Ex-US Diplomat Khalizad Contests Financial Probe

Zalmay Khalilzad, U.S. Ambassador to United Nations speaks to reporters after a special Security Council Meeting regarding the situation in Georgia and South Ossetia at U.N. headquarters. Austrian officials said former top U.S. diplomat Zalmay Khalilzad is being investigated by U.S. authorities for suspected money laundering through his wife’s bank account. State prosecutor Thomas Vecsey on Monday, Sept. 8, 2014 confirmed a report by the Austrian weekly Profil but declined to give details.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, Iraq and the United Nations has been caught up in a suspected money-laundering inquiry that led to a freeze on bank deposits he and his wife hold in Austria.

Austrian officials said Zalmay Khalilzad, the founder of a global consulting group, was being investigated for suspected money laundering related to business activities in Iraq and the United Arab Emirates. The case became public after a blogger found documents while rummaging through a garbage can used by the state prosecutor's office in Vienna.

However, few other details are known about the case. The U.S. Justice Department in May 2013 asked Austrian authorities for records regarding the Viennese bank accounts of Khalilzad's wife, Cheryl Benard, according to a statement by Khalilzad's U.S. lawyer, Robert B. Buehler. Austrian authorities then froze the accounts.

Khalilzad strongly contested the decision to freeze his and his wife's accounts, saying it was an overreaction to a routine request for information by the Justice Department to Austrian officials. The Austrian state prosecutor, Thomas Vecsey, confirmed the blogger's report in the Austrian weekly Profil, which said the inquiry centers on the alleged transfer of $1.5 million to an account belonging to Benard.

Buehler noted in a statement that no charges have been filed against Khalilzad or Benard.. "The DOJ request for information did not seek the seizure of assets belonging to Ms. Benard or Ambassador Khalilzad, nor did the DOJ ask Austrian authorities to seize any of their accounts," the law firm said in a statement. "However, for reasons that remain unclear, an Austrian prosecutor ignored the plain language of the DOJ request and froze Ms. Benard's accounts solely on the basis of the DOJ's request for information."

The law firm said the Justice Department request did not contain any evidence of money laundering or other offenses, and that the Austrian prosecutor had not developed any evidence of his own to support the seizure of the accounts.

Justice Department spokesman Peter Carr declined to comment Monday. Benard's lawyer in Vienna, Holger Bielesz, said Austrian authorities ordered several bank accounts owned by Benard frozen in February, about 10 months after the Justice Department asked for Austria's help. That ruling is now under appeal.

Bielesz said the U.S. request did not specify the grounds for the investigation, but that it appeared to be looking for evidence of money laundering. The lawyer also argued that Austrian authorities had over-reacted in freezing Benard's bank accounts because the Justice Department had not yet offered "reasonable grounds for suspicions."

Bielesz declined to go into details about the investigation, saying that at this point he was representing only Benard and her attempts to get full access to the funds in her accounts. Khalilzad was born in Afghanistan and went to the United States as an exchange student. He later became a professor and served various ambassadorships under President George W. Bush. He was the U.S. special presidential envoy to Afghanistan from 2001 to 2003, then U.S. ambassador there until 2005. He was the ambassador to Iraq from 2005 to 2007, and the U.S. permanent representative to the United Nations from 2007 to 2009.

Khalilzad played a key role in the political transition in Afghanistan after the 2001 U.S.-led invasion and the fall of the Taliban. He took center stage organizing the traditional grand councils that would eventually approve Afghanistan's constitution.

The State Department had no comment on the case. In the private sector, Khalilzad is founder and president of Gryphon Partners, which advises companies and wealthy individuals on business opportunities in several industries and regions, including high-risk territories.

He sits on the boards of the National Endowment for Democracy, America Abroad Media, the Mideast studies center at Rand Corp., the American University of Iraq and the American University of Afghanistan. He also is a counselor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and writes about foreign policy issues and frequently appears on U.S. news shows.

Khalilzad earned both a bachelor's and master's degree from the American University of Beirut and a doctorate from the University of Chicago.

Associated Press writer George Jahn contributed from Austria.

