EBOLA-AMERICAN
Missionary group says another American doctor infected with Ebola in Liberia
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) β A missionary group says another American doctor has contracted the Ebola virus while working at a hospital in Liberia.
In a statement issued Tuesday, Serving In Mission says the unnamed doctor had been treating women in the obstetrics ward of a hospital in the Liberian capital. The group doesn’t know how the doctor contracted Ebola since the ward is separate from the area where Ebola patients are being treated.
Last month two Americans, including one from SIM, were evacuated to the United States for treatment after contracting Ebola in Liberia.
The two received an experimental drug known as ZMapp and recovered. The manufacturer says it has run out of supplies of the drug and it will take months to produce more.
More than 1,500 people have died across West Africa from Ebola.
Sound:
256-v-33-(Steve Coleman, AP religion editor)–A missionary group says another American doctor has contracted the Ebola virus while working at a hospital in Liberia. AP Religion Editor Steve Coleman reports. (2 Sep 2014)
< EBOLA-AMERICANS Ebola survivor: I felt like I was going to die ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) β A U.S. doctor who survived after contracting Ebola while doing missionary work in Liberia says he’s “very close” to the doctor most recently diagnosed with the disease and has spent time in “tearful prayer” for him. Dr. Kent Brantly also told NBC News that he feared his own death, telling a nurse at one point he had “no reserve and I don’t know how long I can keep this up.” NBC News released a portion of its interview with Brantly on Tuesday, the same day officials from the North Carolina-based missionary group Serving In Mission said a third doctor had contracted the disease. Brantly and a female missionary from Serving in Mission recovered in isolation at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta. Both were released last month. NIGERIA-VIOLENCE Islamic fighters besiege Nigerian city: Senator MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) β A Nigerian senator says thousands of people are fleeing the northeastern city of Bama amid conflicting reports that it has been seized by Boko Haram Islamic extremists. Nigeria’s military claimed to have repelled the insurgents in fierce fighting, but Sen. Ali Ndume says the stream of refugees from the city indicates otherwise. It would be a major victory for the militants if Boko Haram wins control of Bama, the second largest city in Borno state. That would leave the way open to attack the Borno state capital of Maiduguri that is also the military headquarters of the fight against Boko Haram. Ndume, who represents Borno state, says Bama is 45 miles from Maiduguri and has a population of more than 200,000 people. Boko Haram has declared an Islamic caliphate in overrun villages in eastern Borno. The group attracted international criticism for its mass kidnapping of more than 200 schoolgirls who remain captive. US MUSLIMS-SYRIA-SOTLOFF American Muslim group denounces latest beheading WASHINGTON (AP) β The Council on American Islamic Relations is expressing “horror, disgust and sorrow” at the new video purporting to show the beheading of U.S journalist Steven Sotloff by the Islamic State group. CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad says no one who believes in the Islamic tradition of peace and justice would kill an innocent civilian. In the video distributed Tuesday and titled “A Second Message to America,” the militant who performs the beheading says it’s retribution for continued U.S. airstrikes against Islamic State fighters in Iraq. Awad insists there’s nothing Islamic about the extremists, despite their claim to be establishing a Muslim caliphate in Syria and Iraq. He says some young Muslims who have joined the Islamic State group have been horrified by what they’ve seen, but can be killed themselves if they try to leave. Sound: 243-a-09-(Nihad Awad, national executive director of CAIR, the Council on American Islamic Relations, in AP interview)-“around the world”-Nihad Awad, national executive director of the Council on American Islamic Relations, says Muslims deplore the latest beheading video. (2 Sep 2014) < 246-a-14-(Nihad Awad, national executive director of CAIR, the Council on American Islamic Relations, in AP interview)-“discover the horror”-Nihad Awad, national executive director of the Council on American Islamic Relations, says Muslim youths who join the Islamic State group can be killed if they try to leave. (2 Sep 2014) < 245-a-12-(Nihad Awad, national executive director of CAIR, the Council on American Islamic Relations, in AP