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The Michigan Daily michigandaily.com
5A - Friday, September 26, 2014
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com5A - Friday, September 26, 2014
NEWS BRIEFS
OMAHA
American recovers
from Ebola
After three weeks in isolation,
an American doctor who con-
tracted Ebola while working in
West Africa says he's grateful for
the specialized care that allowed
him to recover and remains con-
cerned about the people he was
trying to help.
Rick Sacra, 51, was released
from the Nebraska Medical Center
Thursday after the federal Cen-
ters for Disease Control and Pre-
vention cleared him. He returned
home to Holden, Massachusetts
Thursday evening.
"The CDC has declared me safe
and free of virus! Thank God! I
love you all," Sacra said with a
smile at a news conference as his
wife and many of the people who
cared for him since he arrived in
Omaha on Sept. 5 watched.
MOORE, Okla.
No injuries reported
in Alaska earthquake
TU.S. AIR FORCC, STAFF SGT. SHAWN NICKEL/AP
In this photo released by the U.S. Air Force, a U.S. Navy F-1TE Super Hornet receives fael from
a KC-135 Stratotanker over northern Iraq after conducting airstrikes in Syria as part of U.S. led
coalition airstrikes on the Islamic State group and other targets in Syria.
U.S. hitsal-Qaida cell
planningf terror attacks
Magnitude 6.2
quake causes
only minor
damage
ANCHORAGE, Alaska
(AP) - A powerful earth-
quake shook a large swath
of Alaska on Thursday
morning, knocking things
off shelves and causing peo-
ple to take cover but bring-
ing no immediate reports of
injuries or major damage.
The quake had a prelimi-
nary magnitude of 6.2, and
it hit at 9:51 a.m. The epi-
center was about 80 miles
northwest of the state's
largest city, where it was
strongly felt, the Alaska
Earthquake Center said.
The quake lingered for
at least a minute in some
areas.
The earthquake center
is in Fairbanks, 250 miles
northeast of the epicenter,
but it was felt, even there,
said Sara Meyer, a center
research technician.
"It was about 15 seconds
of long-period shaking, sort
of like you're on a boat,"
Meyer said.
Staffers at the Nesbett
Courthouse in downtown
Anchorage felt the shaking
in their office on the top
floor of the six-story build-
ing.
"My computer tower
fell off my desk," judicial
assistant Ellen Bozzini
said. Everyone stood in
doorways until an evacu-
ation was ordered. Then
they took the stairs out-
side, where they waited for
about 20 minutes before
being allowed back in the
building.
There were no immedi-
ate reports of major damage
or injury, and no tsunami
was expected, according
to an emergency manage-
ment official. The fact that
the earthquake's center
was, according to the U.S.
Geological Survey, about
63 miles underground soft-
ened its impact on the state,
experts said.
Bryan Fisher, incident
commander for the state
emergency operations
center, said the office has
received scattered reports
of things flying off shelves.
But there have been no
reports of any infrastruc-
ture damage.
The Alaska Railroad
stopped all trains to check
the tracks and bridges for
damages, which is a pro-
cedure after earthquakes,
Fischer said.
In the Matanuska-
Susitna Borough north
of Anchorage, closer to
the epicenter, there were
reports of books knocked
off shelves but no serious
damage, borough spokes-
woman Patty Sullivan said.
"We all felt it," she said,
adding she was sitting in
her parked minivan when
the quake happened. She
believed someone was play-
ing a joke on her and pur-
posely shaking her van. "I
got out, expecting to find a
laughing face," she said.
In Willow, about 40
miles north of Anchorage,
a clerk at the town's hard-
ware and grocery store said
everything shook but noth-
ingfell off the shelves.
"Everything just rocked
around," Anne Holliday
said. "It's an old building,
just rickety."
Debra Pearce, who
works for Alaska Auction
Company, said she has
lived in Alaska for years
and this was the strongest
quake she felt since a 1964
temblor. That earthquake
- a magnitude 9.2 - was
the second-highest magni-
tude ever recorded, and the
quake and resulting tsuna-
mis killed 131 people.
"This was akin to that,
the way it hit real hard and
rolled and rolled and rolled
and rolled, and you didn't
know if it was just going to
pick up or not," Pearce said.
Sandy Lee, who owns
Sandy Espre Cafe in mid-
town Anchorage, said she
didn't feel the earthquake
as she was driving to work.
When she got to her busi-
ness, she didn't know what
had happened. Coffee
syrup bottles littered the
floor, and dolls had fallen
off of shelves.
Man stabs and kills Arab states
two women before
police shoot him
An "angry employee" at a
food distribution center in sub-
urban Oklahoma City stabbed
two women, killing one of them,
Thursday before an off-duty law
enforcement officer shot the sus-
pect, police said.
