Spaniard Has Ebola In 1st Infection Outside Africa

APSpain's Health Minister Ana Mato walks past members of the media as she leaves a news conference on the first reported incident of Ebola transmission outside Africa, in Madrid, Spain, Monday, Oct. 6, 2014. A Spanish nurse who treated a missionary for the disease at a Madrid hospital tested positive for the virus, Mato said Monday. The female nurse was part of the medical team that treated a 69-year-old Spanish priest who died in a hospital last month after being flown back from Sierra Leone, where he was posted.

MADRID, SPAIN (ASSOCIATED PRESS) — In the first known transmission of the outbreak of Ebola outside West Africa, a Spanish nurse who treated a missionary for the disease at a Madrid hospital has tested positive for the virus, Spain's health minister said Monday.

The female nurse was part of the medical team that cared for a 69-year-old Spanish priest who died Sept. 25 in a Madrid hospital designated for treating Ebola patients after he was flown home from Sierra Leone, where he served as the medical director of a hospital there treating infected Ebola patients, Health Minister Ana Mato said.

The nurse is believed to have contracted the virus from that priest, though she was also a member of the team that treated another Spanish priest who died earlier from Ebola. More than 370 health workers in West Africa have become infected in the outbreak, and more than half of those have died. Doctors and nurses there have worked under difficult conditions, treating patients in overflowing wards, sometimes without proper protection. But even under ideal conditions, experts warn that caring for Ebola patients always involves a risk.

WHO estimates the latest Ebola outbreak has killed more than 3,400 people. The World Health Organization on Monday night confirmed there has not been a transmission outside West Africa in the current outbreak prior to the Spanish nurse.

WHO spokeswoman Fadela Chaib told The Associated Press that the only confirmed cases were in West Africa and the United States, with no known transmission outside West Africa. The organization is awaiting official notification of the case from Spanish authorities, she added.

The Spanish nurse went on vacation the day after the priest died but checked in Sunday to a public hospital in the working class Madrid suburb of Alcorcon with a fever and was placed in isolation. Mato said the infection was confirmed by two tests.

Antonio Alemany, Madrid's director of primary health care, told reporters that the woman had no symptoms besides the fever and that authorities were drawing up a list of people the nurse had contact with so they can be monitored.

He did not say where the married woman with no children spent her vacation, nor did he specify whether health authorities are checking people who she came into contact with where she went for vacation.

She is the only person quarantined in Spain but her husband and health workers who cared for her during her admission to the hospital Sunday are being monitored. Authorities gave no details on how they were being monitored.

The nurse cared for Manuel Garcia Viejo, who was in charge of the San Juan del Dios hospital in Lunsar, Sierra Leone. In August, she also assisted in the treatment of 75-year-old Spanish priest Miguel Pajares, also flown back to Spain from Liberia. He died after being treated with the experimental Ebola medicine ZMapp but authorities said Garcia Viejo was not given the treatment because worldwide supplies ran out.

Just after midnight Tuesday, the nurse was transferred from the hospital in Alcorcon for treatment at Madrid's Carlos III hospital, where the two priests were cared for until they died. She was taken there in a convoy of ambulances accompanied by a police escort.

Spanish authorities said they were investigating how the nurse became infected at a hospital with modern health care facilities and special equipment for handling cases of deadly viruses. The virus that causes Ebola spreads only through direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person showing symptoms.

Barry Hatton in Lisbon, Portugal, Sarah DiLorenzo in Dakar, Senegal, Alan Clendenning in Madrid and Frank Jordans in Berlin contributed to this report.

How Same-Sex Marriage Is Unfolding In 11 States

AP Plaintiffs Moudi Sbeity, right, and his partner Derek Kitchen, one of three couples who brought the lawsuit against Utah's gay marriage ban, kiss following a news conference Monday, Oct. 6, 2014, in Salt Lake City. The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal from Utah and four other states that had sought to bar weddings between gay couples.

The Supreme Court effectively legalized gay marriage in 11 more states Monday, for a total of 30, when it rejected a set of appeals. As many as 60 percent of Americans now live in states where same-sex marriage is legal.

Here's what's happening Monday in the affected states:

COLORADO

Pueblo County is now issuing marriage licenses to gay couples. The decision from county Clerk Bo Ortiz comes after Republican state Attorney General John Suthers said Monday his office will file motions seeking to quickly lift federal and state court rulings that halted gay marriage. Suthers has yet to advise clerks if they can begin issuing licenses, but Ortiz said there was never a court order against Pueblo County to delay.

INDIANA

Gov. Mike Pence reaffirmed his commitment to traditional marriage on Monday but said he will follow the law regarding unions of same-sex couples. Pence said people are free to disagree over the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to reject an appeal of a ruling striking down Indiana's gay marriage ban. But he said people are not free to disobey the decision. County clerks have issued a few licenses to same-sex couples but say they've seen no mention of Monday weddings.

KANSAS

The Sedgwick County Courthouse is turning away same-sex couples seeking to get a marriage license after the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday cleared the way for such unions. Kerry Wilks and Donna Ditrani went to the courthouse in Wichita with their minister on Monday to get a marriage license. After the clerk refused to give them paperwork to get a license, the couple said they'd be happy to be plaintiffs in a lawsuit expected to be filed by the American Civil Liberties Union challenging the Kansas ban.

NORTH CAROLINA

The American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina says it will file a request seeking an immediate ruling from a federal judge overturning the state's ban as unconstitutional. North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper has previously said that a federal appeals ruling overturning Virginia's ban is binding in his state and that he does not intend to file any further appeals or seek delays.