Kerry: New Iraq Gov't Is Key To Militant's Defeat

Secretary of State John Kerry speaks at State Department in Washington, Monday, Sept. 8, 2014. Kerry says Iraq has cleared a major milestone in the fight against the Islamic State militant group by forming a government that has pledged to ease sectarian tensions in the country.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State John Kerry says Iraq has cleared a major milestone in the fight against the Islamic State militant group by forming a government that has pledged to ease sectarian tensions in the country.

Kerry told reporters Monday that the new leadership in Baghdad is the cornerstone of an international strategy to defeat and destroy the Sunni insurgency that has overrun parts of northern Iraq and Syria.

He said the Islamic State group is now facing a worldwide coalition of nations that is determined to destroy it — whether by military power, or cutting off financial support, or even countering the vicious propaganda that lionizes the insurgents' mission.

Kerry will travel to the Mideast on Tuesday, with stops planned in Saudi Arabia and Jordan.

Obama To Broaden US Effort To Combat Militants

U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Andrew Bickerstaff of Satellite Beach, Florida, uses a tent pole to bat a rock off the Haditha Dam where his unit is based, 220 kilometers (140 miles) northwest of Baghdad. The U.S. military launched airstrikes Sunday around Haditha Dam in western Iraq, targeting Islamic State insurgents there for the first time in a move to prevent the group from capturing the vital dam.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama will go on the offensive against the Islamic State group with a broader counterterror mission than he previously has been willing to embrace, U.S. officials said Monday. The new plan, however, still won't commit U.S. troops to a ground war against the brutal insurgency and will rely heavily for now on allies to pitch in for what could be an extended campaign.

Obama's more aggressive posture — which officials say will target Islamic State militants comprehensively and not just to protect U.S. interests or help resolve humanitarian disasters — reflects a new direction for a president who campaigned to end the war in Iraq and has generally been deeply reluctant to use U.S. military might since he took office in 2009.

"Almost every single county on Earth has a role to play in eliminating the ISIL threat and the evil that it represents," Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters Monday night, using an acronym for the Islamic State. He said nations around the world are seeking to defeat the militancy with a coalition "built to endure for the months, and perhaps years, to come."

The U.S. has already launched more than 100 airstrikes against militant targets in Iraq, including a new series that the military said killed an unusually large number of Islamic State fighters. A Central Command statement Monday said the strikes hit targets near the Haditha Dam, and a spokesman, Maj. Curtis Kellogg, said 50 to 70 fighters were targeted and most were believed to have been killed.

Now, after the beheadings of two American freelance journalists, Obama is considering expanding the airstrikes campaign into Syria, where the Islamic State has a safe haven. Obama has long avoided taking military action in Syria, concerned about indirectly assisting President Bashar Assad and his government in Damascus. But White House spokesman Josh Earnest suggested Monday that the U.S. could be moving in that direction, saying Obama was willing "to go wherever is necessary to strike those who are threatening Americans."

Obama is to describe his plans in a speech on Wednesday. By that time, Kerry will be headed to Saudi Arabia and Jordan to meet with Mideast leaders and gauge their level of commitment to a growing worldwide coalition that is uniting against the Islamic State. Kerry said nations from Canada to Estonia to Kuwait to Australia have already contributed a mix of assistance.

As he weighs his next move, Obama was soliciting advice Monday from prominent foreign policy experts from across the political spectrum over dinner at the White House. Among the guests invited to join Obama and Vice President Joe Biden were former national security advisers from the Obama, George W. Bush, Clinton and Carter administrations, as well as Council on Foreign Relations President Richard Haass and former Acting CIA Director Michael Morrell.

In a call Monday evening, Obama congratulated new Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi for the approval of a new government. The White House said al-Abadi "expressed his commitment to work with all communities in Iraq as well as regional and international partners to strengthen Iraq's capabilities" to fight the Islamic State militants.

Obama also spoke with Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott on the need to keep addressing the ongoing threat from the Islamic State and to thank Australia for its contributions to humanitarian air drops in northern Iraq, the White House said.

