Written By Unknown on Minggu, 22 Februari 2015 | 23.59
The World Health Organization has approved a rapid test for the Ebola virus which can deliver a diagnosis in just 15 minutes.
In what could be a breakthrough for bringing the epidemic in West Africa to an end, the test kits will be deployed to countries affected by Ebola within a matter of weeks.
Although less accurate than traditional tests, which can take anywhere between 12 and 24 hours, this kit does not require electricity - making it ideal for examining patients in remote areas.
During rigorous trials conducted by the WHO, the ReEBOV Antigen Rapid Test correctly identified 92% of those infected with Ebola, and 85% who were free of the virus.
The health agency has said this new testing kit should be followed up with a laboratory test wherever possible.
Video:Ebola: Schools Reopen In Liberia
Meanwhile, the UN's Mission for Ebola Emergency Response has praised Liberia's progress in slowing down the spread of the virus - but warned against complacency as the number of new patients continues to fall.
Ebola has killed more than 3,800 people in Liberia since December 2013 - but now, students are returning to their schools after they were closed for six months.
In Sierra Leone, an investigation is under way into how money meant to fight Ebola was used. Out of $5.75m (£3.75m) received in funding, a third was spent without invoices and receipts being saved.
Video:Ebola Nurse 'Happy To Be Alive'
Doctors, government officials and businesspeople now must answer to the Anti-Corruption Commission, which wants an explanation of where the cash went.
A national security hotline received 18 calls about the self-styled cleric Man Haron Monis just days before he took 18 people hostage at a cafe in Sydney, a report into the siege has revealed.
The calls between December 9 and December 12 last year all concerned offensive material on his Facebook page.
Three days later he was shot dead by police, ending the 17-hour siege which left two hostages dead.
It was later revealed the Iranian-born attacker, who had long been known to security services, was out on bail at the time of the attack for a string of charges.
Releasing the government's report - the first since the siege - Prime Minister Tony Abbott admitted "the system" had let the public down.
Video:Dec: Harrowing Siege Deaths Account
"Plainly, this monster should not have been in our community," Mr Abbott told reporters in Sydney.
"He shouldn't have been allowed into the country. He shouldn't have been out on bail. He shouldn't have been with a gun. And he shouldn't have become radicalised."
The report said all 18 calls were investigated by intelligence and police authorities, but none indicated a specific intention to carry out an attack, meaning the risk assessment for Monis was not changed.
"On the basis of the information available at the time, he fell well outside the threshold to be included in the 400 highest priority counter-terrorism investigations," the review said.
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Gallery: Dec: Funerals Held For Sydney Siege Victims
A photo tribute for Katrina Dawson and Tori Johnson is seen amongst flowers at a wreath laying ceremony after they were killed in a siege in the Lindt Cafe in Sydney on 16 December
Funeral services were held for the pair on 23 December. Mr Johnson's father Ken Johnson arrives for the service at St Stephen's Uniting Church
The United States is considering a delay to its planned military exit from Afghanistan, newly sworn in Pentagon boss Ash Carter has said.
President Barack Obama will discuss a range of options for slowing the US withdrawal when Afghan president Ashraf Ghani visits the White House next month, Mr Carter said from Kabul.
The US defence chief arrived in Afghanistan on Saturday, making his first overseas visit since taking office on Tuesday.
Current plans call for US troop strength to halve to 5,000 this year
"Our priority now is to make sure this progress sticks," Mr Carter said at a joint conference with Mr Ghani.
"That is why President Obama is considering a number of options to reinforce our support for President Ghani's security strategy, including possible changes to the timeline for our drawdown of US troops."
He also said the US President was "rethinking" the counter-terrorism mission in Afghanistan, although he did not elaborate.
Mr Ghani said he expected to discuss the matter with Mr Obama "in the context of the larger partnership".
The US counter-terrorism strategy in Afghanistan is also being reviewed
The current withdrawal plan calls for the US to halve the number of troops in Afghanistan to 5,000 this year, gradually winding down to a "normal" US embassy presence by 2016.
Mr Carter would not say if the Obama administration was considering keeping US troops in Afghanistan beyond 2016.
Republicans have criticised the current Afghan strategy, saying hard-won gains against the Taliban could be lost in much the same way sectarian violence returned to Iraq after the US withdrawal.
