WASHINGTON (AP) —
US-TERRORISM-WARNING
NEW: US renews global terrorism warning
WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department is renewing its global terrorism alert for Americans traveling abroad, saying it sees a heightened risk of reprisal attacks from the Islamic State group and its supporters.
In a new “worldwide caution” issued on Friday, the department said terrorist groups continue to plot strikes against Americans and U.S. interests in Africa, Asia, Europe and the Middle East. It said authorities believe there is “an increased likelihood” of reprisal attacks from Islamic State militants since the U.S. and its coalition partners launched military action against the group in Iraq and Syria.
The alert replaces an existing warning issued in April and also notes the growing threat of kidnapping perpetrated by terrorists.
SYRIA
UN envoy to Syria worried civilians trapped in Kobani may be killed if town falls to IS group
MURSITPINAR, Turkey (AP) — The U.N. envoy to Syria is invoking the genocides in Rwanda and the Bosnian town of Srebrenica (sreh-breh-NEET’-sah) in an appeal to world leaders to prevent another slaughter in the Syrian border town of Kobani.
Staffan de Mistura says 500 to 700 civilians are trapped there, many of them elderly. He says they will likely be “massacred” if Kobani falls to the Islamic State group.
U.S.-led airstrikes against the extremists appear to have failed to blunt their push on Kobani. Islamic State fighters have taken over most of what’s known as the “Kurdish security quarter,” where Kurdish militiamen maintain security buildings and where the police station and other local government offices are located.
A Kurdish activist inside Kobani reports heavy fighting on the town’s southern and eastern sides and says the Islamic State group has been bringing in reinforcements.
The U.N. envoy says only a small corridor remains open for people to enter or flee the town.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the Islamic State group now controls 40 percent of the town.
EBOLA-DEATH TOLL
UPDATE: WHO: Ebola death toll above 4,000
GENEVA (AP) — The total number of deaths attributed to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa has risen above 4,000, the World Health Organization said Friday.
The Geneva-based U.N. agency said that 4,033 deaths confirmed, probably or suspected to have been caused by Ebola have now been recorded.
The vast majority of them were in the three worst-affected countries, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.
As of the end of Wednesday, a total of 8,399 confirmed, probable and suspected cases of Ebola had been reported from seven countries, WHO said. The three worst-affected countries accounted for 8,376 cases.
The U.N. special envoy on Ebola says the number of cases is probably doubling every three-to-four weeks and the response needs to be 20 times greater than it was at the beginning of October.
David Nabarro warned the U.N. General Assembly on Friday that without the mass mobilization of the world to support the affected countries in West Africa, “it will be impossible to get this disease quickly under control, and the world will have to live with the Ebola virus forever.”
Nabarro said the U.N. knows what needs to be done to catch up to and overtake Ebola’s rapid advance “and together we’re going to do it.”
EBOLA-MEDICAL RECORDS
Ebola patient’s temperature spiked to 103 degrees
DALLAS (AP) — Thomas Eric Duncan’s temperature spiked to 103 degrees during the hours of his initial visit to an emergency room — a fever that was flagged with an exclamation point in the hospital’s record-keeping system.
Medical records provided to The Associated Press show that the man who would become the only person to die from Ebola in the U.S. was eventually sent home, despite the fever and other symptoms consistent with the disease, and despite telling a nurse that he had recently been in Africa.
Duncan’s family provided his medical records to The Associated Press — more than 1,400 pages in all.
Neither a spokesman for Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital nor a doctor who evaluated Duncan immediately responded to messages left by AP on Friday.
EBOLA-BRANTLY
NEW: Doctor recovered from Ebola urges calm in Dallas
ABILENE, Texas (AP) — Dr. Kent Brantly, the first American flown back to the U.S. for treatment of Ebola, is urging calm for the people of Dallas and elsewhere who are worried about contracting the deadly disease.
Brantly, speaking Friday to Abilene Christian University’s alumni magazine, acknowledged fears some have shared since Thomas Duncan was hospitalized in Dallas with Ebola. Brantly says people should be finding ways to help the outbreak in West Africa, “not worrying that because we live 100 miles from a hospital that treated a patient that we are at risk.”
Brantly also says he spoke with a doctor caring for Duncan and was willing to donate blood, but their blood types didn’t match. Duncan died Wednesday.
Brantly was visiting his former school to discuss efforts to combat Ebola.
EBOLA-LIBERIA-US MILITARY
As US military steps up actions in Liberia, its leader seeks more power to fight Ebola
MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) — The vanguard of a U.S. military force has started building a hospital for stricken health workers in Liberia.
The arrival of 100 U.S. Marines yesterday brings to just over 300 the total number of American troops in Liberia. The Marines and their aircraft will help with air transportation and ferrying of supplies, overcoming road congestion in Monrovia and bad roads outside the capital. The U.S. military says a priority will be transporting building materials to treatment unit sites.
The U.S. has said it will oversee construction of 17 treatment units with 100 beds each in addition to a 25-bed hospital to treat health workers who may contract Ebola.
USAID officials say six treatment units are operational, with about 250 beds coming online in the last 10 days or so.
The 101st Airborne Division is expected to deploy 700 troops by late October.