Yet beyond airstrikes, much of the international strategy against the Islamic State covers the same ground as it has for the past several months. Two senior U.S. officials said it will continue to curb foreign fighters and funding flowing to militants, aim to persuade the new government in Baghdad that was seated Monday to give more power to its Sunni citizens in hopes of discouraging them from joining the insurgency, and strengthen Iraqi government forces and moderate Syrian rebels in their respective battles against the Islamic State.

Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates have for months worked to combat the Islamic State either by sharing intelligence, sending humanitarian aid, providing military assistance to rebels, or punishing suspected foreign fighters. Broadened U.S. airstrikes would help cover Iraqi military forces, particularly the Peshmerga forces in the country's Kurdish north, and Western-backed elements of the Syrian opposition, aiming to help them make gains against the militants.

But Western leaders still appear divided on whether to launch airstrikes in Syria. U.S. officials said Obama is leaning toward doing so as part of an international effort, and British Prime Minister David Cameron last week said he has not ruled them out. It's likely that the airstrikes, if they occur, would aim to avoid any of Assad's aircraft, landing strips or other assets that are part of Damascus' campaign to attack Sunni rebel groups that include the Islamic State.

Obama is also expected to press congressional lawmakers to approve $500 million in lethal aid to the Syrian rebels. He proposed the aid earlier this year, but his request has stalled on Capitol Hill. The U.S. also has pressured Sunni rulers in Qatar to prosecute private financiers in their nations who are believed to be funneling money to the militants. And the West is pressing Turkey to shut its borders with Syria and Iraq to restrict the travel of Islamic State militants and keep foreign fighters from joining the battle.

In Cairo, meanwhile, the 22-nation Arab League agreed to take urgent measures to combat the Islamic State through political, defense, security and legal means. A resolution outlining the league's intent did not specify how that might happen, and it did not explicitly back American military action against the extremists.

The bulk of the strategy is expected to be hammered out later this month at the annual meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, where a Western diplomat said it's possible the world leaders will adopt a new Security Council resolution on how to deal with the Islamic State. That would give the Obama and his allies the legal cover and broad international backing they desire to launch airstrikes.

But two U.S. officials cautioned Monday that Obama may not wait until then, and he has remained non-committal about the prospect of seeking congressional authorization for an expanded mission. He also did not seek congressional approval for the strikes underway in Iraq, citing a request for military assistance from the Iraqi government and the need to protect U.S. personnel in the country.

Associated Press writers Donna Cassata in Washington and Lolita C. Baldor in Ankara, Turkey, contributed to this report.

Follow on Twitter: Lara Jakes at https://twitter.com/larajakesAP and Julie Pace at https://twitter.com/jpaceDC

Iraqi Parliament Approves Partial New Cabinet

U.S. President Barack Obama looks around during a flypast at the NATO summit in Newport, Wales. Obama will begin this week to lay out a strategy to defeat Islamic State militants in the Middle East, starting with a White House meeting with bipartisan congressional leaders on Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2014 and a speech on Wednesday, the eve of the 13th anniversary of the deadliest terrorist attack on U.S. soil.

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq's parliament officially named Haider al-Abadi the country's new prime minister late Monday and approved most of his proposed Cabinet amid calls by the Arab League for its members to combat the Sunni militant group violently advancing across Iraq and Syria.

Lawmakers approved all of the candidates proposed for Iraq's new government, with the exception of a few posts, namely the defense and interior ministers. Al-Abadi requested an additional week to name them.

Outgoing Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi and former Speaker of Parliament Osama al-Nujeifi were given the largely ceremonial posts of co-vice president. Kurdish politician and former Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari was named as one of three deputy prime ministers. Former premier Ibrahim al-Jafaari was named foreign minister.

The U.S. and other countries have been pushing for a more representative government that will ease anger among Sunnis, who felt marginalized by al-Maliki's administration, helping fuel the dramatic sweep by the Islamic State extremist group over much of northern and western Iraq since June.

Speaking before parliament, Al-Abadi vowed to "back the military operations in all the areas of confrontation against the armed gangs and the forces of terrorism and ensuring their continuation till victory is achieved."