OKLAHOMA

Mary Bishop and Sharon Baldwin were among the same-sex couples in Oklahoma who were issued marriage licenses Monday. The two were plaintiffs in a challenge to Oklahoma's ban on gay marriage, which was overturned by a federal appeals court earlier this year. The Tulsa County Court Clerk's Office issued the couple a license Monday afternoon. Bishop and Baldwin said they planned to have a wedding ceremony later Monday in Tulsa. Same-sex marriage licenses also were issued to couples in several other Oklahoma counties Monday.

SOUTH CAROLINA

South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson said he will continue to fight to uphold the state constitution's ban on gay marriage. He pointed out that a judge has not ruled on a lawsuit by a gay couple legally married in Washington, D.C., seeking to overturn the South Carolina gay marriage ban. A lawyer for the same-sex couple, Carrie Warner, said she will soon file paperwork asking a federal judge to immediately rule in their favor. The attorneys said they hope the state will realize that money spent fighting the ban could be used in other ways.

UTAH

Gay couples in Utah began applying for marriage licenses Monday, and a handful of same-sex weddings occurred in Salt Lake County. Gov. Gary Herbert directed state agencies to recognize the marriages. Troy Williams, the executive director of the LGBT advocacy group Equality Utah, said the organization is overjoyed for the families involved.

VIRGINIA

Gay couples have started marrying in Virginia. Thirty-year-old Lindsey Oliver and 42-year-old Nicole Pries received the first same-sex marriage license issued from the Richmond Circuit Court Clerk's office shortly after 1 p.m. Upon leaving the courthouse, they were married by gay-rights advocate The Rev. Robin Gorsline. The couple said Monday also was the anniversary of a commitment ceremony they held on a North Carolina beach three years ago.

WEST VIRGINIA

Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, a Republican, said he is still figuring out how the state's case will be affected. "In light of the U.S. Supreme Court's surprising decision to not review this matter, we are analyzing the implications for the West Virginia case," spokeswoman Beth Gorczyca Ryan said in an email.

WISCONSIN

County clerks were accepting applications for marriage licenses from gay couples on Monday, but relatively few were submitted. In Milwaukee and Dane counties, where most of the roughly 500 same-sex weddings took place in June before a federal judge's decision was put on hold, only three or four applications were turned in. Dane County Clerk Scott McDonnell said he thought most same-sex couples who did not marry last summer would likely take their time planning weddings. And even those who wanted to tie the knot quickly were unlikely to do so Monday. Wisconsin has a five-day waiting period to receive a marriage license after an application is made.

WYOMING

A state district judge has scheduled a Dec. 15 hearing on their request by three same-sex couples and Wyoming Equality to grant the right to marry. The Wyoming case is similar but not identical to those in federal court, and those fighting for gay marriage in Wyoming were hesitant to declare unconditional victory. But same-sex marriage could be legal in Wyoming by year's end.

Feds: Illinois Teen Sought To Join Islamic State

The parents of Mohammed Hamzah Khan, a 19-year-old U.S. citizen from Bolingbrook, Ill., leave the Dirksen federal building Monday, Oct. 6, 2014 in Chicago. Their son, Mohammed Hamzah Khan, was was arrested Saturday at O'Hare International Airport, from where he intended to travel to Turkey so that he could sneak into Syria to join the Islamic State group, according to criminal complaint released Monday. Khan is charged with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. A federal judge has ordered him held until a detention hearing Thursday.

CHICAGO (AP) — A 19-year-old American left a letter expressing disgust with Western society before trying to board an international flight in Chicago, the first step in his plan to sneak into Syria to join the Islamic State group, according to a federal criminal complaint released Monday.

Mohammed Hamzah Khan, who lived with his parents in the Chicago suburb of Bolingbrook, was arrested Saturday at O'Hare International Airport trying to board a plane on the first leg of connecting flights to Turkey, which borders Syria. He is charged with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist group, which carries a maximum 15-year prison sentence.

Investigators said Khan left a three-page, handwritten letter in his bedroom for his parents that expressed anger over his U.S. taxes being used to kill his "Muslim brothers and sisters," an apparent reference to a bombing campaign against Islamic State militants.

"We are all witness that the western societies are getting more immoral day by day," he wrote, then signed letter, "Your loving son," according to court documents. Khan appeared in a federal court Monday in orange jail clothes, calmly telling a federal magistrate he understood the allegations. As marshals led him away in handcuffs, the slight, bearded young man turned to smile at his parents — his father putting his arm around Khan's weeping mother.

About a dozen Americans are believed to be fighting in Syria, while more than 100 have either been arrested on their way to Syria or went and came back, FBI Director James Comey said recently without offering details.

Khan sought to fly Austrian Airlines to Istanbul by way of Vienna when customs officers stopped him going through security at O'Hare's international terminal. While FBI agents interviewed him there, investigators searched his home.

It's unclear why authorities stopped Khan. Prosecutors, Khan's federal defender attorney and his parents didn't comment after Monday's hearing. In the letter found by FBI agents, Khan also pleaded that his parents not contact authorities. Other documents found during the search of his home included a notebook drawing of what appeared to be an armed fighter with an Islamic State flag and the words "Come to Jihad" written in Arabic, according to the complaint.

Also found were drawings with arrows indicating where Khan might cross the border into Syria from Turkey. Khan allegedly told FBI agents that an online source gave him the number of a person to contact when he got to Istanbul who would lead him to Islamic State members. When asked what he would do once in territory controlled by the Islamic State, Khan allegedly said he would "be involved in some type of public service, a police force, humanitarian work or a combat role," according to the complaint.

Khan was ordered to remain jailed until at least a detention hearing Thursday. Prosecutors indicated they would ask he stay behind bars pending trial. At a two-story house believed to be his family's home, no one would address reporters outside. But neighbor Steve Moore, 31, described Khan as a soft spoken and polite, saying the young man his family were always friendly and quick to say hello.
Another young man from the Chicago area also is accused of trying to join militants in Syria. Abdella Tounisi, of Aurora, was arrested last year at O'Hare when he was 18. He has pleaded not guilty to seeking to provide material support to al-Qaida-affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra in Syria.

AP Writers Tammy Webber and Don Babwin also contributed to this report.

Follow Michael Tarm on Twitter at http://twitter.com/mtarm

Saudi: Hajj Free Of Ebola Amid Protective Measures

Thousands of Muslim pilgrims make their way to throw stones at a pillar, symbolizing the stoning of Satan during the annual pilgrimage, known as the hajj, outside of Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

MINA, SAUDI ARABIA (AP) — Saudi Arabia's acting health minister said Monday that this year's hajj has been free of Ebola and other contagious diseases because of measures taken by the kingdom to protect more than 2 million pilgrims who took part in the annual Islamic pilgrimage.

The hajj, which lasts around five days, ends Monday. Pilgrims began leaving the desert tent city of Mina, where they were taking part in the ritual of the stoning of the devil, one of the last rites of the hajj. Many headed back to Mecca, ending the hajj as they started it by circling the cube-shaped Kaaba seven times.

There were concerns regarding Saudi Arabia's readiness to ensure a healthy hajj for pilgrims after the kingdom became the epicenter for the potentially fatal Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, or MERS. Several health workers and doctors died of that coronavirus in Saudi Arabia earlier this year, raising alarm about the safety of hospitals.

Acting Health Minister Adel Faqih told reporters that the kingdom deployed thousands of health workers during the hajj and performed data screening on pilgrims upon arrival to the kingdom as a precaution.

"I am pleased to announce that the hajj ... was free of epidemic diseases. May God accept the pilgrimage of our guests and ensure that they enjoy good health and wellness," Faqih said. Faqih told The Associated Press on the sidelines of the press conference that the kingdom's ban on issuing visas to people from Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea would remain in place for the foreseeable future. The measure affects some 7,400 would-be pilgrims from the west African countries, which have been the hardest hit by the virus.

"That will continue until further notice until we are comfortable that it is not anymore an epidemic in these countries," Faqih said. The World Health Organization estimates that Ebola has killed more than 3,400 people.

A Look At The Married Couples Who Have Won Nobels

APThis is handout image provided NTNU in Troondheim Norway on Monday Oct. 6, 2014 of Edvard Moser and his wife May-Britt Moser in a laboratory in in Trondheim in 2008. 

STOCKHOLM (ASSOCIATED PRESS) — Norwegians May-Britt Moser and Edvard Moser are not the first husband-and-wife team to win a Nobel Prize together.

Three other couples have shared a Nobel award for their successful collaboration in the sciences, while a Swedish couple won one Nobel Prize each in different categories. The Mosers shared the Nobel Prize in medicine on Monday with U.S.-British scientist John O'Keefe for their discovery of the brain's positioning system. Here's a look at the previous married couples who have won Nobel Prizes:

MARIE CURIE AND PIERRE CURIE In 1903, Polish-born Marie Curie and her French husband Pierre Curie shared the Nobel Prize in physics with Antoine Henri Becquerel for the "their joint researches on the radiation phenomena." Becquerel's 1897 discovery of radioactivity had inspired the Curies to investigate it further and they managed to extract two previously unknown elements: polonium and radium, both of which were more radioactive than uranium. While Pierre was killed in a street accident in Paris in 1906, Marie won a second Nobel Prize in 1911, this time in chemistry for her work in radioactivity.

FREDERIC JOLIOT and IRENE JOLIOT

CURIE

Irene Joliot-Curie, the daughter of Pierre and Marie, also won a Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1935 together with her husband Frederic Joliot, who worked as an assistant to her mother at the Radium Institute in Paris. Together they researched the structure of the atom, an essential step in the discovery of the neutron. They also took part in building the first French early nuclear reactor in 1948.

CARL CORI and GERTY CORI

In 1947, Carl Cori and his wife Gerty Cori shared the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine with Bernardo Alberto Houssay for "their discovery of the course of the catalytic conversion of glycogen." The pair married in 1920, the same year they both earned doctorates in medicine from the German University of Prague. They later moved to the United States and worked together in Buffalo, New York, and in St. Louis, Missouri. They became naturalized Americans in 1928.

ALVA MYRDAL and GUNNAR MYRDAL

Sweden's Alva Myrdal and Gunnar Myrdal, who married in 1924 and were active in the Social Democratic Party, both won Nobel prizes but in different years and in separate categories. Gunnar, a professor at the Stockholm School of Economics and a member of the Swedish parliament, shared the 1974 economics prize with Austria's Friedrich August von Hayek for "their pioneering work in the theory of money and economic fluctuations." Eight years later in the midst of the Cold War, diplomat and politician Alva Myrdal shared the Nobel Peace Prize with Mexican Alfonso Garcia Robles for their roles in U.N disarmament negotiations.

3 Win Medicine Nobel For Discovering Brain's GPS

Images of the winners of the 2014 Nobel Prize for Medicine, U.S.-British scientist John O'Keefe and Norwegian husband and wife Edvard Moser and May-Britt Moser are projected on a screen during the announcement of the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

STOCKHOLM (AP) — A U.S.-British scientist who grew up in the South Bronx and a husband-and-wife research team from Norway won the Nobel Prize in medicine Monday for discovering the brain's navigation system — the inner GPS that helps us find our way in the world — revelations could lead to advances in diagnosing Alzheimer's.