OBAMA-NOBEL PEACE PRIZE
Obama applauds Yousafzai, Satyarthi for Nobel win
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to children’s rights activists is a victory for everyone who strives to uphold human dignity.
The prize went to Taliban attack survivor Malala Yousafzai (mah-LAH’-lah YOO’-suhf-zeye) of Pakistan and children’s rights activist Kailash Satyarthi (KY’-lash saht-YAHR’-thee) of India. Obama says it’s a reminder of the urgency of protecting young people’s freedoms.
Obama says both have faced threats and risked their lives to improve the world. He says they come from different countries and religions but share a commitment to justice.
Obama says the U.S. stands with those who defend universal human rights. The president won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009.
CALIFORNIA-WILDFIRES
Northern California blaze not showing much growth
APPLEGATE, Calif. (AP) — Fire crews are making steady progress against a wildfire burning near a Northern California interstate that has destroyed six homes and is threatening hundreds more.
State fire officials say the blaze along Interstate 80 about 40 miles northeast of Sacramento was holding steady at 420 acres on Friday while containment increased to 30 percent.
Steep terrain has limited the ground access to the blaze. Crews are dropping fire retardant from helicopters and other aircraft.
The fire is threatening 1,000 structures around the Placer County community of Applegate. Many of the homes are under mandatory evacuation orders.
The cause of the blaze is under investigation, though authorities say they received reports of several car tires burning along the eastbound shoulder of the interstate as the blaze got underway Wednesday.
CALIFORNIA WILDFIRES-PLANES
California reactivates firefighting airplanes after officials give OK following deadly crash
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California officials have reactivated the state’s 22 firefighting air tankers days after one of the aircraft crashed in Yosemite National Park, killing the pilot.
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokeswoman Janet Upton said Friday the department lifted the safety stand-down for the twin-engine S-2T airplanes after federal investigators approved letting the planes fly.
CalFire officials had said the planes would remain grounded until the National Transportation Safety Board preliminarily determined the crash on Tuesday wasn’t related to mechanical problems that could affect other aircraft.
The planes were grounded after pilot Geoffrey “Craig” Hunt was killed when his plane smashed into a steep canyon wall while dropping retardant on a fire near the park’s west entrance.
DC GUN LAWS
NEW: DC mayor signs legislation allowing handguns
District of Columbia Mayor Vincent Gray has signed legislation that allows people to carry concealed handguns in the nation’s capital.
The mayor’s office says he signed emergency legislation Thursday that can be in effect for 90 days. The legislation passed the D.C. Council in September and was crafted to comply with a court ruling that struck down the District’s ban on carrying handguns outside the home. Permanent legislation still has to be passed.
Despite the mayor’s signature, residents can’t carry a concealed weapon quite yet. Authorities are still putting in place the law’s licensing requirement. Residents and visitors who want to carry a concealed handgun will have to show a specific reason that they need one, among other requirements.
District leaders hope the law will withstand further court challenges.
TEACHER-ACCIDENTAL SHOOTING
Teacher whose gun fired in bathroom charged
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A Utah schoolteacher who was injured by fragments from a bullet and a porcelain toilet when her gun accidentally went off in a faculty bathroom has been charged with a misdemeanor and resigned.
Online court records show 39-year-old Michelle Montgomery was charged this month with discharge of a firearm in a prohibited area within city limits. An arraignment is scheduled for Nov. 5.
Granite School District spokesman Ben Horsley says Montgomery was facing discipline for violating school policy, but she wasn’t fired. He says Montgomery informed the district Thursday she wouldn’t be coming back to her position as a sixth-grade teacher at Westbrook Elementary School, in the Salt Lake City suburb of Taylorsville.
No listed phone number for Montgomery was available. She doesn’t appear to have an attorney yet.
Montgomery was carrying her gun legally with a concealed-firearm permit when the gun went off Sept. 11.
SENATE-MONTANA-PLAGIARISM
NEW: Army War College revokes Sen. John Walsh’s degree
HELENA, Mont. (AP) — U.S. Sen. John Walsh of Montana says the U.S. Army War College has revoked his master’s degree after an investigation into plagiarism allegations.
The Carlisle, Pennsylvania, college launched the probe in August after The New York Times published a story showing Walsh borrowed heavily from other sources for a research paper he wrote in 2007.
Walsh’s office released a statement Friday saying the Army War College has revoked his status as a graduate. The statement says the senator disagrees with the findings but accepts the decision.
Walsh was appointed to his Senate seat in February and was the Democratic nominee for the seat. He dropped out of the race after the plagiarism allegations surfaced.
MISTAKEN CRASH IDENTITY
NEW: Police sorry for telling wrong family of death
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — An Alaska couple knocked on the door of their son’s long-time girlfriend Thursday, intending to inform her that he’d been killed in a car accident.
Karen and Jay Priest instead were stunned when the son, 29-year-old Justin Priest, answered the door.
They had been told by Juneau police that he’d been killed in the crash.
Karen Priest says there are no words to describe their reaction. Her husband started sobbing. She says was in shock.
Justin Priest says he’d gotten up to let out his 9-week-old puppy and was near the door at 5:30 a.m. when his parents and brother knocked. They started screaming when he opened the door.
He says his thoughts are with the other family who lost a son.
Juneau police have apologized for the error.
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