interview)-“against innocent people”-Nihad Awad, national executive director of the Council on American Islamic Relations, says Muslim youths should reject the Islamic State group. (2 Sep 2014) < 244-a-06-(Nihad Awad, national executive director of CAIR, the Council on American Islamic Relations, in AP interview)-“behavior and conduct”-Nihad Awad, national executive director of the Council on American Islamic Relations, says real Muslims would not behead an innocent journalist. (2 Sep 2014) < IRAQ Report accuses Islamic State group of war crimes BAGHDAD (AP) β An international rights group accuses the extremist Islamic State group of “ethnic cleansing” in northern Iraq against religious minorities. In a new report, Amnesty International says the militants have abducted “hundreds, if not thousands” of women and girls of the Yazidi faith and killed hundreds of Yazidi men and boys. It says Islamic State fighters expelled an estimated 830,000 people β mostly Shiites and those belonging to religious minorities that barely exist outside of Iraq. They include Aramaic-speaking Christians, Yazidis and Mandeans, a gnostic faith. Most fled as extremists neared their communities, fearing they’d be killed or forcibly converted to the group’s hard-line version of Islam. Thousands of Christians now live in schools and churches in northern Iraq. Yazidis crowd into a displaced persons camp. Shiites have mostly fled to southern Iraq. CHURCH-CLOSURE After more than a century, beloved church to close SAN ANTONIO (AP) β A San Antonio church known for its inclusiveness is set to close this month. When a group of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Catholics was banned from a nearby parish, Beacon Hill Presbyterian Church opened its doors. The neighborhood association, artists and recovery groups also used the space. But the San Antonio Express-News reports that Beacon Hill will hold its last service after 117 years this weekend. Over the years its congregation has dwindled as have the funds for covering the church’s operational costs. Church lay leader Sally Lewis says it’s sad that the church will close but the congregation has become too small for the space. Longtime Beacon Hill congregant Betty Smith likens the church’s closure to a death. CHURCH-POWER TURNED OFF Club pays church’s bill after power was shut off WOONSOCKET, R.I. (AP) β Members of a social club have banded together and paid off the electricity bill of a struggling Rhode Island church, days after National Grid shut off the church’s power. Mike Kind is chairman of the Italian Workingmen’s Club in Woonsocket. He told The Woonsocket Call that members of his club gave a $1,000 check on Friday to Pastor Rebecca Lambert of The River United Methodist Church. Church officials told WLNE-TV that they’re hoping to get the power turned back on this week. They say the church couldn’t afford to keep the lights on and appliances running, and National Grid shut off the power on Tuesday last week. The church provides regular meals and clothing to homeless and poor people in the area. NOME-TAX EXEMPTIONS Nome looks to spike church sales-tax exemptions NOME, Alaska (AP) β Churches and other nonprofit organizations in Nome, Alaska, could lose their tax-exempt status as the city looks for ways to increase revenue. KNOM reports that the city council also considered charging sales tax on items that are currently exempt, such as banking and medical services. However, council members said those transactions would be too difficult to track, so they’re concentrating on removing the tax exemptions for Nome churches and more than 40 other organizations. The city predicts that could raise as much as $800,000 a year in additional revenue. No decision is expected for weeks or months as the council continues to flesh out ideas to raise funds. JEWISH TEMPLE DISPUTE Settlement in dispute between Florida temple, city MIAMI (AP) β A settlement has been reached between a Florida city and a Jewish temple in a legal dispute that pitted religious freedom and property rights against preservation of a historic structure. Temple B’nai Zion had claimed in the four-year legal fight that Sunny Isles Beach was improperly using its historic designation powers as a pretext to prevent any changes to the building, which was once a Lutheran church and retained some Christian features the Jewish congregation wanted to alter. The temple’s attorney says the agreement keeps in place the historic designation but allows some valuable new development rights. The temple also is being paid $175,000 from the city’s insurance policy. The lawsuit was filed under a federal law that bars state and local governments from placing undue burdens on religious expression through land use rules.
