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WHO raises Ebola public health risk to ‘very high’ in DR Congo

WHO raises Ebola public health risk to ‘very high’ in DR Congo

Provincial gov’t in Ituri province, the epicentre of the outbreak, has banned public gatherings to stop the spread of the virus. The World Health Organization (WHO) has upgraded the public health risk of the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo from high to “very high” as the deadly outbreak continues to spread. WHO chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, announced on Friday that they were revising their risk assessment for the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, to “very high at the national level, high at the regional level, and low at global level.” Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list Tedros also said on X that the situation in the DRC was “deeply worrisome”. “So far, 82 cases have been confirmed, with seven confirmed deaths. But we know the epidemic in the DRC is much larger. There are now almost 750 suspected cases and 177 suspected deaths,” he wrote. He added that additional WHO personnel had been deployed to the epicentre of the DRC’s outbreak in Ituri province, to support affected communities. The new strain of the virus currently has no approved vaccine or treatment, and the WHO declared it an emergency of international concern on Sunday. Ebola is an often-fatal virus that causes fever, body aches, vomiting and diarrhoea. It spreads through direct contact with bodily fluids. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said on Friday that volunteers are going door-to-door in the area at the centre of ⁠the outbreak, to combat misinformation about Ebola and explain how people can protect themselves and seek care. “Community reactions remain mixed. For some people the outbreak is very real and they are taking information on ‌how to protect themselves,” Gabriela Arenas, the Regional Operations Coordinator for the IFRC Africa Region, told reporters via video link from Nairobi. “For others, there’s still suspicion and misinformation claiming that Ebola is fabricated.” Advertisement Public health measures Reporting from the eastern Congolese city of Goma, in neighbouring North Kivu province, Al Jazeera’s Alain Uaykani said authorities are taking “serious measures” against the outbreak as the situation escalates. In an official order on Friday, Ituri’s provincial government restricted funerals, saying burials must now be conducted only by specialised teams and prohibited the transport of dead bodies by non-medical vehicles. It also limited public gatherings to a maximum of 50 people and suspended the local football league. This came a day after residents in Ituri province’s Rwampara town torched an Ebola treatment centre and clashed with police ⁠while trying to recover the body of a victim on Thursday. “The way things are going in Ituri, they are fearing that more cases are spreading because the majority of the cases reported across the region are still coming from Ituri,” Uaykani said. The world should not underestimate the risk posed by this ⁠Ebola outbreak, Mohamed Yakub Janabi, the ⁠WHO regional director for Africa, told the Reuters news agency on Friday. “It would be a big mistake to underestimate it, especially with a virus with this strain, Bundibugyo, [for] which we don’t have the vaccine,” Janabi said, adding that the outbreak in DRC has had relatively little global attention compared with this month’s hantavirus outbreak, which affected cruise ship passengers from 23 countries, including wealthy Western nations. “You just need one contact case to put all of us at risk, so my wish and prayer is that we should give [Ebola] the ⁠attention it deserves,” he said. Moreover, the WHO director of health emergency alert and response operations, Abdirahman Mahamud, also said on Friday that the potential for this virus to spread rapidly was “high, very high, and that changed the whole dynamic”. The strain of Ebola was also documented in Uganda, but Tedros said that the situation there was “currently stable”, after one death linked to a case from DRC was reported. Tedros added that a United States national who was working in the DRC has tested positive for Ebola and was transferred to Germany for care, and there was “another American national, who is a high-risk contact, who has been transferred to the Czech Republic”. Adblock test (Why?)

