KINSHASA -- The government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) on Thursday declared a new outbreak of Ebola in the central province of Kasai, the country's 16th since 1976.
Health Minister Roger Kamba announced at a press conference in the capital of Kinshasa that the Zaire strain of the Ebola virus has re-emerged in the Bulape health zone, with 28 suspected cases reported, including 15 deaths. (DRC-Health-Ebola)
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GAZA -- Gaza health authorities said on Thursday that 84 Palestinians were killed and 338 wounded in Israeli attacks across the enclave in the past 24 hours.
The latest casualties brought the Palestinian death toll since the war began on Oct. 7, 2023, to 64,231, with 161,583 injured. At least 2,356 people have been killed and more than 17,244 wounded while trying to obtain food, the authorities said in a statement. (Gaza Strip-Hamas-Israel)
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KABUL -- The death toll from the recent powerful earthquake that struck eastern Afghanistan has climbed to 2,205, with 3,640 others injured, the Afghan Red Crescent Society reported Thursday.
Rescue operations remain underway amid reports that many people are still trapped beneath the rubble of collapsed homes, the organization said. (Afghanistan-Earthquake-Death Toll)
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ABUJA -- At least 29 bodies have been recovered and 50 people rescued after a passenger boat capsized on the Niger River in Niger State, central Nigeria, a local official said Thursday.
Abdullahi Baba-Arah, head of the Niger State Emergency Management Agency, told Xinhua by telephone that the accident occurred Tuesday when a wooden boat carrying passengers on a condolence visit struck a tree stump and overturned in the Gausawa community of Borgu local government area. (Nigeria-Boat Accident)
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LOS ANGELES -- A fast-moving wildfire, burning in the Sierra Nevada foothills, has scorched homes in a historic Gold Rush town in California and forced evacuations of residents from the town and surrounding highways on Tuesday, authorities said Wednesday.
Once a bustling community, the town in Chinese Camp was home to about 5,000 Chinese miners as well as a similar number of American and European settlers during the Gold Rush era, according to Tuolumne County. (U.S.-California-wildfire)
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KINGSTON -- Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness was elected to a third term after a general election held on the island on Wednesday, according to preliminary results released by the country's electoral office.
The preliminary results showed that the ruling Jamaica Labor Party (JLP) won 34 seats, while the opposition People's National Party (PNP) secured 29 seats. (Jamaica-Election) ■
