Ukraine: Pro-Russian Rebels Downed Malaysian Plane

 People stand near flower tributes placed outside the Dutch embassy to commemorate victims of Malaysia Airlines plane crash in Kiev, Ukraine, Thursday, July 17, 2014. A Malaysian Airlines passenger jet was shot down in eastern Ukraine on Thursday, and both the Ukrainian government and pro-Russian rebels blamed one another for the attack.

HRABOVE, UKRAINE (ASSOCIATED PRESS) — Ukraine accused pro-Russian separatists of shooting down a Malaysian jetliner with 298 people aboard, sharply escalating the crisis and threatening to draw both East and West deeper into the conflict. The rebels denied downing the aircraft.

American intelligence authorities believe a surface-to-air missile brought the plane down Thursday but were still working on who fired the missile and whether it came from the Russian or Ukrainian side of the border, a U.S. official said.

Bodies, debris and burning wreckage of the Boeing 777 were strewn over a field near the rebel-held village of Hrabove in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the Russian border, where fighting has raged for months.

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden described the plane as having been "blown out of the sky." The aircraft appeared to have broken up before impact, and there were large pieces of the plane that bore the red, white and blue markings of Malaysia Airlines — now familiar worldwide because of the carrier's still-missing jetliner from earlier this year.

The cockpit and one of the turbines lay at a distance of one kilometer (more than a half-mile) from one another. Residents said the tail was about 10 kilometers (six miles) farther away. Rescue workers planted sticks with white flags in spots where they found human remains.

There was no sign of any survivors from Flight 17, which took off shortly after noon Thursday from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur with 283 passengers, including three infants, and a crew of 15. Malaysia's prime minister said there was no distress call before the plane went down and that the flight route was declared safe by the International Civil Aviation Organization.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko called it an "act of terrorism" and demanded an international investigation. He insisted his forces did not shoot down the plane. In Kuala Lumpur, several relatives of those aboard the jet came to the international airport.

A distraught Akmar Mohamad Noor, 67, said her older sister was coming to visit the family for the first time in five years. "She called me just before she boarded the plane and said, 'See you soon,'" Akmar said.

It was the second time a Malaysia Airlines plane was lost in less than six months. Flight 370 disappeared in March en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. It has not been found, but the search has been concentrated in the Indian Ocean far west of Australia.

"This is just too much," said Cindy Tan, who was waiting at the airport for a friend on another flight. "I don't know really why this happened to a MAS (Malaysia Airlines) plane again." Ukraine's security services produced what they said were two intercepted telephone conversations that showed rebels were responsible. In the first call, the security services said, rebel commander Igor Bezler tells a Russian military intelligence officer that rebel forces shot down a plane. In the second, two rebel fighters — one of them at the crash scene — say the rocket attack was carried out by a unit of insurgents about 25 kilometers (15 miles) north of the site.

Neither recording could be independently verified. Earlier in the week, the rebels had claimed responsibility for shooting down two Ukrainian military planes. President Barack Obama called the crash a "terrible tragedy" and spoke by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin as well as Poroshenko. Britain asked for an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Ukraine.

Later, Putin said Ukraine bore responsibility for the crash, but he didn't address the question of who might have shot it down and didn't accuse Ukraine of doing so. "This tragedy would not have happened if there were peace on this land, if the military actions had not been renewed in southeast Ukraine," Putin said, according to a Kremlin statement issued early Friday. "And, certainly, the state over whose territory this occurred bears responsibility for this awful tragedy."

At the United Nations, Ukrainian Ambassador Yuriy Sergeyev told the AP that Russia gave the separatists a sophisticated missile system and thus Moscow bears responsibility, along with the rebels. Officials said more than half of those aboard the plane were Dutch citizens, along with passengers from Australia, Malaysia, the United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, the Philippines and Canada. The home countries of nearly 50 were not confirmed.

"We owe it as well to the families of the dead to find out exactly what has happened and exactly who is responsible," Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said in Parliament Friday. "As things stand, this looks less like an accident than a crime. And if so, the perpetrators must be brought to justice."

The different nationalities of the dead would bring Ukraine's conflict to parts of the globe that were never touched by it before. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said he was "horrified" by the crash, and said the United States was prepared to help with an international investigation.

Ukraine's crisis began after pro-Moscow President Viktor Yanukovych was driven from office in February by a protest movement among citizens angry about endemic corruption and seeking closer ties with the European Union. Russia later annexed the Crimean Peninsula in southern Ukraine, and pro-Russians in the country's eastern regions began occupying government buildings and pressing for independence. Moscow denies Western charges it is supporting the separatists or sowing unrest.

Kenneth Quinn of the Flight Safety Foundation said an international coalition of countries should lead the investigation. Safety experts say they're concerned that because the plane crashed in area of Ukraine that is in dispute, political considerations could affect the investigation.

The RIA-Novosti agency quoted rebel leader Alexander Borodai as saying talks were underway with Ukrainian authorities on calling a short truce for humanitarian reasons. He said international organizations would be allowed into the conflict-plagued region.

Some journalists trying to reach the crash site were detained briefly by rebel militiamen, who were nervous and aggressive. Aviation authorities in several countries, including the FAA in the United States, had issued warnings not to fly over parts of Ukraine prior to Thursday's crash, but many carriers, including cash-strapped Malaysia Airlines, had continued to use the route because "it is a shorter route, which means less fuel and therefore less money," said aviation expert Norman Shanks.

Within hours of Thursday's crash, several airlines said they were avoiding parts of Ukrainian airspace. Malaysia Airlines said Ukrainian aviation authorities told the company they had lost contact with Flight 17 at 1415 GMT (10:15 a.m. EDT) about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from Tamak waypoint, which is 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the Russia-Ukraine border.

