Midday Roundup: Medical missionaries among Ebola 'fighters' honored by Time

Persons of the year. A SIM missionary doctor in Liberia graces one of several covers of Time magazine, which this week named “the Ebola fighters” its “person” of the year. Dr. Jerry Brown works for SIM at its ELWA hospital in Monrovia, which has led the community’s response to the Ebola virus. Nancy Writebol and Dr. Rick Sacra also worked with SIM at ELWA. They both contracted Ebola and were evacuated to the United States for treatment. Samaritan's Purse doctor Kent Brantly, who also worked at ELWA and contracted the virus, is featured on another of the magazine's five covers. “Anyone willing to treat Ebola victims ran the risk of becoming one,” Time wrote, describing why it selected Ebola fighters: “for tireless acts of courage and mercy, for buying the world time to boost its defenses, for risking, for persisting, for sacrificing and saving.”

Chilling effect. A federal judge in St. Louis ruled Thursday that police must warn crowds of protesters and give them a chance to disperse before deploying tear gas. Judge Carol Jackson said the temporary injunction was needed because police have been inconsistent in using tear gas on peaceful protesters versus violent crowds. The plaintiffs in the suit said they were non-violent protesters and the use of tear gas was having a chilling effect on their right to free speech and assembly. Protesters in Oakland, Calif., also are complaining about police actions. The California Highway Patrol has been sending plainclothes officers into protest crowds to monitor them. Two officers got in a violent confrontation with protesters Thursday night after the crowd realized they were police.

Oh, the irony. A report on the CIA’s torture practices is drawing criticism from numerous other countries, some who have no right to point fingers. North Korea, described by one human rights worker as “a giant prison where mass starvation is happening,” has cited the report in anti-American commentary on state-run media. Authoritarian regimes in China, Russia, and Iran have joined the song. While U.S. politicians argue over whether the report is true, the damage to the country’s international reputation is already done, a Human Rights Watch worker told Fox News. “This makes it all the easier for abusive governments worldwide to criticize the U.S. while brushing their own abuses under the rug,” John Sifton said. “It also makes it difficult for the U.S. government to criticize those abusive governments and pressure them to improve their record.”

Super cheap. The price of crude oil fell to below $60 a barrel Thursday—a 44 percent drop since June. Oil is expected to continue to fall and could get as low as $50 a barrel. Saudi Arabia began flooding the market with oil earlier this year to regain market share it had lost to U.S. oil companies. It said recently it has no plans to cut production. Oil minister Ali Al-Naimi said Dec. 10 that the global oil market will correct itself, Bloomberg reported. The average price of gasoline in the United States has dropped 30 cents per gallon in the last month, to $2.62.

WORLD Radio’s Kent Covington contributed to this report.