Ebola crosses border

UGANDA: Health experts will meet Friday to assess whether to declare the Ebola outbreak in Central Africa a global health crisis. The deadly Ebola virus has killed 1,400 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and this week Uganda reported its first cases, a boy and his grandmother from a Congolese family who crossed into western Uganda on Sunday.

ANGOLA: Southern Africa is recording its lowest rainfall in four decades, threatening crop failure as the continent also faces extensive agricultural losses from Cyclone Idai.

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: Two oil tankers came under attack in the Gulf of Oman, where four tankers were similarly hit last month, with extensive damage that sent oil prices higher. The attacks included a Japanese tanker, and came just as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met with Iranian leaders to head off a growing crisis between the United States and Iran.

SYRIA: The United States this week slapped sanctions on businesses linked to the Assad regime and also the Four Seasons Hotel Damascus, where the UN has spent millions of dollars feeding and housing its staff throughout the Syrian War. Hundreds of contracts awarded by the UN have gone to companies deemed off-limits under U.S. and European Union sanctions.

IRAQ: Five years after ISIS invaded and occupied Mosul, residents and Christians returning to the area live in fear.

POLAND: The United States will deploy 1,000 troops to Poland to deter feared Russian aggression.

TURKEY said it already bought the Russian-made S-400 defense system at the heart of a dispute with the United States. The Pentagon said it will halt training of Turkey’s F-35 pilots, and Congress may move to cut further military assistance. U.S. officials maintain the Russian-built defense system is a threat to the F-35 program.

Serkan Golge, the NASA scientists held by the Erdogan regime for three years on terrorism charges and abruptly released on May 29, has vowed to clear his name through Turkey’s courts. Golge, who holds both Turkish and U.S. citizenship, still has not been freed to leave Turkey.

CANADA: Media north of the border went sour grapes on the St. Louis Blues’ remarkable win in Wednesday night’s Stanley Cup Finals. A CBC newscast Thursday morning led simply with “The Stanley Cup is over.” The original Stanley Cup trophy of 1893 never crossed the border until 1917, with Canadian teams dominating well into the 20th century. Now a Canadian team hasn’t taken the Cup home since 1993.

UNITED STATES: Lecturer Nabeel Jabbour, historian Miriam Adeney, and others will headline the 2019 COMMA Consultation in Orlando, Fla., Sept. 16–19.

I’M READING Confronting Christianity: 12 Hard Questions for the World’s Largest Religion by Rebecca McLaughlin.

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