A U.S. official said American intelligence authorities believe the plane was brought down by a surface-to-air missile but were still working to determine additional details about the crash, including who fired the missile and whether it came from the Russian or Ukraine side of the border.

But American intelligence assessments suggest it is more likely pro-Russian separatists or the Russians rather than Ukrainian government forces shot down the plane, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

The United States has sophisticated technologies that can detect missile launches, including the identification of heat from the rocket engine. Anton Gerashenko, an adviser to Ukraine's interior minister, said on his Facebook page the plane was flying at about 10,000 meters (33,000 feet) when it was hit by a missile from a Buk launcher, which can fire up to an altitude of 22,000 meters (72,000 feet). He said only that his information was based on "intelligence."

Igor Sutyagin, a research fellow in Russian studies at the Royal United Services Institute, said both Ukrainian and Russian forces have SA-17 missile systems — also known as Buk ground-to-air launcher systems.

Rebels had bragged recently about having acquired Buk systems. Sutyagin said Russia had supplied separatists with military hardware but had seen no evidence "of the transfer of that type of system from Russia."

Earlier Thursday, AP journalists saw a launcher that looked like a Buk missile system near the eastern town of Snizhne, which is held by the rebels. Poroshenko said his country's armed forces didn't shoot at any airborne targets.

"We do not exclude that this plane was shot down, and we stress that the Armed Forces of Ukraine did not take action against any airborne targets," he said. The Kremlin said Putin "informed the U.S. president of the report from air traffic controllers that the Malaysian plane had crashed on Ukrainian territory" without giving further details about their call. The White House confirmed the call.

Separatist leader Andrei Purgin told the AP he was certain that Ukrainian troops had shot the plane down, but gave no explanation or proof. There have been several disputes over planes being shot down over eastern Ukraine in recent days.

A Ukrainian fighter jet was shot down Wednesday by an air-to-air missile from a Russian plane, Ukrainian authorities said, adding to what Kiev says is mounting evidence that Moscow is directly supporting the insurgents.

Pro-Russia rebels claimed responsibility for strikes on two Ukrainian Sukhoi-25 jets Wednesday. Ukraine's Defense Ministry said the second jet was hit by a portable surface-to-air missile but the pilot landed safely.

Peter Leonard reported from Kiev with contributions from an Associated Press reporter in Hrabove, Ukraine. Also contributing were AP Airlines Writer Scott Mayerowitz in New York; Jill Lawless and Matthew Knight in London; Laura Mills and Jim Heintz in Moscow; Lolita C. Baldor and Darlene Superville in Washington; Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations; Mike Corder in The Hague, Netherlands; and Eileen Ng and Satish Cheney in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Israel Invades Gaza After Hamas Rejects Truce

Smoke rises after an Israeli missile strike hit the northern Gaza Strip, Thursday, July 17, 2014. Gaza residents rushed to banks, vegetable markets and shops Thursday during a first U.N.-brokered lull in 10 days of Israel-Hamas fighting, but a quick resumption of hostilities after it ended signaled that a permanent truce remains elusive. Hamas fired 10 rockets at Israel after the end of the temporary truce, while Israel launched two airstrikes at the Gaza Strip, security officials said.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — The heavy thud of tank shells, often just seconds apart, echoed across the Gaza Strip early Friday as thousands of Israeli soldiers launched a ground invasion, escalating a 10-day campaign of heavy air bombardments to try to destroy Hamas' rocket-firing abilities and the tunnels militants use to infiltrate Israel.

Flares lit up the night sky before dawn and the wail of ambulance sirens mixed with the Muslim call to prayer from mosque loudspeakers as thick smoke rose into the air from sites where shells and missiles struck.

"There is a tank shell every minute," said an official in the Gaza security operations room, who said all of the seaside strip's border areas were being shelled and that Hamas fighters were exchanging fire with Israeli troops near a northern Gaza town.

"There is also fire from the sea toward police checkpoints." Israel launched the offensive late Thursday after becoming increasingly exasperated with unrelenting rocket fire from Gaza on its cities, especially following Hamas' rejection of an Egyptian cease-fire plan earlier in the week. Palestinian militants have fired more than 1,500 rockets at Israeli cities since fighting began.

However, a ground offensive could quickly lead to military and political entanglements for Israel, especially if more Palestinian civilians are killed. More than 240 Palestinians have already died in the air campaign, including 14 children under age 12 killed over the past two days, according to Palestinian health officials. One Israeli has also died.

Israel accuses Hamas of firing from within populated neighborhoods and using civilians as "human shields." Hamas struck a defiant tone. A spokesman, Fawzi Barhoum, said Israel "will pay dearly" for the assault. "Hamas is ready for a confrontation," he said.

The Israeli operation began around 10 p.m. Thursday, with what the military said was an open-ended assault to be carried out on several fronts. "Large ground forces accompanied by massive air force support, naval forces and intelligence, are taking over targets in Gaza, operating against tunnels and terror activists and infrastructure," said chief military spokesman Brig. Gen. Motti Almoz.

He called on Gaza residents to evacuate targeted areas, warning the "military is operating there with very great force." Gaza health officials said eight Palestinians were killed in the early stage of the ground operation, including a 3-month-old boy who died after a shell hit his family's Bedouin tent in southern Gaza. The body was evacuated on a donkey cart because ambulances couldn't reach the area due to heavy shelling, the officials said.

A resident of the northern town of Beit Lahiya, Jamal Abu Samra, said he was taking cover from the shelling by huddling on the ground floor of his home with his wife, six children and two dozen other relatives.

