World in brief

Ebola outbreak reported in Africa

BRAZZAVILLE, Republic of Congo - Health officials on Friday confirmed Ebola as the cause of 11 deaths in the northern forests, signaling the Republic of Congo's second outbreak of the hemorrhagic fever this year.

Blood specimens from corpses suspected to have been infected with the deadly virus have tested positive, national public health chief Damase Bozongo said.

A World Health Organization spokesman, Boniface Bibousse, also verified the outbreak in the Cuvette West region, saying it was sending two epidemiologists to the area today. First reports from the remote northern region emerged Oct. 31.

Ebola, one of the world's deadliest viral diseases, causes rapid death through blood loss in up to 90 percent of those infected.

WASHINGTON - All three U.S. diplomatic missions in Saudi Arabia will reopen today, a week after they were closed due to warnings of possible terrorist activities, the State Department said.

Spokesman Adam Ereli said the decision to reopen the embassy in Riyadh and the consulates in Jiddah and Dharan followed a careful security assessment. The three missions closed Nov. 8, only hours before suicide car bombers attacked a Riyadh residential compound housing mainly Arabs and Muslims. The attack killed at least 17 people and wounded scores more.

HAITI: Riot police fired tear gas at thousands of rock-throwing protesters Friday as a demonstration against President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was overpowered by throngs of supporters of the Haitian leader.

Demonstrators scattered as tear gas canisters fell, and shots rang out in the crowd. There were reports of at least two people injured and 30 arrests.

Civic groups planned the demonstration to urge social change. But more than 8,000 Aristide partisans corralled the protesters into a small section of gritty Port-au-Prince.

GEORGIA: Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze, appearing visibly shaken by mounting protests demanding his resignation, pleaded with his countrymen Friday not to risk civil war - and hinted that if the crisis eases, he might resign.

His critics responded by holding the largest yet in a series of daily anti-Shevardnadze demonstrations. Mikheil Saakashvili, a key opposition leader, called for the launch of a civil disobedience campaign starting today aimed at paralyzing the government.

Accused by opposition leaders of rigging the results of Nov. 2 parliamentary elections, Shevardnadze declared in a nationally televised news conference Friday morning that wherever vote-counting irregularities occurred they could be corrected, but that the new parliament should be allowed to open this month.

MONROVIA, Liberia - Peacekeepers will start collecting weapons from Liberia's unruly militia and government fighters in early December, U.N. officials said Friday.

The first three collection centers are scheduled to open Dec. 7 in Monrovia, the government-controlled capital of the war-ruined west African nation, and the rebel-held towns of Tubmanburg and Buchanan, the United Nations said in a statement. The disarmament process is expected to take nine months, the United Nations said.

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times 490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 Contact the Times | Privacy Policy Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright