Situation Report

Image:  A hydraulic fracturing well in Colorado. With the technology, America is expected to surpass Saudi Arabia in oil production. Credit Brennan Linsley/Associated Press

nytimes.com - November 28th, 2014 - Clifford Krauss

Since the economically crippling oil embargo of 1973, every American president has pledged to seek and achieve energy independence.

That elusive goal may finally have arrived, at least for the foreseeable future, with the failure of Saudi Arabia and its 11 oil cartel partners in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to agree to a production cut that would put a brake on plummeting crude prices.

On Friday, the benchmark American price for crude oil continued the free fall that began on Thursday, closing at $66.15, its lowest price in more than four years.

29 Nov 2014 - BBC

The number of people killed by the Ebola outbreak in West Africa has risen to 6,928, the World Health Organisation (WHO) says.

The toll has increased by over 1,000 since the WHO's last report on Wednesday, but it includes unreported deaths from earlier in the outbreak.

Experts say the infection rate is more significant that the death toll, as it reflects how the virus is spreading. Infection rates are decreasing in Liberia, but are high in Sierra Leone.

There have been over 16,000 reported cases in Guinea, Sierra and Liberia.

Latest Ebola death tolls

Liberia: 7,244 cases, 4,181 deaths

Sierra Leone: 6,802 cases, 1,463 deaths

Guinea: 2,123 cases, 1,284 deaths

http://www.bbc.com/news/health-30260532

REUTERS                                                                                                                      NOV. 28, 2014

LONDON --Men who recover from Ebola should abstain from sex for three months to minimize the risk of passing the virus on in their semen, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.

Ebola, a disease that has infected and killing thousands in a vast epidemic in West Africa, normally spreads via bodily fluids such as blood, saliva and faeces. Although sexual transmission of Ebola virus disease has never been documented, the virus has been detected in the survivors' semen.

"Men who have recovered from Ebola virus disease should be aware that seminal fluid may be infectious for as long as three months after onset of symptoms," the WHO said in a statement....

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http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/28/us-health-ebola-sex-idUSKCN0JC0UP20141128

NEW YORK TIMES   By Jeffrey Gettleman                        Nov.28, 2014

KISSI TOWN, Sierra Leone-- ...While health officials say they are making headway against the Ebola epidemic in neighboring Liberia, the disease is still raging in Sierra Leone, despite the big international push. In November alone, the World Health Organization has reported more than 1,800 new cases in this country, about three times as many as in Liberia, which until recently had been the center of the outbreak....

On Freetown’s outskirts, burly youth are setting up roadblocks. The police are nowhere to be found. The young men barricade the road brandishing digital thermometers. Credit Daniel Berehulak for The New York Times