The research by John O'Keefe, May-Britt Moser and Edvard Moser represents a "paradigm shift" in neuroscience that could help researchers understand the sometimes severe spatial memory loss associated with Alzheimer's disease, the Nobel Assembly said.

"This year's Nobel Laureates have discovered a positioning system, an 'inner GPS' in the brain, that makes it possible to orient ourselves in space," the assembly said. O'Keefe, 74, a dual U.S. and British citizen at the University College London, discovered the first component of this system in 1971 when he found that a certain type of nerve cell was always activated when a rat was at a certain place in a room. He demonstrated that these place cells were building up a map of the environment, not just registering visual input.

Decades later, in 2005, May-Britt and Edvard Moser, married neuroscientists at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim, identified another type of nerve cell — the grid cell — that generates a coordinate system for precise positioning and path-finding, the assembly said.

Monday's award was the fourth time that a married couple has shared a Nobel Prize and the second time in the medicine category. "This is crazy," an excited May-Britt Moser, 51, told The Associated Press by telephone from Trondheim.

"This is such a great honor for all of us and all the people who have worked with us and supported us," she said. "We are going to continue and hopefully do even more groundbreaking work in the future."

Her 52-year-old husband didn't immediately find out about the prize because he was flying Monday to the Max Planck Institute in Munich to demonstrate their research. Edvard Moser only discovered he had won after he landed in Munich, turned on his cellphone and saw a flood of emails, text messages and missed calls.

"It's a great moment. I am grateful to everyone who has contributed to this, including everyone who is and has been in our lab," he said later Monday. "And it shows that it is possible to create good science, if you do it in the right way. I think it's a big stimulation for science both at home in Norway and throughout the world."

The Nobel Assembly said the discoveries marked a shift in scientists' understanding of how specialized cells work together to perform complex cognitive tasks. They have also opened new avenues for understanding cognitive functions such as memory, thinking and planning.

"Thanks to our grid and place cells, we don't have to walk around with a map to find our way each time we visit a city, because we have that map in our head," said Juleen Zierath, chair of the medicine prize committee. "I think, without these cells, we would have a really hard time to survive."

O'Keefe told the AP he was working at home when his office called to say "there's a gentleman from Sweden who wants to have a word with you." "Before I called him, I took a long, deep breath," O'Keefe said, speaking at his office at University College London.

O'Keefe was born in Harlem and raised in the South Bronx. "If you can survive the South Bronx, you can survive anything," he said. He moved to England for postdoctoral training and found the place cells in a part of the brain called the hippocampus. The Mosers, meanwhile, identified the grid cells in a nearby section of the brain known as the entorhinal cortex.

O'Keefe said his work could be used as a basis for investigating Alzheimer's. "So we can not only use brain imaging to see the earliest signs of the disease in this part of the brain, but we can begin to see how it is affecting their memory, particularly their spatial memory," he said.

David Foster, a neuroscientist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, said O'Keefe's discovery of place cells was controversial in 1971 but became widely accepted over the next few decades. "He founded the field," Foster said.

Joshua Jacobs, who studies place and grid cells in humans at Drexel University in Philadelphia, said with further understanding of how the internal GPS system works, scientists may be able to develop drugs or devices to help people with Alzheimer's who have lost their ability to navigate.

"It's a little far off," he said. "We're not doing that yet, but that is one payoff that could come from this." All three Nobel laureates won Columbia University's Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize last year for their discoveries. They will split the Nobel prize money of 8 million Swedish kronor (about $1.1 million), with half to O'Keefe and the other half to the Mosers.

The Nobel awards in physics, chemistry, literature and peace will be announced later this week and the economics prize will be announced next Monday. Created by Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, the Nobel Prizes were first awarded in 1901. The winners collect their awards on Dec. 10, the anniversary of Nobel's death in 1896.

Lawless reported from London. Malin Rising in Stockholm, Mark Lewis in Stavanger, Norway, and Malcolm Ritter in New York contributed to this report.

Nobel Prize In Literature: Oh Really? Or Finally?

Peter Englund, permanent secretary of the Royal Swedish Academy, arrives to announce the winner of the Nobel Prize in literature, in Stockholm. Thursday Oct. 9, 2014 is the festive day of the year for highbrow culture when the winner of the Nobel Prize in literature is revealed. The secretive academy drops no hints on who they consider, but Permanent Secretary Peter Englund has said this year’s long-list started with 210 nominees, including 36 first-timers.

STOCKHOLM (ASSOCIATED PRESS) — It's soon time for the highbrow culture event of the year: the Nobel Prize in literature. But don't worry if you are left scratching your head when the winner is announced.

While the Swedish Academy sometimes picks well-known authors long lauded by critics, just as frequently it surprises the world with unknowns plucked from obscurity. The secretive academy drops no hints on who they are considering but Permanent Secretary Peter Englund said this year's long-list started with 210 nominees, including 36 first-timers.

The academy is expected to announce the winner on Thursday, but has not yet confirmed the date. Here's a look at the potential surprises and the old-time favorites:

POTENTIAL SURPRISES

Even literary critics were taken aback by announcements of winners such as Austria's Elfriede Jelinek in 2004, who was largely unknown outside the German-speaking world at the time, French writer Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio in 2008 and Chinese novelist Mo Yan in 2012.