"We don't have power since the afternoon so we are listening to the (battery-operated) radio to hear the news," he said. Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said the operation was focused on the tunnels dug by Hamas under the Gaza-Israel border. Earlier Thursday, 13 heavily armed Hamas militants had tried to sneak into Israel through such a tunnel, but were stopped by an airstrike at the mouth of the tunnel.

"For Israel to send ground forces into Gaza is not a light decision. Ultimately we understand the risks involved both for our own soldiers and the dangers of escalation," he said. "But we felt this was necessary ... to deal with this strategic threat posed by those tunnels, which can allow terrorists to infiltrate into Israel and cause mass death."

Regev said "Hamas closed the door to a diplomatic solution." "The people of Gaza are not our enemy. Our enemy is only those shooting rockets into Israel, trying to kill our people. In many ways the people of Gaza are also a victim of this terrible Hamas regime," he said.

Israeli officials have said the goal is to weaken Hamas militarily and have not addressed the possibility of driving the Islamic militants from power. However, Hamas has survived Israeli offensives in the past, including a major ground operation in January 2009 from which it emerged militarily weaker, but then recovered. Hamas has since assembled thousands of rockets and built a system of underground bunkers.

While the ultimate scale of Israel's ambition remained unclear, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had come under growing domestic pressure to ratchet up Israel's response to rocket fire that 10 days of airstrikes had failed to stem.

Israel has little stomach for the scale of casualties that a takeover of Gaza would likely entail, but Israeli public opinion appears to be nearly at a breaking point over the rockets. Netanyahu may also have sensed he has a degree of international backing for action after Israel accepted an Egyptian cease-fire proposal Tuesday that was essentially a return to the status quo ante — and Hamas then rejected it. Similarly, Hamas ended a "humanitarian lull" of several hours Thursday by immediately resuming rocket fire.

However, the ground offensive brought swift criticism from U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who said he regretted that despite his repeated urgings and "those of many regional and world leaders together, an already dangerous conflict has now escalated even further."

Both Ban and the Obama administration took Israel to task for the mounting civilian death toll in Gaza. "I urge Israel to do far more to stop civilian casualties," said Ban. "There can be no military solution to this conflict."

Jordan, the Arab representative on the U.N. Security Council, called for an emergency meeting of the council but no time was set. The body is already scheduled to hold an emergency meeting Friday morning on the shooting down of a Malaysian airliner in Ukraine.

Noting the deaths a day earlier of four boys who were killed on a Gaza beach by an Israeli strike, the State Department said the high civilian death toll in Gaza has been "heartbreaking." Still, State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki also criticized Hamas militants who continue to fire rockets and mortars into Israel, prolonging the latest round of violence.

Thousands of Israeli soldiers had massed on the border with Gaza in recent days, waiting for the order to go in. Israel initially called up 48,000 reserve soldiers and later Thursday, the Cabinet authorized 18,000 more, the military said.

The ground operation followed a brief truce in which Israel held fire to allow Gazans to stock up on food and other necessities after being largely holed up at home since the conflict began last month.

Since July 8, Israeli strikes have hit more than 2,000 targets in Gaza and Hamas launched nearly 1,500 rockets at Israel, the Israeli military has said. Israel last carried out a major ground offensive in Gaza in January 2009.

During that three-week campaign, some 1,400 Palestinians were killed, including hundreds of civilians. Thirteen Israelis also died.

Deitch reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press writers Ibrahim Barzak in Gaza City and Yousur Alhlou in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

Journalist, Activist Released By US Border Patrol

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, immigration rights activist and self-declared undocumented immigrant Jose Antonio Vargas testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, before the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on comprehensive immigration reform. Vargas has been detained by U.S. Border Patrol agents at a South Texas airport. Border Patrol spokesman Omar Zamora says Vargas was in custody Tuesday morning, July 15, 2014, but he had no other details.

McALLEN, Texas (AP) — Prominent immigration activist and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas, who has lived and worked in the U.S. illegally for years, was released by U.S. Border Patrol agents on Tuesday after being detained at a South Texas airport.

In a statement late Tuesday, the Border Patrol said Vargas was arrested at the airport in McAllen after telling an agent he was in the country illegally. Vargas was released on his own recognizance with a notice to appear before an immigration judge.

"Mr. Vargas has not previously been arrested by (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) nor has the agency ever issued a detainer on him or encountered him," the statement said. "ICE is focused on smart, effective immigration enforcement that prioritizes the agency's resources to promote border security and to identify and remove criminal individuals who pose a threat to public safety and national security."

A spokeswoman for Define American, Vargas' advocacy group, confirmed his release Tuesday afternoon, but declined to offer more information about his release or whereabouts. During the current surge in immigration in South Texas, it has been common for the Border Patrol to release people on their own recognizances, with notices to appear in court later. With such notices, people can generally travel throughout the U.S. without being detained again.

Vargas had been visiting McAllen for several days as part of a vigil to highlight the plight of unaccompanied immigrant children coming into the U.S. illegally who have overwhelmed Border Patrol facilities.

But at McAllen/Miller International Airport, Vargas knew he could have problems. Border Patrol agents stand alongside Transportation Security Administration personnel to check documentation — even for domestic flights. Vargas does not have any government-issued U.S. identification and was carrying only a passport issued by his native Philippines and a palm-size copy of the U.S. Constitution.

On Tuesday morning, Vargas tweeted: "About to go thru security at McAllen Airport. I don't know what's going to happen." The security checks at the airport — and elsewhere in the Rio Grande Valley — are familiar to people living along the Texas-Mexico border.

Along highways out of the area, drivers are stopped at Border Patrol checkpoints about an hour's drive north of the border. It's not uncommon for children who entered the country illegally with their parents and are growing up in the Rio Grande Valley to stay at home when classmates on field trips take those roadways to visit San Antonio.

