The World Health Organization has declared the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo an international health emergency, The Associated Press reports.
This announcement comes days after the Congolese Health Ministry said that the virus had spread to Goma, which has a population of more than one million people. The International Health Regulations Emergency Committee made its decision on Wednesday after having met three other times since the outbreak began last year without choosing to declare it an international health emergency. More than 1,600 deaths have been reported since August 2018, and in June, the first death outside of the DRC was reported when a young boy died in Uganda.
Four other times has such a declaration of an international health emergency been made, AP reports, with the last one coming during the West Africa Ebola outbreak that began in 2014.
"It is time for the world to take notice and redouble our efforts," Tedros Adhanom, WHO's director general, said in a statement. "We need to work together in solidarity with the DRC to end this outbreak and build a better health system." Brendan Morrow
Caroll Spinney, the actor and puppeteer who made Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch come alive on Sesame Street, died Sunday. He was 85.
The Sesame Workshop said Spinney, who died at his home in Connecticut, lived with dystonia for many years. Spinney began working on Sesame Street in its earliest days in 1969, before retiring in 2018.
As Big Bird, Spinney traveled around the world, conducted symphony orchestras, danced with the Rockettes, received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and was named a Living Legend by the Library of Congress.
In a statement, Sesame Workshop said Spinney's "enormous talent and outsized heart were perfectly suited to playing the larger-than-life yellow bird who brought joy to generations of children and countless fans of all ages around the world, and his loveably cantankerous grouch gave us all permission to be cranky once in a while." Catherine Garcia
North Korea is at it again. But this time no one is exactly sure about what they're up to.
North Korean state media reported Sunday that Pyongyang conducted a "successful test of a great significance" Saturday at its Sohae satellite launch site, a rocket testing ground, but did not reveal what was tested. U.S. officials have said North Korea promised to close the testing ground, but it appears that won't be the case any longer as Pyongyang's year-end deadline to reach a denuclearization agreement with Washington nears after talks stalled earlier this year.
It likely wasn't a missile launch, since Japan and South Korea can usually detect those. Instead, missile experts said it's possible North Korea tested a solid fuel rocket engine, which could allow the country to field intercontinental ballistic missiles that are easier to hide and faster to deploy. "If it is indeed a static engine test for a new solid or liquid fuel missile, it is yet another loud signal that the door for diplomacy is quickly slamming, if it isn't already," said Vipin Narang, a nuclear expert at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "This could be a very credible signal of what might await the world after the New Year."
North Korea has promised to adopt a "new path" if the U.S. does not offer sanctions relief, which analysts believe could include launching a satellite that would allow Pyongyang to continue testing missiles more covertly. Read more at BBC and Reuters. Tim O'Donnell