The emergence of a small number of militants in Afghanistan aligning themselves with Islamic State has underscored anxieties about the dangers as foreign forces withdraw.
Mr Carter said the IS presence in Afghanistan appeared "aspirational", but added the US counter-terrorism strategy in the region was under review.
"We are discussing and rethinking the details of the counter-terrorism mission and how the environment has changed here with respect to terrorism, since we first laid out our plans," he said.
A huge fire engulfed part of the Torch Tower in Dubai in the early hours of this morning, forcing hundreds of people to flee the 1,100ft skyscraper.
Witnesses said the blaze appeared to have started at around 2am in the middle of the residential building, rapidly spreading from the 51st floor to the 83rd floor.
In several videos posted on social media websites, multiple floors of the 676-apartment high-rise were seen ablaze.
Strong winds fanned the flames and burning debris from the fire could be seen falling from building.
One witness said flames shot out from two sides of the building as glass and metal rained down from near the summit of the structure.
Footage shows the fire sweeping through the upper floors. Pic: Jaime Muller
Another witness said it looked "like the Titanic going down", according to Gulfnews.com.
One resident, Briton Steve Short, 53, from Liverpool, praised the work of firefighters who arrived quickly.
He said fire alarms alerted people to the blaze and building management sent workers knocking on doors to ensure residents got out.
Residents of at least one neighbouring tower were told to evacuate as a precaution because of high winds, but they were later allowed back inside.
It took firefighters several hours before they extinguished the blaze, according to a witness at the scene.
Hundreds of Torch Tower residents were evacuated. Pic: Jaime Muller
The cause of the fire was not immediately clear. Officials said there were no reports of casualties.
Expert General. Rashid Thani Al Matrooshi, director general of Dubai Civil Defense, said the winds had blown the flames further, making it difficult to fight the fire.
But he added that "speed, accuracy and response to the condition change" had seen fire crews able to take control of the blaze.
Opened in 2011, the Torch Tower has 87 floors and is one of the world's tallest residential buildings.
It is located in the Marina district of the city which is home to dozens of towering apartment blocks and hotels, many of them built over the past decade.
The apartments are popular with Dubai's large number of expatriate professionals.
Dubai, known for its skyline of hugely varied skyscrapers, has seen fires at towers in the past.
In 2012, a huge blaze gutted the 34-Tamweel tower in the nearby Jumeirah Lake Towers district. It was later revealed to have been caused by a cigarette butt thrown into a bin.
Alexis Tsipras has said Greece "won a battle, not the war" by cutting a financial deal with Europe after days of tense negotiations.
The Greek prime minister said his country was now leaving its period of austerity and had dispensed with the "troika" of European Union, International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank inspectors who are hated by many Greeks.
In a televised statement, he told Greeks: "Yesterday we took a decisive step, leaving austerity, the bailouts and the troika behind.
"We won a battle, not the war.
"The difficulties, the real difficulties...are ahead of us."
Without a deal in Brussels, Greece faced panic when banks opened on Tuesday after the long weekend but the country has now secured a four-month extension to its EU funding.
This means it avoids bankruptcy and an exit from the euro but it has to come up with promises of economic reforms by Monday and some, such as the Irish finance minister Michael Noonan, say the deal is only a temporary reprieve.
Mr Noonan, himself from a country which endured years of austerity under its own bailout programme, says the eurozone had given nothing to the Greeks, despite the tough talk from Mr Tsipras.
He said: "Their political problem is that this a reversal of their election position.
Video:New Greek PM Sworn In
"They're now compromising and compromising quite significantly.
"The biggest threat to Greece was that their banking system would go belly up next Wednesday."
Mr Noonan said Greece now faces another bailout on top of the two totalling €240bn that it has had since 2010, adding: "Once you get them into the safe space for the next four months, there'll be another set of discussions which will effectively involve the negotiation of a third programme for Greece."
Mr Tsipras and his Syriza party won power in Greece on the back of promises to end the country's EU and IMF bailout programme and cooperation with the "troika" that monitored their compliance with the bailout deal's conditions.
Video:Greek People Ready To 'Turn A Page'
While winning support at home from Greeks who see his actions as getting tough instead of begging to Brussels and taking orders from Berlin, Mr Tsipras is still under pressure to move fast.
About a billion euros flooded out of Greek bank accounts on Friday, due to savers' fears that the talks would fail and Athens might put measures in place to stop withdrawals in preparation to bring in its own currency.