In recent years, some U.S. citizens who object to being asked about their citizenship at the interior checkpoints have taken to refusing to answer agents' questions or producing identification. Some have recorded those encounters and later uploaded the video to the Internet.

But Ryan Eller, campaign director for Define American, the advocacy group founded by Vargas, said that Vargas was unaware he would have to pass through such immigration checks in order to leave the city.

"We had been to border towns before like San Diego and other places, but we didn't recognize until (we got) here the situation," Eller said while standing across the street from the Border Patrol station where Vargas was being held.

Eller confirmed the only identification Vargas carried was his Philippines passport. He said Vargas was en route to Los Angeles and that he had consulted with attorneys before going to the airport. Eller said a "travel partner" was at the airport with Vargas, but that they were immediately separated in security.

Vargas' attorney referred questions to Define American. Vargas had flown to McAllen last Thursday to take part in the vigil. In an essay he wrote for Politico on Friday, Vargas said he has travelled in the U.S. for years without a problem but didn't realize those driving or flying out of the Rio Grande Valley in South Texas are subject to immigration checks.

Vargas went public about his immigration status in a 2011 piece for the New York Times Magazine. He was part of the Washington Post team that won the Pulitzer Prize in 2008 for coverage of the Virginia Tech massacre. He later directed a documentary called "Documented" and founded his activist group.

Pakistan Teen Seeks Release Of Nigerian Girls

Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai, centre, poses for a photo with her father Ziauddin left, and Nigerian President, Goodluck Jonathan, at the Presidential villa, in Abuja, Nigeria, Monday, July 14, 2014. Malala Yousafzai won a promise from Nigeria’s leader to meet with the parents of some of the 219 schoolgirls held by Islamic extremists for three months. Malala celebrated her 17th birthday on Monday in Nigeria with promises to work for the release of the girls from the Boko Haram movement. Image: Associated Press

ABUJA, NIGERIA (AP) — The Pakistani teen who survived a Taliban assassination attempt in 2012 marked her 17th birthday Monday with a visit to Nigeria and urged Islamic extremists to free the 219 schoolgirls who were kidnapped there, calling them her "sisters."

Malala Yousafzai, who has become an international symbol for women's rights in the face of hard-line Islam, said Nigeria's president promised to meet for the first time with the abducted girls' parents.

"My birthday wish this year is 'Bring Back Our Girls' now and alive," she said, using the social media slogan that has been picked up around the world to demand freedom for the girls, who were abducted by the extremist group Boko Haram in April from a school in the remote northeast Nigerian town of Chibok.

Malala appealed directly to their captors as she held hands with some of the girls who escaped. "Lay down your weapons. Release your sisters. Release my sisters. Release the daughters of this nation. Let them be free. They have committed no crime."

She added: "You are misusing the name of Islam ... Islam is a religion of peace." Malala also spoke against the custom of child brides in her home country, a tradition common in Nigeria, too. Boko Haram has threatened to sell some of the girls as brides if its fighters are not freed.

"Protect girls from cruelty," she said in a speech, explaining that girls should not be forced to marry or to leave school to become brides "when they should be girls," or to give birth to children "when they themselves are children."

Boko Haram attacks continued over the weekend with witnesses blaming the group for the bombing of a major bridge on a northeast Nigerian highway that further limits access to its base camps in the Sambisa Forest, where it is believed to be holding some of the girls.

Gunmen destroyed most of the bridge on the road between Maiduguri and Biu on Saturday night, making it impossible for vehicles to cross, the spokesman for the Nigerian Vigilante Group, Abbas Gava, told The Associated Press.

Malala met Monday with Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan and told reporters that the president "promised me that the girls will be returned as soon as possible." She described an emotional meeting Sunday with some of the girls' parents.

"I could see tears in their eyes. They were hopeless. But they seem to have this hope in their hearts," and they were asking if they could meet the president. Jonathan has not met with any of the parents, though some regularly make the dangerous drive from Chibok to join activists who have held daily rallies in Abuja.

When the activists tried to march peacefully to the presidential villa in May, they were blocked by soldiers and police. Jonathan canceled a planned trip to Chibok that same month. On Monday, he told Malala that criticism that his government is not doing enough is "wrong and misplaced," according to a presidential statement.

"The great challenge in rescuing the Chibok girls is the need to ensure that they are rescued alive," he said, insisting his government is "actively pursuing all feasible options" to achieve their safe return.

Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau put out a new video Sunday in which he repeated demands that the government release detained insurgents in exchange for the girls' freedom. "Nigerians are saying 'Bring Back Our Girls,' and we are telling Jonathan to bring back our arrested warriors, our army," he said in the video, which was obtained by the AP through similar channels used for previous messages.

Jonathan so far has refused, despite pleas from the parents. Since the mass abduction, Boko Haram has increased the number and deadliness of its attacks with a two-pronged approach — bombing cities and towns and a scorched-earth strategy in villages, gunning down villagers, looting livestock and burning down huts.

In the new video, Shekau crowed over recent victories, including two explosions at a fuel depot in Lagos that the government tried to cover up. It would be the first reported bombing by Boko Haram in Lagos — Nigeria's commercial capital, an Atlantic port and probably the continent's most populous city with some 20 million people. The attack also raises fears that the insurgency is spreading beyond its stronghold at the opposite end of the country.

At least four people died in the June 25 blasts, including an alleged female suicide bomber, according to Western diplomats who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

Shekau also claimed responsibility for another bomb that went off hours before at the biggest shopping mall in Nigeria's capital, Abuja, killing at least 21 people. On Monday, Malala also appealed to the Nigerian government to dedicate more money to education and to drastically reduce the hundreds of thousands of children who are out of school throughout the country, not just in the area targeted by Boko Haram.

