Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/489790
Newsfeed FREETOWN, SIERRA LE- ONE SierraLeone found 10 new Ebola cases during a three-day countrywide shutdown, an official said Wednes- day, declaring that the West African country is now at the "tail end" of the epidemic. Hundreds of sick peo- ple were identified Fri- day, Saturday and Sun- day as health teams went door-to-door in an operation that also aimed to remind people how to prevent Ebola. But only 10 of the sick eventually tested posi- tive for the disease, said Alfred Palo Conteh, the head of the country's Eb- ola response. That figure indi- cates that there were not hordes of hidden Eb- ola cases as some had feared. By contrast, dur- ing a three-day shut- down in September, when the epidemic was raging, more than 260 new cases were found. "The fact that there weren't that many cases after this effort, I think that's a great sign," said Dr. Dan Jernigan of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. WESTERN AFRICA 10Ebolacases found during Sierra Leone's shutdown LONDON Cynthia Len- non, the first wife of former Beatles guitar- ist John Lennon, died of cancer Wednesday at her home in Spain. She was 75. Her death was an- nounced on the website and Twitter account of her son, Julian Lennon and confirmed by his representative. Julian Lennon posted a moving video tribute to his late mother with a song he had written in her honor. "You gave your life for me, you gave your life for love," it begins, show- ing footage of him as a young boy with his par- ents. It also shows foot- age of Cynthia with John during the early days of Beatlemania. "The love you left be- hind will carry on," Ju- lian, 51, sings in a style influenced by his late fa- ther. It concludes with the words: "I know you're safe above." BRITAIN Cynthia Lennon, first wife of John Lennon, dies of cancer BANGKOK Thailand's junta lifted martial law in most of the na- tion, but 10 months af- ter staging a coup, it re- mains firmly in control — with new laws in- voked Wednesday that essentially give it abso- lute power. The government of former army chief Pra- yuth Chan-ocha had faced growing pres- sure from foreign gov- ernments, human rights groups and particularly Thailand's own business community to revoke martial law. Although it wasn't gen- erally visible in everyday life — there were few sol- diers in the streets — it scared off foreign inves- tors and hurt tourism, which accounts for nearly 10 percent of the GDP. Tour operators called it a tourist deterrent, partly because many insurance companies won't cover travelers to countries un- der martial law. Thailand's king on Wednesday formally ap- proved a request from the junta that martial law be lifted. THAILAND Junta replaces martial law with absolute power NOTICIASCIUDADDELCARMENVIAAPTN—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS A fire burns at an oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico along the Mexican coast before sunrise on Wednesday. By Mark Stevenson The Associated Press MEXICO CITY A massive ball of flames engulfed an oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday, kill- ing four people and send- ing terrified workers jump- ing into the sea. State-run oil company Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pe- mex, said there was no evi- dence yet of a major oil spill following the blast, which injured 16 workers, two se- riously, and forced the evac- uation of 300. Fleets of helicopters fer- ried workers with bandaged hands and faces, and burn marks on their overalls to the nearby city of Ciudad del Carmen, where crowds of concerned relatives of oil workers thronged outside hospitals. A survivor of the blaze on the shallow-water Abkatun Permanente platform in the Campeche Sound said workers "jumped into the sea out of desperation and panic." "There was nothing you could do but run," said Roger Arias Sanchez, an employee of Pemex contrac- tor Cotemar who escaped the burning platform in an evacuation boat. Eight firefighting boats were trying to extinguish the fire, said Pemex. Mexi- co's Energy Security Agency said the fire "is being extin- guished." President Enrique Pena Nieto said the causes of the accident are under investi- gation. Pena said he had issued orders "to carry out the ap- propriate investigations to find whoever is responsi- ble, but above all, to avoid this type of accident in the future." On its Twitter account Wednesday afternoon, Pe- mex raised the death toll from one to four. Many of the injured appeared to be Cotemar employees. Pemex's media office said it was unclear whether any significant amount of oil had spilled from the Ab- katun Permanente plat- form, which largely serves to separate gas, oil and other petroleum products, and pump them to refiner- ies onshore. Previous spills from Mex- ican facilities had usually occurred at active offshore