The proposed resolution by the Arab League does not explicitly back an expanded American military operation targeting the group. It leaves room, however, for it to work with whatever approach U.S. President Barack Obama lays out during his planned speech Wednesday on the eve of the 13th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

That could give Obama enough leeway to gather support from Arab countries already divided over the Syrian civil war. "There will be no signing on a white paper," said Mustafa Alani, the director of the security and defense department at the Gulf Research Center in Geneva. Arabs are looking for "equal efforts in changing the situation in Syria. Without it, it is a lost war."

The White House said Obama called Al-Abadi on Monday to congratulate him and the Iraqi people on approval of a new government. Secretary of State John Kerry said the formation of the Iraqi government "is unquestionably a major milestone for Iraq, and what President Obama has made clear will be a cornerstone of our efforts against" the Islamic State militants.

Obama was to brief congressional leaders Tuesday ahead of his televised address. Both Kerry and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel are expected to visit the Middle East this week to gather support for whatever action Obama unveils.

The League's resolution, issued as a separate statement from a comprehensive one dealing with Arab affairs, reflected a new sense of urgency among the 22-member states to challenge the militant group. The Arab League's chief has called the group an existential threat to Arab countries that should be dealt with firmly.

The resolution called for immediate measures to combat the group on the political, defense, security and legal levels. It also said the group's finances and recruitment grounds should be dried up, without elaborating on any of the points.

The resolution also backed the United Nations resolution issued last month that imposed sanctions on a number of the group's fighters and called on countries to adopt measures to combat terrorism. The council resolution was adopted under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter, meaning it can be militarily enforced.

Saudi Arabia and other countries in the region have been critical of the U.S. reluctance to enter the Syrian civil war— in which Iran, a major non-Arab rival in the region, has been a main backer of the government of President Bashar Assad.

Saudi Arabia would vehemently oppose any international action against extremists that strengthens Assad's hand or clears the path for his forces to regain territory. The U.S. relying too heavily on Iranian assistance also could torpedo Saudi support for any proposal. Some Iranian Shiites have traveled to Iraq to protect shrines in the country, though the Islamic Republic's government repeatedly has denied deploying troops there.

Saudi Arabia likely would be willing to openly support a U.S.-backed coalition, but may not want to provide ground or air support since this could anger powerful ultraconservatives who despise Assad but view the Islamic State group's Iraqi advance as a Sunni rebellion against Shiite oppression.

On Monday, the Saudi government said after its weekly Cabinet meeting that it supports the "firm" Arab League position. Iraq is in the midst of an unprecedented crisis since the Islamic State group's offensive, which included beheadings, mass killings and the targeting of minorities.

On Monday, an Islamic State suicide bomber drove an explosives-laden Humvee, apparently seized from the Iraqi military, into the gathering of a major Sunni tribe, the Jabour, and security forces in the town of Duluiyah, some 80 kilometers (45 miles) north of Baghdad, a police officer said.

The explosion killed 16 people and wounded at least 55, according to the officer and a health official, who both spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to journalists.

After the bombing, militants crossed a small river on Duluiyah's outskirts and attacked the town, setting off fierce clashes. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility, saying two Saudi suicide bombers had targeted a police building and the gathering of Sunni militiamen. The authenticity of the online statement could not be independently verified, but it was posted on a Twitter account frequently used by the militant group. Iraqi officials said it knew of only one suicide attacker

Duluiyah briefly fell to the Sunni-dominated Islamic State group for few days in July but the Jabour tribesmen, who have aligned themselves with the Iraqi forces in the battle against the extremists, took it back.

On Monday, Iraqi security forces retook the Anbar provincial town of Barwana, across the Euphrates River from the town of Haditha, about 220 kilometers (140 miles) northwest of Baghdad. The U.S. military said it carried out five airstrikes Sunday and Monday using drones and attack fighters to help defend the Haditha dam, as well as Irbil, the Kurdish capital. It has conducted a total of 148 airstrikes in Iraq since Aug. 8.

El Deeb reported from Cairo. Associated Press writers Sameer N. Yacoub, Sinan Salaheddin, Murtada Faraj and Vivian Salama in Baghdad, Aya Batrawy in Dubai and Maamoun Youssef in Cairo contributed to this report.