The group's nickname means "Western education is sinful." Boko Haram wants to enforce an Islamic state in Nigeria, whose 170 million people are almost equally divided between Christians in the south and Muslims in the north.

Faul reported from Lagos, Nigeria. Associated Press writer Bashir Adigun contributed to this report from Abuja, Nigeria.

Ebola Crisis In West Africa Deepens; 500+ Dead

Ebola advocacy group Crusaders for Peace, spokesperson Juli Endee, right, educates people on the deadly virus in Paynesville, east of the city Monrovia, Liberia. Ebola, a hemorrhagic fever that can cause its victims to bleed from the ears and nose, had never before been seen in this part of West Africa where medical clinics are few and far between. The disease has turned up in at least two other countries--Liberia and Sierra Leone--and 539 deaths have been attributed to the outbreak that is now the largest on record.

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Deep in the forests of southern Guinea, the first victims fell ill with high fevers. People assumed it was the perennial killer malaria and had no reason to fear touching the bodies, as is the custom in traditional funerals.

Some desperate relatives brought their loved ones to the distant capital in search of better medical care, unknowingly spreading what ultimately was discovered to be Ebola, one of the world's most deadly diseases.

Ebola, a hemorrhagic fever that can cause its victims to bleed from the ears and nose, had never before been seen in this part of West Africa where medical clinics are few and far between. The disease has turned up in at least two other countries — Liberia and Sierra Leone — and 539 deaths have been attributed to the outbreak that is now the largest on record.

The key to halting Ebola is isolating the sick, but fear and panic have sent some patients into hiding, complicating efforts to stop its spread. Ebola has reached the capitals of all three countries, and the World Health Organization reported 44 new cases including 21 deaths on Friday.

There has been "a gross misjudgment across the board in gauging the severity and scale of damage the current Ebola outbreak can unleash," the aid group Plan International warned earlier this month. "There are no cases from outside Africa to date. The threat of it spreading though is very much there," said Dr. Unni Krishnan, head of disaster preparedness and response for the aid group.

Preachers are calling for divine intervention, and panicked residents in remote areas have on multiple occasions attacked the very health workers sent to help them. In one town in Sierra Leone, residents partially burned down a treatment center over fears that the drugs given to victims were actually causing the disease.

Activists are trying to spread awareness in the countryside where literacy is low, even through a song penned about Ebola. "It has no cure, but it can be prevented; let us fight it together. Let's protect ourselves, our families and our nation," sings the chorus.

"Do not touch people with the signs of Ebola," sings musician and activist Juli Endee. "Don't eat bush meat. Don't play with monkey and baboons. Plums that bats have bitten or half-eaten, don't eat them."

Guinea first notified WHO about the emergence of Ebola in March and soon after cases were reported in neighboring Liberia. Two months later there were hopes that the outbreak was waning, but then people began falling ill in Sierra Leone.

Doctors Without Borders says it fears the number of patients now being treated in Sierra Leone could be "just the tip of the iceberg." Nearly 40 were reported in a single village in the country's east.

"We're under massive time pressure: The longer it takes to find and follow up with people who have come in contact with sick people, the more difficult it will be to control the outbreak," said Anja Wolz, emergency coordinator for the group, also referred to by its French name Medecins Sans Frontieres.

This Ebola virus is a new strain and did not spread to West Africa from previous outbreaks in Uganda and Congo, researchers say. Many believe it is linked to the human consumption of bats carrying the virus. Many of those who have fallen ill in the current outbreak are family members of victims and the health workers who treated them.

There is no cure and no vaccine for Ebola, and those who have survived managed to do so only by receiving rehydration and other supportive treatment. Ebola's high fatality rate means many of those brought to health clinics have been merely kept as comfortable as possible in quarantine as they await death. As a result, some families have been afraid to take sick loved ones to the clinics.

"Let this warning go out: Anyone found or reported to be holding suspected Ebola cases in homes or prayer houses can be prosecuted under the law of Liberia," President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf stated recently.

Her comments came just days after Sierra Leone issued a similar warning, saying some patients had discharged themselves from the hospital and had gone into hiding. At the airport in Guinea's capital, departing passengers must undergo temperature screening, and those with a fever are pulled aside for further evaluation. Still, the stigma of Ebola follows Guineans well outside the region.

"The police treated us like we were aliens. They said they didn't want us in their country because of the disease affecting Guinea," says Tafsir Sow, a businessman who was briefly detained at the airport in Casablanca, Morocco before continuing on to Paris. "I had tears in my eyes."

Still, WHO health officials are hopeful they will be able to get the situation under control in the next several weeks. A recent conference in the capital of Ghana brought together health authorities from across the affected areas, and the countries agreed on a common approach to fight Ebola.

"When you have it spread, of course it's moving in the wrong direction," said Dr. Keiji Fukuda, WHO's assistant director-general for health security and environment. "You want to see the number of infections going down. So we really have to redouble our efforts. But saying that it's out of control makes it sound like there are no solutions. This is a virus for which there are very clear solutions."

Associated Press writers John Heilprin in Geneva; Boubacar Diallo in Conakry, Guinea; Clarence Roy-Macaulay in Freetown, Sierra Leone; Jonathan Paye-Layleh in Monrovia, Liberia and Francis Kokutse in Accra, Ghana contributed to this report.

