Doctors Without Borders

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Abducted Darfur Aid Workers Make Contact

Trio is unharmed; Sudan begins talks with kidnappers

(Newser) - The three foreign-aid workers from Doctors Without Borders who were kidnapped earlier this week in Darfur contacted the group today to report they were unharmed, the New York Times says. Separately, Sudan’s government began ransom negotiations to free the workers, who had been protected by Sudanese guards. One official...

Doctors Without Borders Staffers Kidnapped in Darfur

Abductions follow Sudan crackdown

(Newser) - Three aid workers from Doctors Without Borders are being held hostage in Darfur after a group of armed men kidnapped them, Reuters reports. The three staff members, all Westerners, were seized along with two Sudanese co-workers who were later released. The kidnapping came as Sudan cracks down on NGOs in...

The World's Worst Humanitarian Crises
The World's Worst Humanitarian Crises
OPINION

The World's Worst Humanitarian Crises

Civil war and displacement fuel tragedies across the globe: aid group

(Newser) - Aid organization Doctors Without Borders has released its annual list of the world's worst humanitarian crises. Here's a sample:
  • Somalia: Increased friction between insurgents and the government unleashed some of the worst violence in a decade. One in five children there dies before turning 5.
  • Congo: Hundreds of thousands have
...

Not Scared of TB? You Should Be

Resistant strain could ravage the world, and we're not ready

(Newser) - "Global complacency" could give rise to a terrifying, drug-resistant form of tuberculosis, writes Nicholas Kristof in the New York Times—and not in some remote outpost on the globe. There have been fewer than 100 cases of this XDR-TB in the past 15 years in the US, but with...

Surgeon Amputates Using Texted Instructions

Phone helps save Congolese teen

(Newser) - A volunteer surgeon in a Congolese war zone followed texted instructions to perform an amputation that saved a 16-year-old boy's life. The teen's badly injured and infected arm required that his collar bone and shoulder blade be immediately removed, but Dr. David Nott had never conducted such a procedure. He...

Haiti School Collapse Kills At Least 30

Poor repair job, not recent rains, doomed building, mayor says

(Newser) - At least 30 people, many possibly children, died in Haiti today when a school building collapsed, AP reports. The school, in a village in the hills above Port-au-Prince, experienced a partial collapse in 2000. Before today, the building was under construction, and the town’s mayor said structural problems, not...

Burma Aid Delays Less Deadly Than Feared

Villagers tough it out through cyclone's aftermath

(Newser) - Delays in getting help to cyclone survivors in Burma's Irrawaddy Delta have not caused the catastrophe initially feared, according to aid workers. Hardy villagers have managed to survive on fish and coconuts, helped by aid from private Burmese citizens and monks, reports the New York Times. Expected massive outbreaks of...

Meet the Man Putting Paris in Motion

Ex-socialist is now Sarko's buddy and France's star politician

(Newser) - Bernard Kouchner was once a card-carrying socialist hurling red ink at the American Embassy in Paris. Now, as France’s foreign minister, he’s President Nicolas Sarkozy’s right-hand man, helping to rebuild long-strained ties with the US. He also may be France’s most popular politician. The New York ...

Ebola Outbreak Is Worst in Years
Ebola Outbreak Is Worst in Years

Ebola Outbreak Is Worst in Years

Doctors being airlifted into Congo to help combat outbreak

(Newser) - Doctors are being airlifted into the Democratic Republic of Congo to help treat what may be the worst outbreak of Ebola virus in years, the Washington Post reports. Only nine cases of the disease have been confirmed in labs, but almost 550 are suspected, including 168 resulting in deaths. The...

French Lefty Makes an Unlikely Hawk
French Lefty
Makes an Unlikely Hawk

French Lefty Makes an Unlikely Hawk

Kouchner pleases US with Iran rumblings, but he's no sure thing

(Newser) - The founder of Doctors Without Borders might seem a peculiar mouthpiece for the new law-and-order regime of Nicolas Sarkozy, but Bernard Kouchner actually fits right in with France’s more muscular foreign policy tone. The surprise choice for foreign minister,  Kouchner is an anomaly, a Socialist who supports the...

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