MoorePolice Sgt. JeremyLewis
told reporters at the scene that
the suspect attacked the first two
people he encountered at Vaughan
Foods in Moore before the off-
duty officer who was working at
the business shot him. The surviv-
ing victim and the suspect, a man,
were both hospitalized.
The motive for the attack was
unclear, but Lewis said the sus-
pect and the victims were appar-
ently not involved with each other
outside of their work at the busi-
ness.
PLACERVALE4alif.
Amid drought, rain
treats Northern
California wildfire
A day of light rain brought big
gains against a Northern Cali-
fornia wildfire Thursday, dra-
matically reducing the number
of homes that are threatened by
the flames from several thou-
sand to just hundreds.
In addition, calls for evacu-
ation in two communities were
reduced from mandatory to vol-
untary, leaving just one neigh-
borhood under strict evacuation
orders, the El Dorado County
Sheriff's Department said in a
statement. It wasn't immedi-
ately clear. how many people
remained away from their
homes.
The rains had brought fears
of flooding and dangerous con-
ditions in the King Fire's huge
burn area east of Sacramento,
but they remained light and
helpful to the firefight. A flash
flood warning in effect for sev-
eral hours was called off in early
evening.
LIMASSOL, Cyprus
Syrian refugees
refuse to leave ship
More than 300 people,
apparent refugees fleeing
from Syria, refused to leave a
cruise ship that rescued them
from a small boat stranded off
Cyprus, a cruise line official
said Thursday.
Salamis Cruise Lines Man-
aging Director Kikis Vasiliou
said that the people are insist-
ing that they be taken to Italy
instead.
"They want us to send them
to Italy," Vasiliou told report-
ers at the east Mediterranean
island's main Limassol port.
"The authorities, they have to
decide what they want to do."
Vasiliou blamed Cypriot
authorities for keeping him in
the dark about how they intend
to resolve the situation.
-Compiled from
join American
coalition in skies
over Syria
BEIRUT (AP) - When
the United States opened
its aerial campaign against
the Islamic State group in
Syria this week, its first
salvo also hit an al-Qaida
cell it says was planning
terror attacks - a move
that has injected more
chaos into the conflict
and could help President
Bashar Assad.
Amid fears they could
be targeted next, two
rebel factions already have
evacuated their bases, and
residents in areas under
the control of other Islamic
brigades cower at home,
wondering whether their
districts willbe hit.
While al-Qaida's branch
in Syria, known as the
Nusra Front, is considered
a terrorist group by the
United States, among the
Syrian opposition it has
a degree of support and
respect because its fighters
are on the front lines along-
side other rebels battling
Assad's forces.
To them, the U.S.
strikes, which hit several
Nusra Front facilities and
killed dozens of its fight-
ers, appeared to signal an
American move to take
out any rebel faction that
adheres to an Islamic ide-
ology - a large segment of
the rebellion against Assad.
U.S. officials say the
strikes were aimed at a cell
of hardened jihadis within
the Nusra Front called the
Khorasan Group, which
Washington says poses a
direct and imminent threat
to U.S. and Western inter-
ests.
On Thursday, FBI direc-
tor James Comey acknowl-
edged that the U.S. did not
have precise intelligence
on where or when the
group might attack, adding
that there was no indica-
tion the airstrikes had dis-
rupted the cell's plots.
"It's hard to say wheth-
er that's tomorrow, three
weeks from now or three
months from now. But
it's the kind of threat you
have to operate under the
assumption that it is tomor-
row," Comey told reporters
in Washington.
U.S. intelligence offi-
cials say the group has
been trying to perfect a
non-metallic bomb that
can get past airport secu-
rity and beused to blow up
an airplane in flight.
Ukrainian leader says'
peace is on the horizon
KI
- U
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Porn
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and t
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Bu
much
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prop:
out s
presi
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this
President the fighting.
The first step was a
Poroshenko cease-fire called three
weeks ago that in the
confident in. Mginning was- repeat-
edly violated. In recent
reform plan days, reports of violations
have decreased notably,
EV, Ukraine (AP) although on Thursday the
kraine's leader said city council of Donetsk,
sday that "the most the largest rebel strong-
erous part of the war" hold in the region, said
passed and that the that artillery fire and other
ict with pro-Russia explosions could be heard
ratists in the country's throughout the city during
is on the wane. Artil- the day.
fire, however, still Poroshenko also said
out in the region's he is working to arrange
st city. a meeting within the next
a news conference in few weeks with Russian
outlining a six-year President Vladimir Putin,
for Ukraine, Petro but stressed it was contin-
shenko said: "I have gent on whether the cease-
oubt whatsoever that fire was implemented or
eace plan will work not.
hat the main and most Poroshenko, who has
erous part of the war been at pains to justify
hind." striking a deal with the
roshenko's plan Russia-backed rebels, spent
des reforming all much of the news confer-
r government agencies ence defending his decision
e country. The presi- to sign a peace agreement
said he hoped those with the insurgents and
ms would make the said he believed Russian
try ready for member- policy toward Ukraine had
nthe European Union turned a corner.