Follow Krista Larson at https://www.twitter.com/klarsonafrica

Where We Met

BY AMBROSE EHIRIM

Image courtesy of Jungle Red Writers

I walked in, located a spot and pulled my backpack off my shoulders. The place looked worry free and I had assumed it was good timing for the brief moment I would stay. I walked up to the cashier and grabbed a mixed blend of smoothies, which had been my favorite refreshment nowadays, and I then walked back to the desk where I had placed my backpack. Inside my backpack, I took out my laptop and a note book for what may pop up in my thoughts and for what I may jot down going through the news and views on the web. I hooked up the networks and shuttled to a number of websites and kept browsing to check related news and happenings around my neck of the woods. Then, I shoveled and located African related news and clicked on Nigeria to see if Boko Haram has thrown a bomb somewhere in the multitude of people. As I opened up a news related article on Nigeria, he glanced from the next desk where he sat and carrying with him papers he had come to grade from where he teaches Western History at a college just miles away from where we were. Upon noticing my outfit, a black fedora hat, blue jeans, a pair of bally shoes, and a Brazilian number 10 yellow jersey and, my sunglasses sitting on the desk, he concluded I must be one of the beat makers who uses protool, the digital audio workstation for Microsoft windows to generate varieties of musical genres. But seeing a Nigeria headline on my screen it then occurred to him I must either be a Nigerian or perhaps a curious minded fellow who is reading to find out about the notorious Boko Haram, if they have captured more of their victims, or if there's an ongoing battle between the insurgents and the nation's security forces. Elevating my head up and starring at each other, I told him I was Igbo and upon hearing that he seized the moment and started telling me about his Igbo connection. First, he asked if I knew one Ifeanyi Aniebo, that they all were at UCLA in the early 1970s, and that Aniebo wrote a book very powerful in lyrics, books powerful by its theme titled "Anonymity of Sacrifice" and "Talisman." He also told me that Aniebo in the 1970s while they attended classes at UCLA was one of the brightest African minds of the time and that he always argued and compared what had happened to his kins to the Jews. He said while he was almost done obtaining his teaching credentials, Aniebo left for Nigeria to teach at the University of Port Harcourt. Then he asked if I knew Comfort Akwaq whom he met at the UCLA campus. When I told him I knew Aniebo, he sent me on assignment to locate Aniebo for him. I did not know Comfort and never met her. He said Aniebo mentioned nothing else but Biafra and the consequences he had bore after its collapse. Aniebo had returned from the United States in 1966 from some military briefings and training courses. Upon return, what confronted him was the war which he fought on the Biafran side and after the war he returned back to the United States and enrolled for classes at UCLA on the counsel of the late Professor Boniface Obichere who was already teaching African American Studies at the campus. So while he took a breath, I seized the moment to ask my own questions to find out  what he really was getting into. Telling me he was already retired from teaching history classes at UCLA and currently teaching Western History for transfer and honor students at the Santa Monica College to meet up with today's high demands in our society, and an extra change that wouldn't hurt. Then he said he would give it all up so he could have time to travel the world and see what differences it made from different locations and what areas of improvement are required to be attended. While I was trying to think and see what areas of discipline I'd asked my questions he jumped in and asked if I knew Chinua Achebe or have heard about him. I told him where I come from, if you don't know Achebe, then you have no story to tell. He said Achebe use to visit the UCLA campus every now and then when his daughter, Nwando, was attending classes, and that he was Nwando's history professor. He said each time Achebe was in town, that him and some of his like-minded colleagues would spend time together with the ode mkpishi, the novelist, and they would discuss relative issues into the night. That Achebe never stopped short of the tragedy that befell his people and that he always put the narratives into perspective. He asked me about my experience during the pogrom and I told him I was not there which still pains me because the tragic event denied me the privilege to have seen my relatives--cousins, uncles, aunts, grand parents, distant cousins and other kinsfolk--who had perished under the Yakubu Gowon's-led genocidal campaign against the Igbo nation. While I was telling him about my concerns, I took the advantage to draw him closer to the Ehirim Files and reached the gallery of the Igbo massacre where I pulled out hundreds of disturbing images never released on the Pogrom. He thought he had known a little bit from what the sectional press had shown to them at the time, and looking through these images, he lost his breath and began to shed a little bit of some tears. I told him I have spent an entire life trying to figure out why the tragic event took place and why him and his Western philosophers stood by, kept quiet and watched such atrocities unfold. He was speechless while we exchanged information for, hopefully, another future chit-chat at a neighborhood cafe.

Germany Kicks Out Top US Spy Over Espionage Claims

The American flag flies on top of the U.S. embassy in front of the Reichstag building that houses the German Parliament, Bundestag, in Berlin, Germany. Germany took the dramatic step Thursday of asking the top U.S. intelligence official in Berlin to leave the country, following two reported cases of suspected U.S. spying and the yearlong spat over eavesdropping by the National Security Agency. "The representative of the U.S. intelligence services at the United States embassy has been asked to leave Germany," government spokesman Steffen Seibert said in a statement, Thursday, July 10,2014.

BERLIN, GERMANY (ASSOCIATED PRESS) — Germany on Thursday demanded Washington's top spy in Berlin leave the country as a new round of allegations of U.S. espionage worsened the friction between the two allies.

The immediate trigger was the emergence of two new cases of alleged American spying. They inflamed a furor that erupted last year when it was learned that the U.S. was intercepting Internet traffic in Germany and eavesdropping on Chancellor Angela Merkel's cellphone calls.

More broadly, the move to expel the CIA station chief appears to reflect a Germany out of patience with what it sees as a pattern of American disrespect and interference. "The representative of the U.S. intelligence services at the United States Embassy has been asked to leave Germany," German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said in a statement.

"The request occurred against the backdrop of the ongoing investigation by federal prosecutors as well as the questions that were posed months ago about the activities of U.S. intelligence agencies in Germany," he added. "The government takes the matter very seriously."

