Month: August 2014

By George Tanber TOLEDO Ohio (Reuters) – Health authorities tested water for toxins in Toledo, Ohio, on Sunday as some 400,000 people remained without safe drinking water for a second day following the discovery of high toxin levels from algae on Lake Erie. Toledo Mayor D. Michael Collins said some sampling showed decreased toxin levels but results from further tests would not be known until later in the day. The city is waiting on water samples being analyzed at Environmental Protection Agency labs in Cincinnati. About 500,000 people get water from the contaminated source but about 100,000 residents of some communities have backup water supply systems, said city of Toledo spokeswoman Lisa Ward.

(Reuters) – German airline Deutsche Lufthansa said it would resume flights to and from Arbil in northern Iraq starting on Monday, but would continue to avoid airspace above the area controlled by the Islamic State militant group. Flights to Asia and other parts of the Middle East also would continue to detour around Iraq, Europe’s largest airline by revenue said in an emailed statement on Sunday. The changes in flight routes would apply to Lufthansa, Lufthansa Cargo, Austrian Airlines and Swiss, the carrier said, adding that the new flight routes would not significantly lengthen flight times. Lufthansa’s decision came a day after Royal Jordanian – one of the main airlines serving Iraq – said it had suspended all flights to Baghdad for at least 24 hours for security reasons.

By Derick Snyder MONROVIA (Reuters) – Health workers turned up in Monrovia's Clara Town district on Sunday to remove two bodies of possible victims of the Ebola virus, four days after they dropped dead there when nobody would take them to hospital. At a swampy field elsewhere in the Liberian capital, the health ministry ordered 100 graves to be dug for victims of the deadly tropical virus, but only five shallow holes partly filled with water had been prepared by Saturday evening. Monrovia's overcrowded and understaffed Elwa Hospital has had to turn away Ebola cases this week, a scenario exacerbated by the withdrawal of some international staff following the infection of two U.S. health workers here. Strong resistance like this from workers too afraid to handle infected corpses or communities opposed to burying them nearby has slowed down stretched West African governments as they seek to control the worst Ebola outbreak in history.

By Lesley Wroughton WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States will announce nearly $1 billion in business deals, increase funding for peacekeeping and commit billions of dollars to expanding food and power programs in Africa during a summit this week, U.S. and development officials say. U.S. officials said the Aug. 4-6 summit in Washington of nearly 50 African leaders hopes to showcase U.S. interest in the fast-growing region through a series of government-private partnership deals to boost trade and investment. Administration officials have played down questions over whether the summit is in response to China's growing presence in the region. Instead, they have emphasized that American interests go beyond Africa's oil and minerals, where China is focused.

Sao Paulo (AFP) – Move over Beverly Hills: image-conscious Brazil has overtaken the United States as the world's capital of cosmetic surgery.

By Roberta Rampton WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama said corporate America has done well under his economic policies, telling the Economist magazine that chief executive officers should stop complaining about regulations and show greater social responsibility. "If you look at what's happened over the last four or five years, the folks who don't have a right to complain are the folks at the top," Obama said in an interview conducted last week and posted on the magazine's website late on Saturday. Republicans have sought to portray Obama as anti-business, and businesses have complained that Obama's signature healthcare law and the Dodd-Frank financial reforms have raised costs. "I would take the complaints of the corporate community with a grain of salt," Obama said, arguing that his policies have been friendly to business.

Rejects Calls to Shut Down Flights from Afflicted Nations

A magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck southwestern China on Sunday, killing at least 367 people and leaving 1,881 injured in a remote area of Yunnan province, and causing thousands of buildings, including a school, to collapse. The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake registered at a shallow depth of less than 1 mile (1.6 km). Chinese state media said it was felt most strongly in Yunnan as well as in the neighboring provinces of Guizhou and Sichuan. The official Xinhua news agency said the epicenter was in Longtoushan town in Yunnan's mountainous Ludian county.

TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — More tests are needed to ensure that toxins are out of Toledo's water supply, the Ohio city's mayor said Sunday, instructing the 400,000 people in the region to avoid drinking tap water for a second day.