Congo Starts Ebola Vaccinations for Health Workers
A Uganda Red Cross Society worker in protective gear sprays disinfectant at the home of a suspected Ebola victim in Kampala on May 26, 2026. (AFP)
Democratic Republic of Congo on Thursday began vaccinating frontline health workers with a vaccine approved for a different Ebola species, as authorities seek to contain the country's largest and deadliest Ebola outbreak on record.
* Health Minister Samuel-Roger Kamba said Congo had received more than 50,000 doses of the Ervebo vaccine and would begin vaccinations in provinces affected by the outbreak, prioritizing health workers.
* Ervebo is licensed against the Zaire species of Ebola and was used successfully in previous outbreaks. The current epidemic is caused by the Bundibugyo species, for which there is no approved vaccine or treatment.
* Early animal studies suggest Ervebo could provide some protection against Bundibugyo, and authorities are using 20,000 of the 70,000 doses allocated to Congo in a clinical trial to assess its effectiveness in humans.
* Several vaccines specifically targeting the Bundibugyo species are also under development, including candidates from the University of Oxford and the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI).
* Vaccinations began in the northeastern city of Kisangani, the capital of Tshopo province, one of six provinces affected by the outbreak.
* Kamba said the campaign would first cover provinces surrounding Ituri, where the outbreak was first detected and remains most heavily concentrated, before progressively moving inward.
* The outbreak, declared on May 15, has infected 5,794 people and killed 2,786, according to the latest government figures, making it the world's second deadliest Ebola epidemic on record.
Death Toll Rises in Nepal-China Border Disaster as a Lake Poses New Flood Threathttps://english.aawsat.com/world/5312040-death-toll-rises-nepal-china-border-disaster-lake-poses-new-flood-threat
A general view shows houses lying deluged in sludge after flash floods at Trishuli in Nepal's Nuwakot district on August 27, 2026. (AFP)
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Death Toll Rises in Nepal-China Border Disaster as a Lake Poses New Flood Threat
A general view shows houses lying deluged in sludge after flash floods at Trishuli in Nepal's Nuwakot district on August 27, 2026. (AFP)
Rescuers pulled out survivors caked in dark brown mud and helicopters lifted stranded people to safety Friday as Nepal and China raced to respond to catastrophic flash floods that killed more than 500 people and left more than 1,500 missing.
Nepal's disaster management authority said the death toll there rose to 538, and that more than 3,700 people have been rescued. Nepali police later put the number of deaths higher at 547.
Meanwhile there was little information on survivors on the Chinese side, where the death toll rose to five Friday as state media showed evacuations of villages and leaders' efforts to direct the relief response.
China's state media previously said 558 people were missing. Across the border, Nepal’s disaster management authority said Friday that 977 people were still unaccounted for. Hundreds of them were foreigners in the area to work, trek or make a pilgrimage to a sacred peak.
Authorities warn of further flooding from a new lake Nepali police issued a fresh alert Friday after receiving information that a dam on the Tibet side has burst. Security personnel and rescue and relief workers were told to stay on high alert and immediately move to a safe location if necessary.
It is unclear if the dam bursting is related to flooding concerns over a barrier lake that formed after the initial flash floods, high up in the Chinese side of the Himalayan mountains. Chinese broadcaster CCTV said the lake was at an elevation of 2,950 meters (9,680 feet.)
Nepali and Chinese authorities earlier warned of further flooding from the barrier lake, which was already overflowing. They urged people in potentially affected areas to move to safer ground.
Nepal police spokesperson Abi Narayan Kafle told The Associated Press that the rescue operation was continuing but with high alert. “It hasn’t stopped," he said.
Although the new lake is located more than 10 kilometers (6 miles) from Gyirong Port, the hard-hit border crossing with Nepal, rescue workers heading to the disaster zone were ordered to stop temporarily Friday morning owing to concern the lake would overflow.
Stranded supply trucks wait at the Kalanki checkpoint for road clearance, following deadly flash floods and a mudslide in Nepal, in Kathmandu, Nepal, August 28, 2026. (Reuters)
Some 680 rescuers eventually reached the hardest-hit area at Gyirong by foot and via rafts after much effort. Some were dropped down from drones flown to the area, CCTV footage showed.
Thousands of people have been evacuated, others await rescue Nepali Army rescuers were working to help people trapped in a hydropower tunnel in Rasuwa, part of the Upper Trishuli-1 Hydropower Project.
Video from the scene show rescuers helping the man, covered in dark brown mud, out of the tunnel by pulling and pushing. He was one of likely dozens trapped in the tunnel.
Army spokesperson Brig. Gen. Raja Ram Basnet told the AP the focus was on survivors.
“It is complicated to find the entry and exit points of the tunnel because everything has been covered by mud,” Basnet said. “Our first priority is rescuing the stranded people.”
Nepal’s disaster management authority said 3,253 people had been airlifted by helicopter from the disaster area. Survivors, including injured people, were taken to Kathmandu and other locations.
Some felt the ground shake, then saw a ‘black storm’
Scientists who’ve studied satellite images said bedrock underneath a glacier high in the Himalayan region had collapsed, taking part of the glacier with it. The rockfall was so extreme that it reached a magnitude 5.2 seismic measurement.
The rocks and melted water then swelled the rivers in the valleys below, causing a torrent of water that swept buildings, bridges and earth downstream in Tibet and Nepal.
Customs officer Karbir Gaire was among some of the survivors in Timure, the closest Nepalese village to the border with China, where some 1,500 people had lived.