U.S. officials described Germany's action as extraordinary. While agents have been expelled from time to time, usually by unfriendly powers, a former U.S. official said he couldn't remember an instance since the end of the Cold War in which the ranking intelligence official was asked to leave a country.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to discuss intelligence issues publicly. Germany refused to identify the CIA station chief by name. In the United States, it is illegal to disclose the name of an undercover operative.

Shortly before Thursday's announcement, Merkel told reporters that Germany and the United States had "very different approaches" to the role of intelligence agencies, and she insisted that any spying on allies is "a waste of energy."

White House press secretary Josh Earnest wouldn't comment on Germany's decision but said the U.S. takes intelligence matters "very seriously." "I don't want you to come away from this exchange thinking we take this matter lightly," he said, adding that the U.S. and Germany continue to have a strong partnership.

The reports last year that the National Security Agency had targeted Merkel and Internet traffic have triggered a German criminal investigation and a parliamentary probe. On Wednesday, German police raided properties in the Berlin area in what Seibert said was a case involving "a very serious suspicion" of espionage.

German media reported that the man being investigated worked at Germany's Defense Ministry in a department dealing with international security policy, and he had aroused suspicion because of his close contacts to alleged U.S. spies.

Last week, a 31-year-old German intelligence employee was arrested on suspicion of spying for foreign powers since 2012. German media have reported that he spied for the CIA. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said he could not comprehend why the U.S. would spy on his country.

"We speak to each other all the time, and nobody keeps their views secret," he said in an interview published Wednesday by the Saarbruecker Zeitung. Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said the political fallout appeared to outweigh any harm done to Germany by the alleged spying.

"If the situation remains what we know now, the information reaped by this suspected espionage is laughable," de Maiziere said in a statement. "However, the political damage is already disproportionate and serious."

Under the elaborate rules of international diplomacy, Germany's move to kick out the spy chief was a request two steps short of a formal expulsion. In the past two years, Germany has also asked diplomats from Syria and Pakistan to leave the country.

Geir Moulson in Berlin, and Nedra Pickler and Ken Dilanian in Washington contributed to this report.

Follow Frank Jordans on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/wirereporter

Kerry: Crisis In Israel, Gaza, Needs De-escalation

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry meets with China's President Xi Jinping, right, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing Thursday, July 10, 2014.

BEIJING (AP) — Secretary of State John Kerry says the U.S. is trying to stem the surging violence in Israel and Gaza in a way that allows the Jewish state to continue defending itself from Hamas rocket fire.

Kerry, in Beijing for a summit with Chinese leaders, says it's a "dangerous moment" for the Mideast. Hundreds of rockets have been fired from Gaza since the killings of three Israeli and one Palestinian teenagers sparked tensions. Dozens of Palestinians have died in Israeli attacks.

Kerry says no country can accept such rocket attacks. But he says de-escalating the crisis is ultimately in everyone's interests. Kerry says he spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. The goal, he says, is to see if there is some way to restore peace.

Authorities: Prostitute Gave Executive Fatal Heroin Hit

Alix Tichelman, 26, of Folsom, Calif., waits to be escorted from Santa Cruz Superior Court after appearing for her arraignment Wednesday, July 9, 2014, in Santa Cruz, Calif. Tichelman is facing manslaughter charges for the November 2013 death of Forrest Hayes, a Google executive. A Silicon Valley success story turned sordid this week with the arrest of an upscale prostitute who allegedly left Hayes dying on his yacht after shooting him up with a deadly hit of heroin. Hayes, 51, was found dead by the captain of his 50-foot yacht Escape.

SANTA CRUZ, CALIF., (AP) — A Silicon Valley success story turned sordid this week with the arrest of an upscale prostitute who allegedly left a Google executive dying on his yacht after shooting him up with a deadly hit of heroin.

Forrest Hayes, 51, was found dead by the captain of his 50-foot yacht Escape last November. At the time, a simple obituary described him as a beloved husband and father of five who enjoyed spending time with his family and on his boat.

On Wednesday, that got a lot more complicated as Alix Tichelman, 26, of Folsom, stood handcuffed and mumbling in red jail scrubs facing manslaughter charges for her role in Hayes' death, as well as drug and prostitution charges. She is being held on $1.5 million bail.

Surveillance footage from the yacht shows everything, police said, from when she came aboard until after Hayes collapsed. That's when Tichelman picked up her clothes, the heroin and needles, casually stepping over Hayes as he lay dying. She swallowed the last of a glass of wine, lowered a blind and walked back on the dock to shore, police said.

Santa Cruz Deputy Police Chief Steve Clark told The Associated Press on Wednesday that Hayes had hired Tichelman before, and that their Nov. 23 encounter "was a mutually consensual encounter including the introduction of the heroin."

Clark said it appears this might not have been the first time she left someone in trouble without calling 911 or trying to help. Without elaborating, he said his agency is cooperating with police in a different state on a similar case.

"There's a pattern of behavior here where she doesn't seek help when someone is in trouble," he said. News vans gathered outside Hayes hilltop estate overlooking the glittering Monterey Bay on Tuesday. The five-bedroom home is on the market for $4.2 million. The yacht has been sailed out of the harbor to the Bay Area. Hayes' widow has not spoken publicly and a blog created in his memory was deleted Tuesday. On the website, friends and co-workers were seemingly unaware of how he died. They fondly described their time together, Christmas parties on his boat, engineering teams at Sun Microsystems, traveling to China for Apple and most recently at Google, where they said he was involved in the Glass eyewear projects.