Lateef Kayode Wraps Up And Ready For 9/11

Lateef Kayode in last minute training session for fight with Luitz Ortiz at the Wild Card Boxing Gym, Hollywood, California Monday, September 8, 2014. Image: Ehirim Files 


WBA Heavyweight Title (The Joint, Hard Rock Cafe & Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada): Lateef "Power" Kayode Vs. Luis Ortiz, Thursday, September 11, 2014 -- As Nigeria's Lateef Kayode wrapped up training moments ago, Sept. 8, 2014 at the Wild Card Boxing Gym in Hollywood, Calif., I told him no one else could beat him but himself. Only Lateef can beat Lateef, letting him know we're giving him all the support to knock the hell out of Cuba's Luiz Ortiz. I told him judging by accounts of how we do stuff back home, you're his senior by four years and he should give you that respect and use your seniority grounds to nail him. I told him, I don't want any distant fight for long stories to emerge. I want a knockout and I want it as quick as possible. Just remember your story--from Onipan bus stop to Palmgrove on Ikorodu Road and all that hustle to help your friends and family have decent meals--and you don't want to blow that big meal away. "I don't want a distant fight", I repeated," I want a knockout." Lateef responded: "Yes Sir, Yes Sir." The journeyman knows he needs the crown badly and a story that follows "The Journey." 

Arab League Agrees To Combat Islamic State Group

A Shiite fighter stands guard over followers of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr attending open-air Friday prayers in the Shiite stronghold of Sadr City, Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, Sept. 5, 2014.

BAGHDAD (AP) — The Arab League agreed Monday to take urgent measures to combat extremists like the Islamic State group as one of its suicide bombers killed 16 people at a meeting of Sunni tribal fighters and security troops in Iraq.

The resolution, issued after late-night meetings of Arab foreign ministers a day earlier, doesn't explicitly back American military action against the group. U.S. President Barack Obama is seeking an international coalition to challenge the Islamic State group and is expected to outline his plan Wednesday to the American people.

But the resolution, issued as a separate statement from a comprehensive one dealing with Arab affairs, reflected a new sense of urgency among the 22-member states to challenge the militant group that has seized large swaths of territories in Iraq and Syria.

The resolution calls for immediate measures to combat the group on the political, defense, security and legal levels. It didn't elaborate. The resolution also backed the United Nations resolution issued last month that imposed sanctions on a number of the group's fighters and called on countries to adopt measures to combat terrorism. The council resolution was adopted under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter, meaning it can be militarily enforced.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is expected in the region this week to discuss details of the coming U.S. policy. Mustafa Alani, the director of the security and defense department at the Gulf Research Center in Geneva, said the resolution shows Arab countries remain uncertain about the U.S. policy regarding the Islamic State group. He said they also worry about the U.S. taking a selective approach to handling the issue by choosing to single out Iraq for action but not addressing the turmoil in Syria.

"There will be no signing on a white paper," Alani said. Arabs are looking for "equal efforts in changing the situation in Syria. Without it, it is a lost war." The Islamic State group, which broke away from al-Qaida, has declared a proto-state straddling the border of Iraq and Syria. Saudi Arabia and other countries in the region have been critical of the U.S.' reluctance of entering the Syrian civil war— in which Iran, a major non-Arab rival to the region, has been a main backer of the government of President Bashar Assad.

The Saudi government said after its weekly Cabinet meeting Monday that it supports the "firm" Arab League position. Iraq is in the midst of an unprecedented crisis after the Islamic State group's offensive, which included militants committing beheadings and mass killings while targeting minorities in the country.

In Monday's attack, the bomber drove an explosives-laden Humvee, apparently seized from the Iraqi military, into the gathering of a major Sunni tribe, the Jabour, and security forces in Duluiyah, some 80 kilometers (45 miles) north of Baghdad, a police officer said.

The explosion killed 16 and wounded at least 55 people, the officer said. A health official confirmed the casualties. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to journalists.

The town of Duluiyah briefly fell to the Sunni-dominated Islamic State group for few days in July but the Jabour tribesmen, who have aligned themselves with the Iraqi forces in the battle against the extremists, took it back.