20. "At the beginning, Rus-
it Poroshenko spent sia's objective was clear,"
of the news confer- he said. "Certain people in
fielding questions the Kremlin administra-
t a conflict in the tion thought Ukraine was
of the country, where a giant with feet of clay.
ing between govern- They thought they could
and rebel forces has just push us, and the entire
d at least 3,500 people southeast of the country
mid-April. His peace would dissipate."
osal, which was laid "I would sincerely like
;oon after he became to believe that the relation
dent in June, were the of Russia (toward Ukraine)
dation for agreements and their plans are chang-
month aimed at ending ing - there has been a kind
of transformation."
Ukraine and Western
countries claim that Russia
sent troops and equipment
into eastern Ukraine to
back the separatist rebels,
something Russia denies.
Russia was a party to
peace talks that led to a
cease-fire in the region on
Sept. S. In another agree-
ment signed Saturday, all
sides agreed to remove
heavy artillery from the
front lines, creating a buf-
fer zone that would help
enforce the cease-fire more
effectively.
Foreign ministers from
the Group of Seven lead-
ing industrialized nations
praised the cease-fire deal
reached in the Belarusian
capital, Minsk, and con-
demned violations of it in
a statement issued Thurs-
day.
"The cease-fire agree-
ment offers an important
opportunity to find a dura-
ble political solution to the
conflict, in full respect of
Ukraine's sovereignty and
territorial integrity," they
said, urging Russiato with-
draw all of its forces and
weapons from Ukraine.
The G-7 added that
sanctions 'against Rus-
sia "can only be rolled
back when Russia meets
its commitments related
to the cease-fire and the
Minsk agreements, and
respects Ukraine's sov-
ereignty," warning that
in case of adverse action
its members would stand
ready to "further inten-
sify the costs on Russia for
non-compliance."
TANYA BINDRA/AP
In this photo taken o Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2014, a healthcare worker sprays disinfectant in
the area they found a man suspected of suffering from the Eola virus in Kenema, Sierra Leone,
Thursday, Sept. 25,2014.
Officials quarantine
sick in1 Sierra Leone
D
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the d
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Leon
"The
with
venti
comi
numt
expo
situa
)istricts are deteriorate."
President Barack
ealed off to Obama warned a meeting
at the United Nations on
)ntrol Ebola Thursday that the world
is not doing enough to
outbreak stop the outbreak, say-
ing there is "a significant
ETOWN, Sierra gap between where we
e (AP) - Sierra are and where we need
e on Thursday took to be."
ramatic step of seal- The Ebola outbreak,
off districts where the world's largest ever,
than 1 million peo- has hit Sierra Leone,
ive as it and other Liberia and Guinea hard-
African countries est and is believed to
gle to control the have sickened more than
a outbreak that has 6,200 people. Senegal
ted thousands of and Nigeria have also
had Ebola cases, but it
ith three new dis- appears the disease has
under quarantine, been contained in those
t one-third of Sierra countries.
e's 6 million people U.S. health officials
now living in areas warn that the number
e their movements of infected people could
heavily restricted., explode to 1.4 million by
arts of Sierra Leone mid-January, adding that
n neighboring Libe- the outbreak could peak
rhere these cordons well below that if efforts
been used in this to control the outbreak
reak, food prices are ramped up.
soared, some mar- The outbreak's
have shut and the unprecedented scale and
ery of goods has geographic spread have
ed. pushed governments to
here is a desper- impose severe measures
ieed to step up our like the cordons, but the,
unse to this dread- disease has continued
lisease," the Sierra to overwhelm efforts to
e government said. contain it.
prognosis is that In an address to Sierra
out additional inter- Leone on Wednesday
ons or changes in night, President Ernest
munity behavior, the Bai Koroma put Port
bers will increase Loko, Bombali, and Moy-
nentially and the amba districts under
tion will rapidly isolation with immedi-
ate effect, allowing only
people delivering essen-
tial services to enter and
circulate within these
areas. The restrictions
will remain in place until
the chain of transmis-
sion is broken, officials
said.
In other parts of
Sierra Leone, including
the capital, Freetown,
homes will be put under
quarantine when cases
are identified, according
to a government state-
ment. Security forces
surrounded a house
in a Freetown slum on
Wednesday, quarantin-
ing residents inside,
after a popular herbal-
ist who lived there died
from Ebola. The forces
will ensure that no one
leaves or enters until it's
clear that no one else
in the house has been
infected.
Two districts near the
outbreak's epicenter -
Kenema and Kailahun
- were isolated about
two months ago. In all,
the movement of more
than 2 million people is
now restricted in Sierra
Leone.
A sharp increase of
cases in the capital is
driving the outbreak's
spread in Sierra Leone,
the World Health Orga-
nization said Thursday,
also noting that the three
districts newly cordoned
off are experiencing
increased infections.
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