This came after about €20bn withdrawn by Greeks since December, when the prospect of a Syriza electoral victory became clear.
Ukrainian forces have begun the process of withdrawing heavy weapons from the frontline in agreement with separatist rebels, a military spokesman has confirmed.
However, convoys of armoured vehicles have been tracked entering Ukraine from Russia, and attacks from pro-Russia rebels have been continuing near the village of Shyrokyne, close to Mariupol.
Meanwhile, at least two people have been killed and 15 others wounded after an "unknown explosive device" was thrown from a car in the government-controlled city of Kharkiv.
The incident, which is being treated as a terrorist act by the Interior Ministry, happened during a peace march to mark one year since former president Viktor Yanukovych was ousted from power. Several suspects have been detained by the Ukrainian authorities.
Speaking to Sky News, Air Chief Marshal Lord Stirrup said the UK should consider providing weapons to Ukraine, and accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of running a "gangster regime".
Ukrainian prisoners wait to be exchanged for rebel troops
Earlier on Sunday, Ukrainian government troops and rebel prisoners were exchanged across the frontline at a village in the country's war-torn east.
Some 139 Ukrainian soldiers and 52 rebels were swapped, according to a separatist official.
Video:Kerry Warns Russia Over Ukraine
The exchange took place in no-man's land near the village of Zholobok, about 12 miles from Luhansk.
The Ukrainians, some on crutches, were made to walk about two miles to a rendezvous point ahead of the exchange.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko wrote on his Twitter page that he had been informed about the exchanges.
It came after Britain and the US discussed further sanctions against Russia in the wake of the breakdown of a ceasefire in Ukraine.
US Secretary of State John Kerry said Moscow was being "extraordinarily craven" in its support for Ukrainian separatists in fighting that has raged in recent days.
Pro-Moscow rebels said most of the Ukrainian soldiers released were captured during fighting for the town of Debaltseve.
Some of the soldiers exchanged appeared to be injured and both sides accused the other of mistreating prisoners.
Video:Kerry Warns Russia Over Ukraine
The peace agreement signed last week in Minsk looked forward to an exchange of all prisoners as well as a cessation of hostilities.
Under the agreement, fighting was supposed to have stopped last Sunday with the pulling back of heavy weapons taking place on Tuesday.
On Saturday, Ukraine's military and the separatists accused each other of continuing to mount attacks a week after the ceasefire was called.
Ukrainian security spokesman Colonel Andriy Lysenko said one serviceman had been killed and 40 wounded in attacks over the past day.
He added that rebels were continuing to move equipment toward the port city of Mariupol.
Ukraine is concerned that rebels will try to seize the city with a view to establishing a land corridor between mainland Russia and Crimea.
Four skiers have died after an avalanche in the Swiss Alps.
The Italians had been cross-country skiing near the Grand Saint-Bernard pass, not far from the Italian border, when they were swept away around 1.40pm local time (12.40pm GMT).
They were among five skiers dug out alive after the avalanche but the four victims died later, police said.
Police have not yet revealed the ages or genders of the victims.
Mr Bornet said the search for the skiers had been made more difficult by harsh weather, with heavy winds and thick fog forcing rescue helicopters to land further away from the avalanche site.
The Grand Saint-Bernard, at 2,459m high (8,100ft), is the lowest pass on the ridge between the Swiss Alps' two highest summits, Mont Blanc and Monte Rosa.
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Video:Aqsa Mahmood A Recruiting Sergeant?
British authorities are not doing enough to alert parents when their children are at risk of being radicalised online, a lawyer for the family of a young woman who joined Islamic State has said.
Aamer Anwar told Sky News security authorities are not passing on intelligence which could allow families to prevent their children from travelling to Syria or Iraq.
These failings, he said, mean the UK is "exporting terror" abroad.
This picture was posted on Aqsa Mahmood's Twitter page
His comments came as former Faith Minister Baroness Warsi warned that Islamic State's increasing drive to recruit young people online means security services are "fighting an ever losing battle".
"It is becoming more and more apparent that people are not being radicalised in places of worship but in their bedrooms by being on the internet," she told Sky News' Murnaghan Programme.