"He had life wired, he really liked his job, was spending a lot more time with his family, cruising around in his boat. I am really grateful that Forrest's last moments were happy ones," wrote a friend in December.

Clark said it's not clear if Hayes was a frequent drug user, and that in the video, it appears he needed Tichelman to help him shoot up. Clark described Tichelman as a high-end prostitute, who lived three hours away and charged $1,000.

He said she had other clients from Silicon Valley, home to about 50 billionaires and tens of thousands of millionaires, where the case was making waves Wednesday. "There's no question that Silicon Valley feels different than it felt 28 years ago when I moved here," said Russell Hancock, president of Joint Venture Silicon Valley, an organization focused on the local economy and quality of life. "Something has happened. We used to be a Valley full of techies living middle class lives, and now we're a Valley of the uber-rich carrying toy poodles around with them."

Tichelman's father has ties to the tech industry. Folsom software firm SynapSense announced hiring her father, Bart Tichelman in 2012. Neither the firm nor her father responded to immediate requests for comment.

Santa Cruz Superior Court Judge Timothy Volkmann approved a request Wednesday from Tichelman's court appointed attorney, Diana August, to continue the arraignment until July 16. August did not immediately return a call seeking comment. Assistant District Attorney Rafael Vazquez said authorities are still investigating and may file more serious charges.

Tichelman was arrested on July 4 after police said a detective lured her back to the Santa Cruz area by posing as a potential client at an upscale resort. Clark said they didn't just arrest her because they didn't know exactly where she lived, and they were concerned she would flee.

Police said Tichelman boasted she had more than 200 clients and met them through the website, SeekingArrangement.com, which purports to connect wealthy men and women with attractive companions. Her clients included other Silicon Valley executives, Clark said.

Santa Clara University Finance professor Robert Hendershott said financial windfalls like those seen in the Silicon Valley often bring problems as people have trouble managing their newfound wealth. But he said there's no obvious hedonistic culture in the Silicon Valley.

"There's no Great Gatsby type of parties famous in the Silicon Valley," he said.

Associated Press reporters Michael Liedtke and Terry Collins in San Francisco and researcher Jennifer Farrar in New York contributed to this story.

UN Envoy Warns Of Daunting Challenges To West Africa, Boko Haram Threat To Nigeria

United Nations News Center

July 8, 2014

8 July 2014 – While countries in West Africa are trying to promote development and consolidate democracy, they continue to face daunting challenges such as transnational organized crime and growing terrorist activities, the top United Nations official in the region told the Security Council today, while also warning of the increasing threat the Boko Haram crisis poses to Nigeria.

Said Djinnit, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for West Africa, added that the UN Office for West Africa (UNOWA), which he heads, has been trying to sensitize regional leaders to the need for “decisive concerted efforts” to fight these threats to regional security and stability.

Of great concern, he said as he presented the Secretary-General’s latest report on developments in the region, is the potential for recruitment of unemployed youth by organised criminal networks in the region.

“It is essential that West African countries close ranks and establish effective strategic and operational cooperation mechanisms to address this threat which runs the risk of destabilizing the whole Sahara-Sahel region from the Atlantic to the Indian oceans,” he stated. “Their efforts should be strongly backed by the rest of the international community and the United Nations.”

Next year will be a crucial one on the democratic front, Mr. Djinnit noted, pointing out that no less than five crucial elections will be organized in 2015, including in Côte d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Niger and Nigeria.

These polls, he added, will be held often in “highly polarized societies and within a context of deep political divides and controversies related to ongoing or potential initiatives to amend constitutional provisions related to presidential term limits.”

UNOWA will continue to work closely with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and other stakeholders to assist in efforts to prevent political differences from developing into violent crises and in providing electoral assistance towards consolidating democracy in the region, the envoy said.

“Indeed, in view of the prevailing fragility in the region, every effort should be made to ensure that democracy and stability are pursued with equal commitment, as they are mutually reinforcing.”

In addition to these challenges, the West African region is also currently struggling to respond to a deadly pandemic caused by the Ebola virus. The outbreak identified in February in the south-eastern region of Guinea has rapidly spread to Liberia and Sierra Leone.

“While significant progress in efforts to contain the outbreak of the disease has been recorded, a relapse has been noted in the last few weeks, with the risk of further spread within the region,” Mr. Djinnit reported.

According to the UN World Health Organization (WHO), there have been at least 759 infections and 467 deaths related to the disease since February.

“It is important that the international community pays due attention and support to this epidemic which is adding to many other challenges to stability in the region,” the envoy stressed.

In the context of the growing insecurity in the Sahel, Mr. Djinnit said the situation in Nigeria remains of “great concern.” Despite efforts by the Nigerian Government, the school girls abducted by the insurgent group Boko Haram from Chibok in April remain in captivity.

While efforts to obtain their safe release are ongoing, he said the level of violence against civilians in Nigeria continues to escalate, resulting in significant displacement in the north of the country.

“It is disheartening to note that within the last two weeks at least 18 attacks attributed to Boko Haram have been conducted, resulting in the tragic deaths of innocent civilians and displacement of peoples. The Boko Haram crisis is now affecting security in the sub-region,” he stated.

“With the growing insecurity in the northeast of the country, coupled with increasing political tensions and divisions in the lead up to the 2015 general elections, Nigeria is at a crossroads,” said Mr. Djinnit. “It is therefore critical, in my view, that the Council members continue to lend their support to efforts and initiatives aimed at preserving stability in the country.

“All efforts should be made to address the insurgency and insecurity in Nigeria, which has over the past few decades played a prominent role in the maintenance of regional and global peace and security. The present situation also underscores the paramount need for the Nigerian political class to forge a unified stand in confronting the persisting insecurity.”