Part of the reason for this is that the academy aims to include literature from all the world's corners in their considerations, even those not widely translated into English. They also seek to award poets, playwrights and other types of writers. Who could surprise this year? Check out: Norwegian playwright Jon Fosse, Belarusian investigative journalist and author Svetlana Alexievich or Croatian novelist and essayist Dubravka Ugresic. Other writers that may have caught the attention of the academy are Finnish author Sofi Oksanen, Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Jamaica Kincaid of Antigua, according to Maria Schottenius, a critic at Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter.

ESTABLISHED AUTHORS

The academy works off of a constantly evolving list of candidates, and sometimes a big name resurfaces again and again. While some may have been overlooked early in their careers, widely known authors such as Britain's Doris Lessing, Peru's Mario Vargas Llosa and Canada's Alice Munro eventually did walk off with the coveted prize. Among the frequently mentioned candidates who are still waiting are: Czech author Milan Kundera, Albanian writer Ismail Kadare, Algerian novelist Assia Djebar and South Korean poet Ko Un. Swedish literature critics have also suggested Israeli writers Amos Oz and David Grossman, as well as Americans Richard Ford and Philip Roth.

BETTORS' FAVORITES

Kenyan writer Ngugi wa Thiong'o and Japanese author Haruki Murakami frequently top bettors' lists ahead of the announcement. While Thiong'o may indeed be a strong candidate, Murakami's position in the rankings is probably more a reflection of the fact that he is widely read, says Elise Karlsson, a critic at Swedish daily Svenska Dagbladet. Although the academy has stepped up efforts to prevent leaks before the announcement, the winner is still sometimes among those getting the most attention by bettors.

On Saturday, Murakami was the favorite to win at betting firm Ladbrokes, followed by Djebar, Kadare and Syrian-born poet Adonis, pen name for Ali Ahmed Said.

Follow Malin Rising on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/malinrising

After Dramatic Campaign, Brazilians Set To Vote

Brazilian presidential candidates, from left: Levy Fidelix, of the Brazilian Labour Renewal Party, Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff, candidate for re-election of the Workers Party PT, Marina Silva, of the Brazilian Socialist Party PSB, Eduardo Jorge, of the Green Party, Luciana Genro, of the Socialism and Liberty Party, Aecio Neves, of the Brazilian Social Democracy Party PSDB, and Pastor Everaldo, of the Social Christian Party, pose for a photo before a televised presidential debate in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Thursday, Oct. 2, 2014. Brazil will hold general elections on Oct. 5.

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — If anything, Dilma Rousseff is a survivor.

The former political prisoner-turned-president approaches the end of her first term having lived through cancer, endured raucous, anti-government protests in 2013, brushed past critics to pull off a successful World Cup, and held onto wide support even as Brazil's economy sputtered into recession.

Sunday's presidential election determines the outcome of, perhaps, her most surprising challenge yet: the unexpected rise of Marina Silva, a popular Amazon-born environmentalist who was thrust into the presidential race when a plane crash killed her party's top candidate.

The twists and turns leading up to Latin America's largest election have been the sort of drama even writers of the nation's popular soap operas would have hesitated to invent. How it will end is up to Brazil's electorate of nearly 143 million people.

"It's been the most unpredictable election since the reinstatement of democracy in 1985," said Paulo Sotero, director of the Brazil Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington.

Just weeks ago, Rousseff's chances of survival looked dim, with polls suggesting she and Silva would advance to a runoff vote that Silva was likely to win. But Rousseff fought back aggressively by raising doubts about Silva's qualifications, and support for the high-flying challenger slipped.

Polls released Saturday by Brazil's two leading firms, Datafolha and Ibope, showed Rousseff leading Neves and Silva by about 20 percentage points in Sunday's election, although she appeared to fall short of winning the outright majority she would need to avoid a runoff on Oct. 26.

The Social Democracy Party candidate Neves is an economist and former governor of Minas Gerais, Brazil's second-most populous state, who has strong name recognition. His grandfather, Tancredo Neves, was a widely beloved figure who was chosen to become Brazil's first post-dictatorship president but fell ill and died before taking office.

Datafolha's survey published Saturday showed Neves and Silva in a technical tie considering the poll's margin of error as they headed into Sunday's vote, 26 percent to 24 percent. An Ibope poll on Saturday had 27 percent for Neves and 24 percent for Silva, also with a 2 percentage point margin of error.

Both polls suggest Rousseff likely would beat either challenger in a runoff. Voters will cast ballots via electronic machines Sunday and results are expected to be known within hours of poll closing at 5 p.m. local time (6 p.m. EDT, 2200 GMT in the country's far west). Voting is mandatory for Brazilians aged 18 to 70, and optional for those as young as 16 or over 70. Organizers dispatched some 530,000 voting devices to reach even far corners of the country, the fifth-largest in the world. Officials in jungle villages deep in the Amazon had machines sent in by boat.

Rousseff Workers' Party has held the presidency since the 2002 election of her predecessor and mentor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. On Saturday, Rousseff campaigned hard in Neves' home state, where she's held a surprising advantage in polls, while Marina Silva focused her efforts on reversing her falling support in Sao Paulo. Neves shadowed Rousseff, making stops in Minas Gerais in search of every crucial vote that could propel him into a runoff.

Rousseff promised to continue strong state involvement in the economy, even though critics complain it creates a poor business environment and the main stock market tumbled every time a new poll showed Rousseff on the rise.

The Workers' Party has the support of many in the lower classes due to social programs that helped move 40 million people into the middle class since 2003 and take several million others out of extreme poverty. While the economy has been stagnant under Rousseff, unemployment remains at historic lows.

Nevertheless, it was discontent among the newly minted middle class that fueled demonstrations last year when millions of Brazilians took to the streets, paralyzing the nation for two weeks, to demand better health care, schools, transportation and security.