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Gallery: Final Pictures Of Missing London Schoolgirls
These pictures were taken from Kadiza Sultana (l) and Shamima Begum's (r) twitter accounts
Kadiza and Shamima are feared to be on their way to Syria with a third girl, 15-year-old Amira Abase
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Scotland Yard is urgently trying to trace three teenage girls who are from the same East London school
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CCTV captured images of the girls at Gatwick Airport before boarding a flight to Turkey
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CCTV captured images of the girls at Gatwick Airport before boarding a flight to Turkey. Kadiza Sultana is pictured here
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Mr Anwar was speaking on behalf of the family of 20-year-old Aqsa Mahmood who fled her family home in Glasgow in November 2013 to marry an Islamic State fighter.
She is accused of being among a number of young women now encouraging others back home to follow in their footsteps, something her family has condemned as a "disgrace".
One of three teenagers, feared to be one their way to Syria after boarding a flight to Turkey on Tuesday, is known to have contacted Ms Mahmood on Twitter.
The message - which was sent on 15 February, two days before the schoolgirls left London said: "Follow me so I can dm (direct message) you back".
"There must be an inquiry as to what exactly the intelligence services are doing with the intelligence they are gathering," Mr Anwar said.
Video:Teens Radicalised 'In Bedrooms'
"If the intelligence services have this information, surely they should not just be sharing it with Turkey but they should be sharing it with the families so that they can nip this in the bud.
"There is no point in declaring war in ISIS in Syria but doing very little to stop young people actually getting on the flights and getting across the border into Syria.
"This could happen to any other family across the country," he warned.
He said serious questions also need to be asked about how the three young women, Shamima Begum, 15, Kadiza Sultana, 16, and Amira Abase, 15, were able to board the flight unimpeded and without their parents.
It has been revealed that all three girls were interviewed by police two months ago after one of their classmates, 15, also travelled to Syria.
Video:Missing Girls
According to The Sunday Times two other girls attempted to join her but were apprehended.
Meanwhile the families of the three missing girls have all issued urgent appeals for them to come home.
"You belong at home with us. Syria is a dangerous place and we don't want you to go there," Shamima Begum's older sister Aklima told the newspaper.
"Mum needs you home."
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Video:Aqsa Mahmood A Recruiting Sergeant?
British authorities are not doing enough to alert parents when their children are at risk of being radicalised online, a lawyer for the family of a young woman who joined Islamic State has said.
Aamer Anwar told Sky News security authorities are not passing on intelligence which could allow families to prevent their children from travelling to Syria or Iraq.
These failings, he said, mean the UK is "exporting terror" abroad.
This picture was posted on Aqsa Mahmood's Twitter page
His comments came as former Faith Minister Baroness Warsi warned that Islamic State's increasing drive to recruit young people online means security services are "fighting an ever losing battle".
"It is becoming more and more apparent that people are not being radicalised in places of worship but in their bedrooms by being on the internet," she told Sky News' Murnaghan Programme.
1/7
Gallery: Final Pictures Of Missing London Schoolgirls
These pictures were taken from Kadiza Sultana (l) and Shamima Begum's (r) twitter accounts
Kadiza and Shamima are feared to be on their way to Syria with a third girl, 15-year-old Amira Abase
]]>
Scotland Yard is urgently trying to trace three teenage girls who are from the same East London school
]]>
CCTV captured images of the girls at Gatwick Airport before boarding a flight to Turkey
]]>
CCTV captured images of the girls at Gatwick Airport before boarding a flight to Turkey. Kadiza Sultana is pictured here
]]>
Mr Anwar was speaking on behalf of the family of 20-year-old Aqsa Mahmood who fled her family home in Glasgow in November 2013 to marry an Islamic State fighter.
She is accused of being among a number of young women now encouraging others back home to follow in their footsteps, something her family has condemned as a "disgrace".
One of three teenagers, feared to be one their way to Syria after boarding a flight to Turkey on Tuesday, is known to have contacted Ms Mahmood on Twitter.
The message - which was sent on 15 February, two days before the schoolgirls left London said: "Follow me so I can dm (direct message) you back".
"There must be an inquiry as to what exactly the intelligence services are doing with the intelligence they are gathering," Mr Anwar said.
Video:Teens Radicalised 'In Bedrooms'
"If the intelligence services have this information, surely they should not just be sharing it with Turkey but they should be sharing it with the families so that they can nip this in the bud.