After the suicide bombing, militants crossed a small river on Duluiyah's outskirts and attacked the town, setting off fierce clashes. In an online statement, the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for Monday's attack, saying two Saudi suicide bombers had targeted a police building and the gathering of Sunni militiamen. The authenticity of the statement could not be independently verified, but it was posted on a Twitter account frequently used by the militant group. Iraqi officials confirmed only one suicide attack.

The rampage by Islamic State fighters has become Iraq's worst crisis since the 2011 withdrawal of U.S. troops. Iraqi security forces and Shiite militias have been fighting against the militants with assistance from U.S. airstrikes, which contributed to some progress on the ground.

After U.S. airstrikes, Iraqi security forces on Monday retook the Anbar provincial town of Barwana, across the Euphrates River from the town of Haditha, about 220 kilometers (140 miles) northwest of Baghdad.

Meanwhile, parliament was scheduled to vote Monday on a new government, a key step in facing the Islamic State group. But it was still unclear whether the session would go ahead as planned since political rivals continued negotiating on the proposed lineup for Cabinet by Prime Minister-designate Haider al-Abadi.

El Deeb reported from Cairo.

Associated Press writers Murtada Faraj and Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad and Maamoun Youssef in Cairo contributed to this report.

New UN Rights Chief: Syria, Iraq Is First Priority

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Prince Zeid al Hussein of Jordan adresses his first statement in his new role during the 27th session of the Human Rights Council, at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Monday, Sept. 8, 2014.

GENEVA (AP) — In his first speech as U.N. human rights chief, Zeid al-Hussein has called Syria a "slaughterhouse" and the Islamic State group sprung from the civil war's chaos an unprecedented force of violence against ethnic and religious groups.

The veteran diplomat and campaigner for international justice says the world's first urgent priority should be to halt the increasingly conjoined conflicts in Iraq and Syria. Zeid, who is the first U.N. human rights chief from the Muslim and Arab worlds, also told the U.N. Human Rights Council on Monday that at least 3,000 people were killed since mid-April in Ukraine.

His four-year post began Sept. 1. He previously served as Jordan's U.N. ambassador and ran for secretary-general before Ban Ki-moon was chosen for the job.

Cease-Fire Holds In eastern Ukraine

 Pro-Russian rebels sit in their car with a heavy machine gun in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, Sunday, Sept. 7, 2014. Strong explosions were heard early Sunday on the outskirts of the main rebel-held city in eastern Ukraine near the airport, raising new fears that a cease-fire signed two days ago is on the verge of collapse. Blasts powerful enough to be heard in downtown Donetsk came from the area near the airport, which has been under the control of government troops since May and has come under unremitting attacks from pro-Russia separatist rebels since then.

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — A cease-fire between pro-Russian rebels and Ukrainian government troops appeared to be largely holding in eastern Ukraine Monday, a day after shelling and clashes rattled nerves and imperiled the peace deal.

In a statement published online, the city council of Donetsk said there had been no reported casualties overnight and that public transport would be up and running on Tuesday. No shelling or explosions could be heard overnight in downtown Donetsk.

The regional administration of Donetsk announced that Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko would be traveling to the coastal city of Mariupol on Monday, a symbolic show of strength in a government-held city that has come under rebel fire in recent days.

The area around Mariupol had remained relatively untouched by violence until recent weeks, when rebel forces pushed toward the coastal town, shelling the city's outskirts as recently as Saturday. The city is strategically placed on the Sea of Azov coastline, raising fears that the Moscow-backed rebels could be pushing to link up mainland Russia with Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula annexed by Russia in March.

The Interfax-Ukraine news agency reported Monday that 15 Ukrainian soldiers had been released by rebel forces, another key element of a peace deal between the rebels and Ukrainian troops. The cease-fire was imposed late Friday, but was thrown into peril over the weekend by the Mariupol shelling and fighting near the airport of Donetsk. A previous 10-day cease-fire in June was riddled by reports of violations on both sides.

Monkey Study: Ebola Vaccine Works, Needs Booster

Nigerian representative Ambrose Isah of the Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety (GACVS), left, talking with World Health Organization (WHO) Health Systems and Innovation Medical Officer Patrick Zuber during a WHO conference with international experts in Geneva, Switzerland, on experimental therapies and vaccines with potential to treat or prevent Ebola virus disease.