"Brazil is a country that has isolated itself because of its protectionist trade policy. It has lost ground in the economic area but at the same time created this middle class, a modest middle class, but one that is very numerous," Sotero said. "They've seen the Promised Land and now they want to get there, and they'll continue to pressure whoever leads the government."

Silva, for her part, has surrounded herself with a more centrist economic team that wants to give independence to the Central Bank and look for opportunities beyond the region's frail trade bloc, Mercosur. She wants Brazil to seek bilateral trade deals with Europe and the U.S., streamline government spending and push political reforms in an effort to lessen corruption. Critics say Silva, who represents the Socialist Party, wants to both invoke austerity and expand popular social programs without saying how they would be bankrolled.

Many admire the convent-educated Silva, who overcame childhood illness and poverty to rise in politics. She served 16 years in the Senate and more than five years as environment minister, crafting the policies that curtailed deforestation of the Amazon.

"It's going to be a tough choice," said Vania Oliveira, a 29-year-old newsstand vendor in Rio who said she's leaning toward voting for Silva but had yet to fully commit. "Dilma and the Workers' Party have been in power for so long, and they have helped so many people. But it's tempting to vote for Marina because we now need to deepen the advances," she said. "We need better health care, education and security. We've gained a lot — but we want more."

Follow Brad Brooks on Twitter: www.twitter.com/bradleybrooks

Video: Islamic State Group Beheads British Hostage

Graphic shows timeline of Islamic State actions and beheadings; 3c x 5 inches; 146 mm x 127 mm;

CAIRO, EGYPT (AP) — An Internet video released Friday purports to show an Islamic State group fighter beheading British hostage Alan Henning, the fourth such killing carried out by the extremist group now targeted in U.S.-led airstrikes.

The video mirrored other beheading videos shot by the Islamic State group, which now holds territory along the border of Syria and Iraq, and ended with a militant threatening a man they identified as an American named Peter Kassig.

"Obama, you have started your aerial bombardment of Sham (Syria), which keeps on striking our people, so it is only right that we continue to strike the necks of your people," the masked militant in the video said.

National Security Council Spokesperson Caitlin Hayden confirmed that Kassig was held by Islamic State militants. "At this point we have no reason to doubt the authenticity of the video released earlier today. We will continue to use every tool at our disposal -- military, diplomatic, law enforcement and intelligence - to try to bring Peter home to his family," Hayden said in a statement Friday night.
The Associated Press could not immediately verify the video's authenticity, though it was released in the same manner as other Islamic State group videos and the masked militant sounded similar to the one who carried out the other slayings.

In a statement, the British Foreign Office said it was working to verify the video. "If true, this is a further disgusting murder," the statement read. "We are offering the family every support possible; they ask to be left alone at this time."

Britain has been supporting U.S. military efforts against the Islamic State group by using British forces to help with logistics and intelligence gathering, as well as recently taking part in airstrikes in Iraq. The Internet video released Friday begins with a news clip announcing British strikes against the Islamic State group.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said Henning's apparent slaying showed "how barbaric and repulsive these terrorists are." "Alan had gone to Syria to help get aid to people of all faiths in their hour of need," Cameron said in a statement. "The fact that he was taken hostage when trying to help others and now murdered demonstrates that there are no limits to the depravity of these ... terrorists.
"We will do all we can to hunt down these murderers and bring them to justice." President Barack Obama's counterterrorism adviser, Lisa Monaco, said the U.S. had seen the video and was evaluating it. Later, Obama said the United States strongly condemned Henning's "brutal murder." He said the U.S., along with Britain and other allies, will "work to bring the perpetrators of Alan's murder" to justice and will continue to "taking decisive action to degrade and ultimately destroy" the Islamic State group.

French President Francois Hollande said he is "outraged by the heinous crime." "This crime like previous ones will not be unpunished. France will continue to lend support to the people and authorities of Iraq in their fight against terrorism," Hollande said in a statement.

On Friday night, the U.N. Security Council condemned the video, saying it "once again illustrates the brutality" of the Islamic State group, adding that its members believe "such continued acts of barbarism perpetrated by (the group) do not intimidate them but rather stiffen their resolve."

This is the fourth such video released by the Islamic State group. The full beheadings are not shown in the videos, but the British-accented, English-speaking militant holds a long knife and appears to begin cutting his victims, who include American reporter James Foley, American-Israeli journalist Steven Sotloff, British aid worker David Haines and now Henning.

FBI Director James Comey has said American officials believe they know the identity of the masked militant, though he's declined to name the man or reveal his nationality. Kassig, a 26-year-old American now threatened by the Islamic State group, enlisted in the Army in 2004, and became a Ranger, ultimately serving in the 75th Ranger Regiment, an Army special operations unit.

According to his military record, Kassig trained at Fort Benning, Georgia in 2006, and deployed to Iraq from April to July 2007. He was medically discharged at the rank of private first class in September 2007. His home of record at the time of his enlistment was Indianapolis, Indiana.

His parents, Ed and Paula Kassig, issued a statement asking for the world to pray for their son. "The Kassig family extends our concern for the family of Alan Henning. We have read about his work and his generous character with great respect and admiration," the statement said. "We ask everyone around the world to pray for the Henning family, for our son, and for the release of all innocent people being held hostage in the Middle East and around the globe."

His family said Kassig had been working for the relief organization he found, Special Emergency Response and Assistance, or SERA, when he was captured on Oct. 1, 2013, on his way to Deir Ezzour in eastern Syria. He converted to Islam while in captivity and the family has heard from former hostages that his faith has provided him comfort.\

Henning, 47, nicknamed "Gadget," had joined an aid convoy and was taken captive on Dec. 26, shortly after crossing the border between Turkey and Syria. Earlier this week, Henning's wife Barbara Henning asked the militants in a televised plea: "Please release him. We need him back home."

