Babies infected in Congo Ebola outbreak
LONDON -- The World Health Organization says a worrying number of the newest Ebola cases amid Congo's ongoing outbreak are in patients not usually known to catch the disease: babies.
In an update published this week, the U.N. health agency reported 36 new confirmed cases of Ebola, including seven in newborn babies and infants younger than 2 years old. Six cases were reported in children aged between 2 and 17 and one case was in a pregnant woman.
While Ebola typically infects adults, as they are most likely to be exposed to the lethal virus, children have been known in some instances to catch the disease when they act as caregivers.
Few cases of Ebola in babies have been reported, but experts suspect transmission might happen via breast milk or close contact with infected parents. Ebola is typically spread by infected bodily fluids. WHO noted that health centers have been identified as a source of Ebola transmission, with injections of medications "a notable cause."
WHO called Congo's current epidemic "complex and challenging." Congo's health ministry says there are 346 confirmed cases, including 175 deaths, in what has become the worst Ebola outbreak in the country's recorded history.
Man faces charges over Nazi death camp
BERLIN -- A 95-year-old man has been charged with more than 36,000 counts of being an accessory to murder on allegations that he served as a guard at the Nazis' Mauthausen concentration camp, Berlin prosecutors said Friday.
Hans Werner H., whose last name wasn't released because of privacy regulations, is accused of serving as an SS guard in the camp in northern Austria from mid-1944 to early 1945.
During that time, 36,223 people were killed at Mauthausen, primarily by gassing, but also by lethal injection, shootings, starvation or exposure, prosecutor Martin Steltner said.
The suspect isn't accused of a specific killing, but prosecutors argue that as a guard he helped the camp function. Overall, about 95,000 people are believed to have died in the Mauthausen camp system, including 14,000 Jews, but also Soviet prisoners of war, Spaniards who had fought against Gen. Francisco Franco, and others.
"With his service as a guard he aided or at least made easier the killing of many thousands of inmates," Steltner said, adding that the suspect denies the charges.
In this role, Steltner said the man is alleged to have "known about the various methods of killing as well as the disastrous living conditions of the imprisoned people."
As such, he is alleged to have "been aware that a large number of people were killed with these methods and that the victims could have only been killed with such regularity if they were being guarded by people such as himself," Steltner said.
14 Palestinians wounded during protest
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- Health officials say Israeli army fire has wounded 14 Palestinians in one of the calmer weekly protests along the Gaza-Israel perimeter fence.
Most of the few thousand Palestinian protesters kept a safe distance from the fence Friday, without burning tires or attempting to infiltrate the frontier.
But some hurled rocks and firebombs with slingshots, provoking Israeli fire, witnesses said.
Gaza's Hamas rulers de-escalated the monthslong marches recently to allow mediators to negotiate a solution.
The Islamic militant group wants an end to an Israeli-Egyptian blockade.
In November, Israel permitted Qatar to deliver $15 million to help Hamas pay its civil servants and ease tensions.
Israeli fire has killed more than 170 Palestinians at the protests since they began in March. A Gaza militant shot dead an Israeli soldier in July.
Osaka wins bid to host World Expo 2025
PARIS -- The Japanese city of Osaka will host the World Expo in 2025, after beating out cities in Russia and Azerbaijan in the race to host an event expected to draw millions of visitors and showcase the local economy and culture.
Shouts of joy in Japanese broke out in the Paris auditorium when the 170 member states of the Bureau International des Expositions voted Friday in favor of Osaka's bid. Dark-suited officials hugged and jumped up and down, and Japan's economy and trade minister, Hiroshige Seko, said he felt "Excellent! I'm excited! I also feel a heavy responsibility to make Expo 2025 successful."
Back in Tokyo, Japan's prime minister, Shinzo Abe, said in a statement that the country will make an utmost effort to "achieve a magnificent expo in Osaka that would give dreams and surprises to everyone in the world." Hosting a world expo in Japan would be "a golden opportunity to promote fascinating charms of Japan to the rest of the world," Abe said.
Past world's fairs introduced such wonders as the Eiffel Tower, the Ferris Wheel and Seattle's Space Needle. Today's version is aimed at finding solutions to challenges facing humanity.
Osaka proposed an expo on a man-made island on the theme of "Society 5.0" and how to leverage robotics and artificial intelligence for the public good.
-- Compiled by Democrat-Gazette staff from wire reports
A Section on 11/24/2018