WASHINGTON (AP) — New monkey studies show that one shot of an experimental Ebola vaccine can trigger fast protection, but the effect waned unless the animals got a booster shot made a different way.

Some healthy people are rolling up their sleeves at the National Institutes of Health for the first human safety study of this vaccine in hopes it eventually might be used in the current Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

The NIH on Sunday published some of the key animal research behind those injections. One reason the vaccine was deemed promising was that a single dose protected all four vaccinated monkeys when they were exposed to high levels of Ebola virus just five weeks later, researchers reported in the journal Nature Medicine.

Is five weeks fast enough? That's in line with other vaccines routinely used today, and fortunately it didn't take multiple doses to trigger that much protection, said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, whose employees led the work.

The bigger challenge is that the protection wanes over time. Researchers exposed monkeys to Ebola 10 months after vaccination, and this time only half were protected. Partial protection is better than none, Fauci said. But the goal is long-lasting protection, so it was time to try booster shots. The vaccine is made with a chimpanzee cold virus, used as a delivery system for pieces of an Ebola gene. The researchers tried simply giving another dose as a booster two months later. That didn't work well enough.

So they tried a different approach called "prime-boost." The first dose, to prime the immune system, was that original chimp virus-based Ebola vaccine. But for the booster two months later, they made vaccine a different way. They encased the same Ebola gene pieces inside a poxvirus that's used to make a vaccine against smallpox. (Neither vaccine type can cause Ebola.)

This time, all four monkeys still were protected 10 months after the initial shot. With the Ebola crisis rapidly worsening, the World Health Organization said Friday that it would try to speed the use of certain experimental products, including two vaccine candidates. The WHO said that in November, it expects early results from first-stage studies to see if the vaccine appears safe and triggers an immune reaction in people. That would help determine whether to test the shots' effectiveness in health care workers in West Africa.

Small animal and human safety studies cannot guarantee that experimental vaccines really work in an outbreak, Fauci said. That's why he emphasizes public health measures such as isolating the sick, quarantine and, especially for health workers, using personal protection equipment.

"Make sure people do what works," he said. The booster-shot findings illustrate an added complexity to speeding an experimental vaccine into the field. The initial first phase study results would shed light only on that "priming" vaccine made from the chimp cold virus, Fauci said. The poxvirus booster step would be tested later only if scientists decided the initial vaccine was promising enough.

Still, manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline has said it plans to begin manufacturing up to 10,000 doses of the initial NIH-developed vaccine. Canadian researchers created a similar Ebola vaccine that works in monkeys. Manufacturer NewLink Genetics of Ames, Iowa, said first-stage safety testing in healthy volunteers is set to begin in a few weeks.

Islamic Extremists Grab Towns In Northeast Nigeria

Vigilantes and local hunters armed with machetes and guns shout slogans as they gather outside the Emir's palace in Maiduguri, Nigeria, Thursday, Sept. 4, 2014. The United States is preparing to launch a "major" border security program to help Nigeria and its neighbors combat the increasing number and scope of attacks by Islamic extremists, a senior U.S. official for Africa said Thursday.

YOLA, NIGERIA (AP) — Nigeria's Islamic extremist group, Boko Haram, has seized more towns along Nigeria's northeastern border with Cameroon and is adopting a strategy of encouraging civilians to stay, witnesses said Sunday, as the militants pursue their new aim to carve out an "Islamic caliphate" under their black and white flag.

Nigerian army soldiers fled when hundreds of insurgents in stolen military armored personnel carriers, trucks and motorcycles attacked Gulak, an administrative headquarters of Adamawa state, said resident Michael Kirshinga, who also ran away. The nearby towns of Duhu, Shuwa, Kirshinga and others also fell in assaults over Friday night and Saturday, witnesses said.

Further north, soldiers fought off rebels advancing Saturday on Maiduguri, the Borno state capital, headquarters of the military campaign against the insurgency and the birthplace of Boko Haram. The military attacked the rebels' camp at a village outside Kondudga, just 25 miles (40 kilometers) from Maiduguri.