Dozens of Muslim leaders in Britain had urged the Islamic State group to release Henning. His wife had said she had been given hope by "the outcry across the world" over her husband's imprisonment. Mohammed Shafiq, chief executive of the Ramadhan Foundation, a Muslim charity, called Henning "a British hero."

His "barbaric killing is an attack against all decent people around the world," Shafiq said. The Islamic State group has its roots in al-Qaida's Iraqi affiliate but was expelled from the global terror network over its brutal tactics and refusal to obey orders to confine its activities to Iraq. It became even more extreme amid the bloody 3-year civil war in neighboring Syria, growing stronger to the point of being able to launch a lightning offensive across much of northern Iraq, routing security forces there and shooting down an Iraqi helicopter on Friday. The group has become known for filming and releasing footage of mass shootings it conducts, as well as beheading opponents and targeting religious and ethnic minorities in the areas it attacks.

The extremist group has been widely denounced by mainstream Muslim authorities. Other foreigners are believed held by the Islamic State group. On Friday, the father of John Cantlie, a British photojournalist held by the group, appealed for his release in a video, saying he was a friend of Syria.

Lawless reported from London. Associated Press writers Lolita C. Baldor, Bradley Klapper, Josh Lederman and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.

Follow Jon Gambrell on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jongambrellap . Follow Jill Lawless on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jilllawless .

Ousted Haitian Dictator, Jean-Claude Duvalier Dies

Then Haitian president Jean-Claude Duvalier, left, is pictured with his bride, Michele Bennett, during their wedding ceremony in the Port-au-Prince National Cathedral in Haiti. Duvalier, the self-proclaimed "president for life" of Haiti whose corrupt and brutal regime sparked a popular uprising that sent him into a 25-year exile, died Saturday, Oct. 4, 2014 of a heart attack, his attorney said. He was 63. (AP File Photo)

PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI (AP) — Jean-Claude Duvalier, who presided over what was widely acknowledged as a corrupt and brutal regime as the self-proclaimed "president for life" of Haiti until a popular uprising sent him into a 25-year exile, has died. He was 63.

Duvalier died Saturday from a heart attack at the home of a friend in Port-au-Prince where he had been staying, said his lawyer, Reynold Georges, and several officials in the impoverished nation. The former leader, known as "Baby Doc," made a surprise return to Haiti in 2011, allowing victims of his regime to pursue legal claims against him in Haitian courts and prompting some old allies to rally around him. Neither side gained much traction, however, and a frail Duvalier spent his final years quietly in the leafy hills above the Haitian capital.

Haitian President Michel Martelly expressed his condolences to the former dictator's family, making no mention of the widespread human rights abuses that occurred under Duvalier and his more notorious predecessor and father, Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier.

"On behalf of the entire government and people of Haiti, I take this sad occasion to extend my sincere sympathies to his family, his relatives and his supporters across the country," Martelly said. The elder Duvalier was a medical doctor-turned-dictator who promoted "Noirisme," a movement that sought to highlight Haiti's African roots over its European ones while uniting the black majority against the mulatto elite in a country divided by class and color.

"Papa Doc" tortured and killed political opponents, relying on a dreaded civilian militia known as the Tonton Macoutes. In 1971, Francois Duvalier suddenly died of an illness after naming his son to succeed him. At 19, Jean-Claude Duvalier became the world's youngest president.

Jean-Claude Duvalier ruled for 15 years, retaining the Tonton Macoutes and the brutality of his father's regime, though to a lesser extent. The son's administration was seen as less violent and repressive than that of the father, though it perhaps was more corrupt.

Wisps of press freedom and personal criticism, something never tolerated under the elder Duvalier, emerged sporadically during the reign of "Baby Doc" because of international pressure. Still, human rights groups documented abuses and political persecution. A trio of prisons known as the "Triangle of Death," which included the much-feared Fort Dimanche for long-term inmates, symbolized the brutality of his regime.

Since his return from exile, victims of the regime have testified in a criminal investigation of human rights abuses during his 15-year reign but the case has moved fitfully and there had been few signs of progress. His death brings an end to that effort without giving Haiti a chance to reconcile with that past, said Amy Wilentz, author of "The Rainy Season: Haiti Since Duvalier," and other works about the country.

"What this means is that there will never be a trial against him and there won't be a chance for the Haitian people to have justice and to purge from its soul the true horrors of the Duvalier era," Wilentz said. "It's an end but there is no closure that comes with it."

As president, Duvalier married the daughter of a wealthy coffee merchant, Michele Bennett, in 1980. The relationship caused a scandal among old Duvalierists because she was a mulatto. The lavish wedding, which reportedly cost $5 million, also caused an uproar given Haiti's deep poverty.

Under Duvalier's rule, Haiti saw widespread demographic changes. Peasants moved to the capital in search of work as factories popped up to meet the growing demand for cheap labor. Thousands of professionals fled a climate of repression for cities such as New York, Miami and Montreal.

Tourists also flocked to the country, some in search of a form of tropical hedonism that included booze, prostitution and Voodoo ceremonies for which the country became legendary. The National Palace became known for opulent parties as Duvalier's wife took overseas shopping sprees to decorate and collect fur coats. Duvalier relished taking his presidential yacht out for a spin and racing about in sports cars.

