and is now the biggest and most deadly Ebola outbreak the world has seen, say officials

Is this the end for The Who? The Who have announced that they are planning to record some new songs ahead of a 50th anniversary UK tour. ..."This is the beginning of the long goodbye," said singer Roger Daltrey. "We can't go on touring forever... it could be open-ended, but it will have a finality to it. "We'll stop touring before we stop playing." He admitted that touring was "incredibly tough on the body". Daltrey and guitarist Pete Townshend revealed the latest tour dates at a launch event at Ronnie Scott's jazz club in London's Soho, where they played a...

The war on climate change may soon be moving inside the kitchen. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy is set to unveil on Tuesday six federal grants to universities to fund research on clean cookstove technology. The announcement will put the EPA’s resources squarely behind a United Nations’ quest for cleaner burning stoves and an end to deadly cooking pollution. “This research will help to improve air quality, protect public health and slow climate change,” the EPA said in explaining why the agency chief will preside over the announcement on Tuesday. To make the case for why these grants are...

"The spread of polio around the world has become so serious it is now an international public health emergency, the World Health Organization warned today. The agency said the problem could grow in the next few months and unravel the nearly three-decade effort to eradicate the crippling disease. It described current polio outbreaks in Asia, Africa and the Middle East as an 'extraordinary event' that required a coordinated international response. It was the first-ever international alert on polio. 'Until it is eradicated, polio will continue to spread internationally, find and paralyze susceptible kids,' Dr Bruce Aylward, who leads WHO's polio...

Though officials at the World Health Organization are feverishly working to stop the spread of the Ebola virus in what is now seven African nations, their efforts may be for naught. In Guinea, a hot spot for the deadly contagion, government health officials have said that the outbreak is nearly under control. Yet, Reuters reports that the government “planned to stop publicly releasing the death toll to avoid causing unnecessary panic.” But panic may be in order. Despite the best efforts of emergency health workers it appears that virus may have crossed out of Africa into Europe.

30 March 2014 – As of 28 March, the total number of suspected and confirmed cases in the on-going Ebola Haemorrhagic Fever (EHF) outbreak in Guinea has increased to 112, including 70 deaths (Case Fatality Rate 62.5%). New suspected cases have been reported from Conakry (4 cases), Guékédou (4), Macenta (1) and Dabola (1) prefectures. The date of hospital admission of the most recent suspected case is 28 March. Two of the new suspected cases have been in health care workers indicating the need to further strengthen health facility-based infection prevention and control. Domestic infection prevention is being supported for patients...

**SNIP**"We are parents first and foremost, to two incredibly wonderful children, and we ask for their and our space and privacy to be respected at this difficult time," the message also said. "We have always conducted our relationship privately, and we hope that as we consciously uncouple and co-parent, we will be able to continue in the same manner."

Jennifer Lawrence got an Oscar nod for her acting chops in "American Hustle," but it's her crazy dancing and lip-syncing skills in a deleted scene that really deserve the academy's highest honor. A captivating 4-minute outtake from the movie shows Lawrence, 23, as the cynical Roselyn Rosenfeld, vacuuming her living room while dancing and mouthing the words to Santana's 1969 song "Evil Ways." The three-time Oscar nominee whips her hair back and forth, rolls the vacuum cleaner around, flails her arms, and even gets down on all fours while singing about how her "house is dark and her pots are...

The daily allowance for a person's sugar intake should be halved to six teaspoons, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said. Draft guidance published by the international body advises a dramatic reduction in sugar consumption to help avoid mounting health problems including obesity and tooth decay. The WHO is proposing to retain its current formal recommendation that no more than 10 per cent of an individual's calories should come from sugar – the equivalent of 12 "level" teaspoons a day for the average adult. However, its draft guidelines state that a further reduction to 5 per cent "would have additional...

Regular listeners to this show know that Tim is a friend and a brother to all of us at the Bob & Tom Show. It is a very difficult day, and we couldn't be more saddened by the passing of a comedy legend. Our thoughts and prayers are with Tim's loved ones. Tim's first appearance on the show took place on April 13, 1995. His first bit played on the Bob & Tom Show was "Acid Country." "Tim is a brother to all of us at the BOB & TOM Show," said Tom Griswold. "He had a comedic voice like...

This is just not right.

The Who frontman said Brussels had become so bloated its influence was now “detrimental” and the organisation was doomed to fail. In an interview with Sunday Times magazine yesterday, he also revealed he had not ruled out voting for Nigel Farage’s UK Independence Party. He said: "I've met Nigel but I don't know who I'll vote for. I'm agnostic at the moment. "I can't stand the bureaucracy of the European Union. It’s detrimental to the whole place. “They’ve made some decisions now where I think it can only fly apart at the seams. Sooner or later. Hopefully sooner.” Daltrey, a...

House Speaker John Boehner says he didn’t have any better luck using a government Web site to sign up for ObamaCare than average Americans have had. The Ohio Republican said he tried signing up using the dysfunctional HealthCare.gov site Thursday. “Like many Americans, my experience was pretty frustrating,” he wrote in an e-mail blasted out to reporters. “After putting in my personal information, I received an error message. I was able to work past that, but when I went to actually sign up for coverage, I got this ‘internal server error’ screen.” The site has also crashed a number of...