Saturday 29 November 2014

News headlines - 11/28/2014

Russian battleships in the English Channel, say they’re training


Large antisubmarine ship "North Sea" at the pier in the port of Severomorsk. (RIA Novosti/Mikhail Fomichev)


Russia’s Northern Fleet has been conducting naval training near Dover. Two battleships and two supply vessels worked on operations and communications in conditions of adverse weather and heavy marine traffic.

Today a squadron of warships and support vessels of the Northern Fleet headed by a large anti-submarine ship, the Severomorsk, crossed the narrowest part of the English Channel and passed into the Bay of the Seine,” said Russia’s defense ministry.

The crews held a series of survival exercises in case of flooding or fire, as well as anti-submarine training.

After the training, in one of the world’s most crowded waterways, where the squadron was constantly shadowed by the British Navy’s HMS Tyne offshore patrol vessel, the task force went further and anchored in the international waters of the Seine Bay to wait out a storm.

Both Britain’s and France’s navies confirmed the location of the Russian ships, but denied that the Russians were doing any training.


They are not holding exercises. They're just waiting in a zone where they are allowed to be several times a year," the French Navy's information service said as cited by Reuters.

View image on Twitter
Russia says four of its ships have carried out a drill in the English Channel. http://news.sky.com/story/1382025/russian-navy-holds-exercises-in-the-channel 



Aussies vs ISIS: Taxpayers to pay $350mn yearly for anti-Islamic State campaign


The Iraqi army supported by US airstrikes has pushed militants from the oil-rich town of Kirkuk. This comes just days after Australian jets bombed key underground facilities and command centres, killing up to 100 Islamic State fighters. But back home, the decision to join the fight has split society.





UK: Black Friday fever: police deal with desperate shoppers

Black Friday, Cardiff


Asda shoppers load up Black Friday bargains in Cardiff, Wales. Photograph: Wales News Service


Black Friday shopping fever has engulfed the UK, with fights breaking out between bargain-hunting shoppers, stores forced to close, and retailers’ websites crashing as shoppers scrambled to grab discounted goods.

Police were called to at least 16 Tesco stores around the country after staff were overwhelmed by 500-strong crowds battling over discounted TVs, kitchen goods and clothing. The scenes led one senior police officer to call on shoppers to ask themselves: “What on Earth was I doing?”


A number of stores were closed after fights broke out between shoppers trying to get their hands on sale stock. A police spokesman said a woman was injured at a Tesco store in Stretford, Manchester, “after being hit by a falling television”.

Ebola seems to have been pushed from the headlines


Ebola Death Toll in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone Nears 7,000: WHO
The World Health Organization reported Friday that the cumulative number of deaths caused by the Ebola virus in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone has reached 6,928.



28 November, 2014

GENEVA, November 28 (Sputnik) – The cumulative number of deaths caused by the Ebola virus in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone has reached 6,928 as of November 25, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported Friday.

Among the three countries, 1,284 deaths have been registered in Guinea, 4,181 in Liberia and 1,463 in Sierra Leone.

The number of confirmed, probable and suspected cases reached 2,123 in Guinea, 7,244 in Liberia and 6,802 in Sierra Leone, pushing the total number to 16,169.

Previously, WHO reported 15,935 cases of Ebola, with 5,689 deaths.

The current Ebola outbreak started in Guinea in December 2013, spreading later to Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Senegal. In October, WHO declared Nigeria and Senegal Ebla-free

Ebola epidemic in Sierra LeoneBurial Workers Dump Bodies of Ebola Victims in Public Protest
Burial workers in the Sierra Leone city of Kenema have stopped burying Ebola victims in protest for not being paid for the risk they are taking in handling the bodies




The workers, who are on strike after not being paid for handling bodies of Ebola victims, left 15 bodies abandoned at the city's main hospital. One of the bodies was reportedly left by the hospital manager's office and two others by the hospital entrance, reports BBC.

Sierra Leone has been devastated by this year's Ebola outbreak, with more than 1,200 deaths. Kenema is the third largest city in Sierra Leone and the biggest in the east, where the Ebola outbreak first appeared in the country.

The workers told a BBC reporter they had not been paid agreed upon extra risk allowances for October and November. According to Umaru Fofana in Freetown, “the bodies have now been taken away but the workers remain on strike,” reports BBC.

Sierra Leone health ministry nor the hospital management has made any comment so far. The burial workers' industrial action comes two weeks after health workers went on strike for similar reasons at a clinic near Bo, the only facility in southern Sierra Leone treating Ebola victims.

Anthony Banbury, head of the UN Mission for Ebola Emergency Response, said earlier that the areas of greatest concern are in the rural parts of Sierra Leone as well as the city of Makeni in the centre of the country, Port Loko in the northwest and the capital of Freetown, reported Reuters.

The UN's new goal is to get 70 per cent of new cases in treatment and 70 per cent of burials carried out safely, he said.


Ebola has killed more than 5,000 people in West Africa this year, mostly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the outbreak a global health emergency.

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