Under mounting pressure from the administration of U.S. President Jimmy Carter, Duvalier made pretenses of improving the country's human rights record by releasing political prisoners. Still, journalists and activists were jailed or exiled. Haitians without visas or money left by boarding flimsy boats in a desperate effort to reach Florida shores.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch estimated that up to 30,000 Haitians were killed, many by execution, under the regime of the two Duvaliers. As Haiti's living conditions deteriorated, Pope John-Paul II made a visit in 1983 and famously declared: "Things must change."

Three years later, they did. A popular uprising swept across Haiti, and Duvalier and his wife boarded a U.S.-government C-141 for France. The couple divorced in 1993. Duvalier later became involved with Veronique Roy, who accompanied him on his 2011 return to Haiti.

While in exile in France, Duvalier occasionally made public statements about his eagerness to return to Haiti. Supporters periodically marched on his behalf in the Haitian capital. On Jan. 16, 2011, Duvalier made his surprise return. He said he wanted to help in the reconstruction of Haiti, whose capital and outlying cities were heavily damaged by a magnitude-7.0 earthquake the year before. Many suspected he came back in an effort to reclaim money he had allegedly stashed. Others said he merely wanted to die in his homeland.

Despite the occasional stay in the hospital, Duvalier seemed to enjoy his new life back home and was free to roam the capital. He was spotted attending government ceremonies and dining with friends in several high-end restaurants. In 2013 he began renovating an old house that Roy said had been destroyed in the wake of his 1986 ouster.

Duvalier and his wife, Michele, had two children, son Francois Nicolas "Nico" and daughter Anya.

Associated Press writer Evans Sanon reported this story in Port-au-Prince and Trenton Daniel reported from New York. Ben Fox in Miami contributed to this report.

Hackers Hit Bank, Is Your Money Safe Anywhere?

An ATM is displayed at a Wells Fargo bank, in Atlanta. Hackers penetrated the computer systems of JPMorgan Chase & Co., the country’s largest bank, stealing names, emails, addresses and phone numbers.

NEW YORK (AP) — Hackers stole personal information from millions of JPMorgan Chase customers this summer, in one of the biggest breaches of a financial company.

The bank says only non-financial data was taken — names, addresses, telephone numbers and email. But that's still a lot of personal detail, and experts warn that customers need to be vigilant about identity theft in the next several months.

The theft — involving 76 million households and seven million small businesses — raises questions about the safety of personal information, especially at banks. What risks do people face? Will this keep happening? And can bank customers reduce the threat of identity or financial theft?

Q: How concerned should I be if the hackers didn't get Social Security numbers, bank account or credit card information? A: We may not yet know the full scope of what the hackers were able to steal, says Eric Chiu, president of HyTrust, a cloud security company based in Mountain View, Ca. "They can sit on your network for months, siphoning off data before being detected," says Chiu. He says that customers' addresses and phone numbers could be used or sold to others who might combine that information with other stolen data. It could then be used to access accounts or even to open new accounts in the unwitting customers' names.

Even if the information isn't used for phishing schemes or direct fraud, it could be sold on the gray market to people who might want to send spam or sales pitches to bank customers. "There's a good market for that kind of data," says Adam Kujawa, head of malware intelligence at Malwarebytes, a San Jose, California company that makes security software.

Q: How close did the hackers get to stealing customers' money or more sensitive financial data? A: We don't really know. The hackers may not have been looking to siphon funds, says Chiu, because "data is what's gold now." Other security experts say the bank's public statements suggest that its defenses were partly successful, because hackers weren't able to get other information.

Q: So is this a partial win for the bank? A: It might be, says Mike Lloyd, chief technology officer at Sunnyvale, Ca.-based RedSeal Networks. But the bank shouldn't declare victory — cybersecurity is "a never-ending war" against new and evolving threats.

Q: What else could happen? A: One concern is that this breach was a reconnaissance mission in preparation for a bigger hack, says Craig Carpenter, chief strategist at AccessData, a cybersecurity firm. "They don't have to crack the entire system tomorrow," he says. "They could have simply been mining for data, or looking to leave something behind that would allow them to get into (JPMorgan's servers) easier next time."

Q: What else should banks do to protect customer data? A: The financial industry is already doing more than other industries, says Dwayne Melancon, chief technology officer for the cybersecurity firm Tripwire, in Portland, Oregon. Chase in particular is known for using advanced security technology, says Avivah Litan, an analyst with Gartner, a technology research firm based in Stamford, Connecticut. But she also says that most companies have trouble keeping up with constant threats, and one big vulnerability lies with employees. While businesses tend to spend more on defending against outside attacks, many hacks begin with a compromised employee account. Litan says companies must do more to screen workers and also train them in security precautions.

Q: Should I close my account at JPMorgan? A: At this point, there's no indication that's necessary. Steve Weisman, a Boston attorney and author of several books and articles about identity theft, says "it won't do any good" because other banks may be equally vulnerable to hacking. "There's no place to run and hide. You should monitor your account regularly and don't trust any communications you receive."

Q: After big attacks against retail chains and now Chase, should we expect more breaches? A: The size and scope of the breaches are going to get worse, not better. Target, Home Depot and JPMorgan Chase are just the beginning, says Darren Hayes, a professor and expert in cybersecurity at Pace University in New York. It's safe to presume that hackers have been sitting inside these banks and business networks for months, even years, sometimes not doing anything. "Hackers these days are patient ... and are extremely effective at just gathering a lot of data over time."

Q: Is there any way to protect myself if they're this sophisticated? A: Change your passwords regularly, don't click on links in suspicious emails (they could be phishing attempts by scammers), and regularly check online statements for any charges you don't recognize. Be wary of calls requesting personal information.

Q: How bad is the fallout so far? A: The New York-based bank says there's no evidence of financial fraud associated with the breach.