Gaire reached his office around 8 a.m. Wednesday and was working on his computer when he first felt the ground shake.
“Right after the shake, I noticed a black storm coming towards us," he recalled from Kathmandu, where he is back with family. "We all immediately started running out, and within a few seconds, we were climbing uphill on the opposite side of our office building. I think those 10 or so seconds saved some of us.”
Gaire doesn’t remember exactly how many people were in the office when the disaster struck, but 15 colleagues have gone missing. “It was like a Hollywood movie scene. I don’t call it a flood, it was a tsunami.”
Volunteers use bulldozers to clear mud and debris along a road after flash floods at Trishuli in Nepal's Nuwakot district on August 27, 2026. (AFP)
Families around the world hope for news of loved ones
Nepal’s tourism board has said that among the missing are more than 500 foreigners.
About 90 Americans were unaccounted for. US President Donald Trump said the flooding was terrible to see, and he told reporters in the Oval Office he offered to provide Nepalese leaders “anything they want.”
Rajan Tamang, a restaurant owner in New York City, said he learned from family in Kathmandu that his mother and sister were among those who died, while many other relatives and friends remained missing.
“My family was just waking up, and they didn’t even get any information, and suddenly this flood came. Some of them are missing, some of them lost their life and only a few is alive,” he told the AP after a vigil in New York.
Some of the missing may have been on a pilgrimage to Mount Kailash in Tibet, a sacred site for Hindus, Buddhists and others.
Vishnuram Ramaswamy, who works at a private company in the southern Indian city of Puducherry, said that he last spoke to his mother and two sisters who were on that pilgrimage Wednesday morning. It was a highly anticipated trip, something his mother had always wanted to do, he said.
“My mother said they were on their way towards the border area and said they’ll reach their hotel and call us,” he said. While he's in touch with government officials, and the travel agency, there's been no news.
“This was the last we spoke to them. They have been unreachable since.”
Iran Presses Other Countries to Refrain from Implementing US Sanctionshttps://english.aawsat.com/world/5312034-iran-presses-other-countries-refrain-implementing-us-sanctions
Iran Presses Other Countries to Refrain from Implementing US Sanctions
A pro-government demonstrator waves an Iranian flag during a gathering in a square in Tehran, Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2026. (AP)
Iran’s Foreign Ministry said all countries were obliged to refrain from implementing US sanctions against Tehran, adding that participation in them amounted to complicity in imposing one state’s unlawful will on independent states.
In a statement published on its X account on Friday, the ministry described new US economic measures as illegal and reprehensible "state terrorism" and a crime against humanity, saying they put the health and livelihoods of millions of civilians at serious risk.
It called on the international community to uphold the rule of law and said Tehran would use all its capabilities to defend itself against what it called a combined US-Israeli military and economic assault.
Russia Strikes Ukraine’s Capital with Waves of Droneshttps://english.aawsat.com/world/5312030-russia-strikes-ukraine%E2%80%99s-capital-waves-drones
Parts of a shot-down kamikaze drone at a site of a Russian strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in the town of Vyshneve in Kyiv region, Ukraine, August 28, 2026. (Reuters)
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Russia Strikes Ukraine’s Capital with Waves of Drones
Parts of a shot-down kamikaze drone at a site of a Russian strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in the town of Vyshneve in Kyiv region, Ukraine, August 28, 2026. (Reuters)
Russia launched waves of drones at Ukraine's capital Kyiv and surrounding region on Friday, damaging warehouses and homes in a second consecutive day of strikes Ukrainian officials said were an attempt to derail daily life for millions of residents.
At least one person was killed outside Kyiv, said Governor Tymur Tkachenko, adding that 14 warehouse premises, 16 homes and three blocks of apartment buildings had been damaged.
Frequent air-raid sirens blared throughout the city on Friday morning, a day after an hours-long missile and drone attack on Ukraine that targeted major retailers and consumer logistics in Kyiv and elsewhere.
Those strikes continued on Friday, destroying sorting centers belonging to Ukraine's top private courier Nova Poshta near Kyiv and in the northern city of Sumy, the company said.
In the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia, a Russian drone tore into major home-improvement store Epicenter, wounding at least four people, Governor Ivan Fedorov said on Friday.
GOAL IS TO 'PARALYSE' KYIV
Ukraine's state emergency service said Russia had attacked the Kyiv region 38 times during the past 24 hours, warning residents not to approach areas where firefighters were still battling blazes.
Friday's attacks appeared aimed at prolonging the snarl-up sparked by strikes a day earlier, which delayed trains across several regions and left passengers stranded for long periods.
"The enemy is launching small numbers of jet-powered UAVs in waves with the aim of paralyzing Kyiv," said Andriy Kovalenko, head of Ukraine's Center for Countering Disinformation (CCD), a branch of the National Security Council.
"The aim - to wear down the air defenses and the population."
Ukraine's state railway said on Friday that delays were gradually decreasing, but that the effects of frequent strikes and air-raid alerts would be felt at least another day. Kyiv spent nearly 15 hours under air-raid alert on Thursday, according to Ukraine's foreign ministry.
NEW STRIKES ON RETAILERS, LOGISTICS
Russian forces also attacked a shopping center in the city of Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine, said Mayor Ihor Terekhov, the second such attack there in two days.
Russia and Ukraine have stepped up strikes in recent weeks on consumer logistics and online retailers in a bid to dent each other's economies and weaken their respective war efforts.
Also on Friday, a Russian drone attack destroyed a warehouse in Kyiv region for a major book retailer that shipped thousands of titles per day, the company said.
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