Nigeria on alert after flier dies of Ebola
ABUJA, Nigeria -- Nigerian health authorities raced to stop the spread of Ebola on Saturday after a man sick with one of the world's deadliest diseases took it by plane to Lagos, Africa's largest city with 21 million people. The man with the disease died Friday.
The fact that the traveler from Liberia could board an international flight also raised fears that other passengers could take the disease beyond Africa because of weak inspection of passengers.
Officials in the country of Togo, where the sick man's flight had a stopover, also went on high alert after learning that Ebola could have spread to a fifth country.
Ebola already had caused 672 deaths across West Africa before the Nigeria case was announced.
International airports in Nigeria are screening passengers arriving from foreign countries for symptoms of Ebola, said Yakubu Dati, the spokesman for Federal Aviation Authority of Nigeria.
In Liberia, a U.S. doctor working with Ebola patients had tested positive for the Ebola virus, the aid group Samaritan's Purse said Saturday. A news release from the group said Dr. Kent Brantly was being treated at a hospital in Monrovia, the capital.
North Korea test-fires missile into sea
SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea fired a short-range ballistic missile into waters off its east coast Saturday, a South Korean defense official said, adding to its unusually high number of weapons tests this year. The launch came on the eve of the 61st anniversary of the signing of an armistice that halted the Korean War.
The missile, fired from North Korea's southwest Hwanghae province Saturday evening, flew about 310 miles across the country before landing in the sea, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of department rules. He gave no further details.
North Korea routinely test-fires missiles, artillery and rockets, but the number of weapons tests it has conducted this year is much higher than previous years. Outside analysts say this indicates that North Korea's young leader, Kim Jong Un, is handling things differently than his late father, Kim Jong Il, who sparingly used longer-range missile and nuclear tests as negotiating cards with the outside world to win concessions.
Analysts also say Kim Jong Un won't order troops to stop testing weapons unless rival South Korea and the U.S. make a major concession such as downsizing their regular joint military drills or conducting them in a low-key manner.
Egypt accuses 20 of terrorism acts
CAIRO -- Egypt's chief prosecutor charged 20 suspected militants Saturday with carrying out terrorist attacks that killed seven people and wounded more than 100, amid new clashes between soldiers and insurgents in the restive Sinai Peninsula.
The statement released by Hisham Barakat's office said those charged belonged to a terrorist group called Ajnad Misr, which started its attacks after the ouster last July of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi. The group's name means "Soldiers of Egypt" in Arabic.
The statement said the suspected militants planted explosives around police stations and security checkpoints. It said 14 suspected members are in custody and six others are on the run.
Ajnad Misr has claimed responsibility for a number of attacks since November, including bomb blasts that took place outside a presidential palace.
Iraqi politician freed; capture a mystery
BAGHDAD -- Gunmen in Iraq seized and later released a prominent Sunni politician, officials said Saturday, as confusion remained over who abducted the lawmaker.
Riyadh al-Adhdah, head of the Baghdad Provincial Council, returned to his home a day after gunmen abducted him and four of his bodyguards, said Ghalib al-Zamili, a member of the council. The bodyguards also were released, according to a police officer who declined to be named because he is not authorized to brief journalists.
It was not immediately clear whether al-Adhdah was arrested by security forces or abducted. In 2012, al-Adhdah, a medical doctor and member of the Iraqi Islamic Party, was imprisoned for eight months on terrorism charges. He has maintained his innocence.
The incident comes at a time of mounting sectarian tensions, with Sunni militants having seized vast swaths of northern and western Iraq and Shiite militias mobilized to help the armed forces fight back. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite, is looking to secure a third four-year term despite widespread calls to step aside over.
A Section on 07/27/2014