"There is no point in declaring war in ISIS in Syria but doing very little to stop young people actually getting on the flights and getting across the border into Syria.
"This could happen to any other family across the country," he warned.
He said serious questions also need to be asked about how the three young women, Shamima Begum, 15, Kadiza Sultana, 16, and Amira Abase, 15, were able to board the flight unimpeded and without their parents.
It has been revealed that all three girls were interviewed by police two months ago after one of their classmates, 15, also travelled to Syria.
Video:Missing Girls
According to The Sunday Times two other girls attempted to join her but were apprehended.
Meanwhile the families of the three missing girls have all issued urgent appeals for them to come home.
"You belong at home with us. Syria is a dangerous place and we don't want you to go there," Shamima Begum's older sister Aklima told the newspaper.
"Mum needs you home."
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Top Stories
Breaking News: Missing Girl's Family 'Cannot Stop Crying'
By Tom Rayner, Middle East Reporter, on the Turkey-Syria border
A senior Turkish official has called on the international community to share more intelligence information to stem the flow of foreigners to Islamic State.
As the search continues for three London schoolgirls believed to be travelling to Syria, Cemalettin Hasimi told Sky News that Turkey cannot be expected to intercept people unless efforts are made to boost the country's travel blacklist.
"It's a global problem that requires a global response," said Mr Hasimi, who advises Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on security and foreign policy.
Turkish official Cemalettin Hasimi has called for a 'global response'
"The only way to prevent their entrance is to know their name, to have a list, so that we can take necessary measures.
"It is a proven fact (that) the best way to prevent the mobility of these groups or individuals is in the source countries."
Video:Efforts To Secure Turkey's Borders
Turkey currently has a list consisting of around 10,000 individuals who will be detained and deported should they try to enter the country.
The list, compiled as a result of information shared by intelligence agencies around the world, has grown significantly in recent months.
It has grown from 5,000 names in the summer of 2014, to 7,000 names by the end of that year.
But as the case of the three missing London teenagers has shown, the task of identifying those who intend to travel to Syria remains difficult.
Although the Metropolitan Police spoke to the girls two months ago in connection with another student who travelled to Syria, that information was not passed to Turkish authorities.
Video:Turkish Airport Security Challenges
Turkey attracts an average of 35 million visitors each year.
The country has established a network of Risk Analysis Centres at entry points, staffed by intelligence officials and expert profilers who assess travellers as they make their way into the country.
More than 500 people who were not on the travel blacklist have been detained and deported as a result of the checks over the past year.
They include a man from Norway carrying parts of an assault rifle in his luggage, and a Swedish citizen with bags of military-style camouflage and other equipment, who had travelled from Denmark.
Turkey is also stepping up its efforts along the Syria border, digging a trench nearly 60 miles long and three metres deep in the Kilis region.
Video:2014: Passports Reveal Turkey Link
It is also installing concrete walls to prevent vehicles, weapons and people being smuggled along the 600 miles of border it shares with Syria.
The governor of Kilis, Suleyman Tapsis, told Sky News authorities in the region have apprehended 184 foreigners from 34 different countries in the past year.
"We are catching them with military overalls, camouflage, binoculars and other such equipment," he said.
"They have computers and the photos we find on their USB sticks make clear they are in a troubled state of mind."
During a visit to Turkey in December, Prime Minister David Cameron insisted the UK was prepared to offer "the highest level of intelligence co-operation we can possibly achieve" with Turkey.
At least 48 people, including a baby, have been killed after a ferry carrying about 140 passengers capsized in Bangladesh.
A rescue operation is under way after the vessel collided with a cargo ship and began to sank, but it remains unclear how many passengers are missing.
Dozens of people managed to swim ashore after the crash, officials have claimed.
"We don't have a clear picture about how many were exactly in the ferry when it sank - but I think many have survived," said Inspector Zihad Mia.
One survivor, Hafizur Rahman Sheikh, added: "The passengers who were on the deck have survived, but many who were inside got trapped."
Ferry disasters are quite common in Bangladesh. Overcrowding is common, and according to naval officials, 95% of small and medium-sized boats across the South Asian nation do not meet minimum safety requirements.
In August, a ferry designed to carry 85 people capsized on the Padma River with more than 200 passengers on board - killing 100.
The boat's owner went into hiding for several weeks, but was eventually arrested and charged with culpable homicide.
