Iraq’s Yazidis search for missing loved ones after chaotic escape from militants
SEMALKA, Syria — Trucks and Jeeps trundled slowly across the pontoon bridge, packed with refugees, with children poking their dusty heads out of the windows and truck beds. Nearby, a distraught father frantically scanned them as they passed, hoping to catch sight of his missing son.
Beside him, a young man searched for his sister, who he fears was snatched by extremists.
Unknown numbers, perhaps hundreds, of men, women and children went missing in the chaos as tens of thousands of Iraqis from the Yazidi religious minority fled in a panic from marauding militants, then spent a week hidden in a barren mountain range before finally making their way into neighboring Syria. The loss of loved ones adds even more suffering to people who spent days stranded in the Sinjar mountains under a blazing son with barely any food or water.
Some of the missing may have been gunned down by militants during the escape. Others were lost as families scattered in panic under gunfire from extremists chasing them into the mountains. Dizzy from thirst, some adults lost track of children in the crowds in the mountains. Some women may have been abducted by militants, and Iraqi and U.S. officials say they believe hundreds of women are being held captive by the radical Islamic State group.
“There are many missing, many,” said Naji Khano, who lost his 17-year-old son Sherwan as he fled gunmen.
Ukraine: Red Cross will lead humanitarian aid mission into rebel-held territory
DONETSK, Ukraine — Ukrainian forces on Monday zeroed in on rebel strongholds as the government welcomed an international humanitarian relief mission into the rebellious east involving Russia, the United States and the European Union.
The mission will be conducted under the auspices of the International Committee of the Red Cross. The organization said in a statement it is ready to facilitate the operation with the involvement of all sides concerned following a Russian initiative to provide humanitarian assistance to people in eastern Ukraine.
It wasn’t clear when the deliveries would start.
“The practical details of this operation need to be clarified before this initiative can move forward,” said Laurent Corbaz, the ICRC’s head of operations for Europe and Central Asia.
Moscow had long urged Kiev to allow the aid delivery, but Ukraine and the West previously had opposed the move, fearing that it could serve as a pretext for sending Russian troops into rebel-held territory. Ukraine and the West have accused Moscow of arming and supporting the rebels fighting government troops in the east, a charge that the Kremlin has denied.
Ethics test: Who should get experimental Ebola treatment? So far, only Westerners
MADRID — Now it’s not just two Americans, but a Spaniard as well: the three non-Africans known to have Ebola got some of the very few doses that exist of an experimental drug aimed at treating the deadly disease.
None of the more than 1,700 Africans sickened by Ebola have received this treatment.
This drug, ZMapp, is so novel and unproven that not much is available and its effectiveness remains unknown. It could end up doing more harm than good. It would take months to produce even modest quantities. Even then, using it more widely would present other ethical dilemmas.
But many Africans are seeing a larger, bitter truth in the fact that two Americans and a Spaniard were able to get this treatment after being infected in West Africa, where the hemorrhagic fever has raged for months, killing 961 people and counting.
“There’s no reason to try this medicine on sick white people and to ignore blacks,” said Marcel Guilavogui, a pharmacist in Conakry, Guinea. “We understand that it’s a drug that’s being tested for the first time and that could have negative side effects. But we have to try it in blacks too.”
By wire sources