Thunderous gunfire could be heard in Maiduguri throughout Saturday, instilling fear in already panicked residents. Hundreds fled the city even before hearing the sounds of battle. The soldiers killed dozens of the extremists outside Konduga, said a member of the vigilante group that fights alongside the military. The soldiers were sent to retake the town of Bama, which fell to Boko Haram a week ago, but stopped at Konduga and refused to advance further, said a vigilante commander. Both spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press.

Bama is littered with bodies, residents who fled the town told the AP. The extremists were killing men, but sparing women and children, they said. In Gulak, however, the insurgents were trying to persuade people to stay, said resident Michael Kirshinga. "They assured us that they will not attack us, but people begun to run for their lives, some of us have fled for fear that, after subduing the soldiers, the insurgents will turn their (gun) barrels on us," Kirshinga said.

Nearly 26,000 people fled Bama, the Nigerian Emergency Management Agency reported. Those fleeing joined 1.5 million people forced from their homes since Nigeria declared a state of emergency in May 2013, according to U.N. figures. They need shelter and food, and officials warn of a looming food crisis since most refugees are farmers.

A Ministry of Defense statement Friday tried to reassure residents without success. Most fearful are students and staff at the University of Maiduguri, which is alongside a dry riverbed and on the road from Konduga to Maiduguri, a route Boko Haram has used in past attacks on the city.

"We are so very scared. If they are to come attacking, as has been rumored, we doubt if they would spare us because they have to pass in front of our school before getting to the town," student Halima Muhammad told The Associated Press. He said students writing end of term exams can barely concentrate.

In December, Boko Haram attacked the main Air Force base used for bombing raids on their camps, destroying five aircraft. In February, the militants assaulted the main army barracks in Maiduguri and freed hundreds of detainees. Boko Haram's April kidnapping of more than 300 schoolgirls, of whom more than 200 remain captive, attracted international attention and promises of help from several countries including the United States, China and former colonizer Britain.

Nigeria has a large army of some 80,000 troops with a budget of $2.3 billion but demoralized soldiers say they are outgunned by Boko Haram, and that some of their colleagues are colluding with and even fighting for the insurgents. Endemic corruption has officers stealing some of the pay of the rank and file, who complain they are dumped in remote areas and ordered to fight without food or water despite blistering temperatures.

Boko Haram now holds a string of towns in all three of the northeastern states that have been under a military emergency since May 2014 — Adamawa, Yobe and hardest-hit Borno. The seizures come as the United States announced that it is about to launch a major border security program for Nigeria and its neighbors to fight Boko Haram.

U.S. assistant secretary for African affairs, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, made the announcement Thursday when she and the United Nations expressed deep concern about the deteriorating security situation. In an apparent rebuke to the Nigerian government and the military's denials of the perilous situation, she said it was "past time for denial and pride."

Faul contributed from Johannesburg. AP writer Haruna Umar contributed to this report from Maiduguri, Nigeria.

FG Assures Nigerians Of Winning War Against Ebola

...403 Contacts Under Surveillance in Rivers

 BY LARA ADEJORO, DAILY TIMES NIGERIA, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2014

The Federal Government has assured Nigerians that it will win the war against the spread of the dreaded Ebola Virus Disease (EVD).  

The Minister of Health, Professor Onybuchi Chukwu, who gave the assurance in Port Harcourt, Friday while briefing newsmen shortly after meeting with members of the Rivers State Emergency Operations Committee (EOC), disclosed that the total number of contact under surveillance in the state have reached 403. 

Chukwu stated that there was no cause for alarm over the number, as such number was also recorded in Lagos, with a total of 320 being discharged after spending the required 21 days under observation. 

He said, “The situation of Ebola Virus Disease in Rivers State is that you cannot get it just by walking along the road or just by living in Rivers State. You are free to visit Rivers State; there is no problem. Luckily, the Nigerian government says we are not closing our borders. We make sure that if you are coming in, you are safe, and if you are going out, you are safe for the world. 

“So, in Rivers State, confirmed cases so far remain the same four, which I told you from Abuja, it has not changed. Four have been confirmed. Total numbers of people who have died from the disease in Rivers State are two; the doctor and then, the non-health worker, a lady. Now, the other two are alive; one is under treatment in Lagos, and the other is under treatment here in Rivers State.