The 100-year perspective

August 04, 2014 - Daily News Briefing

Current events can be dispiriting. But when viewed over the long run, human progress is undeniable.

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Fighting raged Sunday on the western outskirts of Donetsk as the advancing Ukrainian army tried to seize control of the rebel stronghold. In danger of being encircled, the separatists renewed their calls for Russia to send troops to their aid. To support their operations, the pro-Russian fighters have been confiscating vehicles and food from residents and businesses in Donetsk. The center of the major industrial city is all but deserted, with few people or cars on the streets and most stores and restaurants closed.

Why would anyone allow Americans infected with Ebola to come to Atlanta? The virus has killed more than 700 people in Africa and could have catastrophic consequences if allowed to spread, world health officials say. The answer, experts say, is because Emory University Hospital is one of the safest places in the world to treat someone with Ebola. There's virtually no chance the virus can spread from the hospital's super-secure isolation unit. And another thing, they say: medical workers risking their lives overseas deserve the best treatment they can get.

A strong earthquake in southern China's Yunnan province toppled thousands of homes on Sunday, with hundreds confirmed dead or injured and more missing. About 12,000 homes collapsed in Ludian, a densely populated county located around 277 miles northeast of Yunnan's capital, Kunming, China's official Xinhua News Agency reported.

A fast-growing wildfire along the Oregon-California border spurred evacuation notices even as California's governor declared a state of emergency to help fight blazes raging in the state. Gov. Jerry Brown's order Saturday night came as fires in other West Coast states burned through parched forests, brush and terrain, destroying some homes, threatening many others and forcing evacuations. In California, dry lightning, high temperatures and severe drought conditions exacerbated the fire danger as more than a dozen significant wildfires flared, some of which also damaged or destroyed dwellings and prompted residents to flee.

Syrian rebels killed 10 Lebanese troops and likely captured over a dozen more in a raid on a Lebanese border town, the country's military chief said, the most serious spillover of violence yet into the tiny country from its neighbor's civil war. The capture of Lebanese soldiers and police raised fears that the country could become further entangled in the Syrian civil war and could worsen already-brewing sectarian tensions. "What happened today is more serious than what some people imagine," Lebanon's army chief, Gen. Jean Kahwaji, told journalists.

Tropical Storm Bertha was moving over the Turks & Caicos Islands and the southeastern Bahamas on Sunday after emerging from the Dominican Republic, where overflowing rivers led to the temporary evacuation of dozens of families. The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said the storm was likely to curve to the northeast and move parallel to the U.S. eastern seaboard without hitting the mainland. It was also expected to steer clear of the mid-Atlantic British territory of Bermuda later in the week.

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