French Open: Players accuse Slams of ignoring concerns as tensions rise

French Open: Players accuse Slams of ignoring concerns as tensions rise

By Reuters Published On 22 May 202622 May 2026 A simmering dispute between players ⁠and the Grand Slams over revenue sharing intensified at the French Open, with Novak Djokovic warning the sport risked further fragmentation as leading players pressed for a greater voice in shaping its future. Several players were expected to limit their appearances at Friday’s traditional pre-tournament media ⁠day to 15 minutes, and to not conduct any additional multi-media interviews. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list The tensions have been building for weeks, but the rhetoric sharpened in Paris, where players, such as Taylor Fritz, insisted that their grievances were not just about “wanting more money”. “It’s about just wanting what’s fair,” the American added. “As the tournaments make more money, we obviously want to see the revenue ⁠shared back to the players reflect that.” Players have pointed to pensions, tournament expansion, scheduling and late-night finishes among the issues fuelling frustration, alongside what several described as a persistent lack of dialogue from organisers. Russian Andrey Rublev painted a picture of a widening disconnect between players and the sport’s leadership. “When you try to communicate for so many years … they don’t hear you. They don’t answer,” Rublev said. “When you send the mail in, no one responds to official mail for months.” Rublev said the issue was not simply financial, but structural. “It’s more about are we together, ‌and we try to do something together to grow the sport,” he said. World number one Aryna Sabalenka cast the debate as a struggle on behalf of the sport’s lesser lights rather than its leading stars. Advertisement “It’s not about me. It’s about the players who’s lower in the ranking, who is suffering,” she said. “But as the world number one, I feel like I have to stand up and to fight for those players.” Don’t mention the ‘B’ word Even so, players adopted a more cautious tone over the prospect of a boycott after Sabalenka raised the possibility earlier this month in Rome. “I don’t know if I want to start throwing around the ‘B’ word,” Fritz said. “It’s a really big deal, and I don’t think we as players should really make big threats like that unless we’re fully ready to do it.” Six-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek also stopped ⁠short of endorsing drastic action. “I don’t think doing something that is not constructive will make sense,” the four-time French Open winner said. “But ⁠we want to push a bit more to get what we need.” Djokovic said he was not personally involved in the planned 15-minute media action, but aligned himself with many of the players’ broader concerns while warning against further division in the sport. “I have always been on the players’ side and tried to advocate for players’ rights and better future for players, but not only top players,” the 24-time Grand ⁠Slam champion said. “We tend to forget how little is the number of people that live from this sport.” Djokovic said the lower tiers of professional tennis were essential to the game’s long-term health and called for greater unity between governing bodies, tournaments and players. “Grand Slams, ⁠governing bodies, the governing tours, everyone. We are very fragmented,” he said. “So the further fragmentation is really hurting ⁠me personally. I really don’t like to see that.” The Serbian also pointed to golf and the divisions caused by the emergence of LIV Golf as a warning for tennis. “Let’s learn from that. Let’s try to be a bit more united and have a unifying voice into finding better structure and better future for our sport,” he said. While top ATP and WTA events redistribute around 22 percent of revenues to players, the Grand Slams are estimated ‌to return closer to 15 percent, a gap that has become a central source of tension. French Open organisers have been arguing that tournament profits fund entire national tennis ecosystems, not just prize money. They are expected to meet player agents on Friday as discussions continue over revenue sharing and player representation. Tournament director Amelie Mauresmo said she regretted the prospect of ‌reduced ‌media access at the start of the claycourt Grand Slam. Advertisement “It’s always regrettable because media day is an important moment for the tournament, for journalists who come from all over the world and also for the fans through the media coverage,” Mauresmo told reporters on Thursday. “We understand that there are discussions and concerns from the players, but dialogue is always preferable.” Adblock test (Why?)

Economic confidence plummets in US amid Iran war, poll shows

Economic confidence plummets in US amid Iran war, poll shows

As petrol prices rise, new survey suggests economic confidence in the US is at -45, the worst since 2022. Published On 22 May 202622 May 2026 Only 16 percent of Americans view the economy in the United States as “good” or “excellent”, a new Gallup poll suggests, as inflation continues to rise amid the war on Iran. The survey, released on Friday, deepens US President Donald Trump’s political woes ahead of the midterm elections in November, which will determine whether his Republican Party can retain control of Congress. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list The survey, dubbed Gallup’s Economic Confidence Index, showed confidence in the economy has dropped to -45. Forty-nine percent of respondents said economic conditions are poor and 34 percent rated them as fair. At the same time, 76 percent said they think the economy getting worse, while 20 percent said it is getting better. The index averages the results on economic conditions, currently at -33 and economic outlook, currently at -56. It was the worst set of findings on the economy that the index recorded since 2022 when the cost of living rose after the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Petrol costs in the US have skyrocketed since the start of the conflict with Iran late in February. The average price of one gallon (3.8 litres) of gasoline has risen to $4.55 from less than $3 before the US and Israel launched the war. According to official government reports, consumer prices overall rose in March and April due to the energy crisis. Iran has responded to the US and Israeli strikes – which killed several top officials, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, as well as hundreds of civilians – by closing the strategic Strait of Hormuz, sending oil and gas prices soaring. Advertisement The US has also imposed a naval siege on Iranian ports, deepening the strain on energy supplies across the world. Despite the ceasefire that began in April, the blockades have persisted in the absence of a permanent end to the war, and Iran is now claiming sovereignty over Hormuz, which operated as a free international passageway before the war. Parts of the strait run through Iranian and Omani territorial waters. Although the US is one of the world’s largest oil producers, energy prices are set globally, so the disruption has spiked costs for American consumers. As a candidate, Trump promised to be a president of “peace”, saying he would pursue “America first” policies that would prioritise domestic issues over foreign interventions. But the US president joined Israel in attacking Iran without direct provocation. His administration argues that the military campaign is necessary to prevent Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons. And Trump’s own intelligence chief Tulsi Gabbard has said that Tehran is not building a nuclear bomb. Trump has repeatedly argued that the cost of the war is worth it, stressing that petrol prices will drop rapidly once the conflict is over. Last month, the US State Department released a legal justification of the war, saying that Washington joined the conflict “at the request of and in the collective self-defence of its Israeli ally, as well as in the exercise of the United States’ own inherent right of self-defence”. The Gallup survey on Friday is the latest in a series of negative polls for the Trump administration. A New York Times/Sienna poll released earlier this week suggested that only 31 percent of voters approve of Trump’s handling of the war with Iran. Earlier this month, the US president suggested the economic fallout from the war and its effect on people in the US do not play a role in his approach to Iran. “I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation. I don’t think about anybody,” he said. “I think about one thing: We cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon. That’s all. That’s the only thing that motivates me.” Adblock test (Why?)