wells, not processing sta- tions such as Abkatun. The Abkatun platform lies off the coast of the states of Campeche and Tabasco. It is further out to sea than the platform involved in the last severe fire in the area, the 2007 fire at the Kab 121 offshore rig. That accident was caused by high waves that hit the rig, sending a boom crash- ing into an oil platform's valve assembly. The blaze killed at least 21 workers and the rig spilled crude and natural gas for almost two months. Ball of flames engulfs Mexican oil rig, 4 dead GULF OF MEXICO By Qassim Abdul- Zahra and Sameer N. Yacoub The Associated Press TIKRIT, IRAQ The govern- ment declared victory in Tikrit on Wednesday over extremists of the Islamic State group, and it warned the militants holding other Iraqi provinces that they would be the next to fall. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi walked trium- phantly along a street in Tikrit, carrying an Iraqi flag and surrounded by ju- bilant forces. Across the border in Syria, however, Islamic State fighters made their deepest foray yet into the capital of Damascus by in- filtrating a Palestinian ref- ugee camp, according to opposition activists and Palestinian officials. Iraq's victory over the ex- tremists in Tikrit was seen as a key step toward even- tually driving the militants out of Mosul, Iraq's second- largest city and the capital of Nineveh province. Defense Minister Kha- lid al-Obeidi announced the victory, saying secu- rity forces have "accom- plished their mission" in the monthlong offen- sive to rid Saddam Hus- sein's hometown and the broader Salahuddin prov- ince of the militant group. "We have the pleasure, with all our pride, to an- nounce the good news of a magnificent victory," Obeidi said in a video statement, and he named the other Iraqi provinces still being held by the IS militants. "Here we come to you, Anbar! Here we come to you, Nineveh, and we say it with full resolution, con- fidence, and persistence," he said. Al-Abadi said that mili- tary engineering units still need more time to clear Tikrit of booby traps and looked to the next steps for the city and province. "God willing, there will be a fund to rebuild ar- eas destroyed by Daesh and the war. Tikrit and Salahuddin areas will be covered by this fund," al- Abadi said, using the Ar- abic acronym for the Is- lamic State group. The extremists seized Tikrit last summer during its advance out of Syria and across northern and western Iraq. Iraqi forces, including soldiers, police officers, Shiite militias and Sunni tribes, launched a large- scale operation to recap- ture Tikrit on March 2. Last week, the U.S. launched air- strikes on the embattled city at the request of the Iraqi government. Recapturing Tikrit is seen as the biggest win so far for Baghdad's Shiite- led government. The city is about 130 kilometers (80 miles) north of Bagh- dad on the road connect- ing the capital to Mosul. Retaking it will help Iraqi forces have a major supply link for any future opera- tion against Mosul. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the vic- tory was compelling evi- dence that the U.S. strat- egy against IS was working. He said the Tikrit operation had been stalled for weeks but that coalition airstrikes and advancing local forces apparently caused IS fight- ers to withdraw. IRAQ Victory in Tikrit over IS militants celebrated By Lori Hinnant The Associated Press SEYNE-LES-ALPES, FRANCE Just over a week af- ter a Germanwings plane crashed into the French Alps, investigators have finished retrieving human remains from the crash site and are now trying to match them with DNA profiles from the 150 peo- ple killed — an arduous task that could leave fami- lies waiting for months. The extraordinary recov- ery process mobilized hun- dreds of people and cut a stony road into a forested Alpine mountainside to help the team bring back anything they found, from a body part to a tiny shred of skin. Not a single intact body was found. Francois Daoust, head of the France's IRCGN na- tional criminal laboratory in Pontoise outside Paris, said that as of Monday af- ternoon the forensic teams on the site and in Paris had isolated 78 distinct DNA profiles from the hundreds of samples recovered at the site — leaving nearly as many unaccounted for. Meanwhile, they had only received complete DNA pro- files for about 60 victims from their relatives because it takes time to gather sam- ples from families still reel- ing from their loss. Based on black box cock- pit recordings recovered the day of the crash, investiga- tors believe the German- wings co-pilot, Andreas Lu- bitz, locked the captain out of the cockpit and deliber- ately slammed the plane into the mountain, killing everyone on board. The impact of the March 24 crash shattered the plane and all those inside, ripped a black box from its orange protective casing, and left shreds of metal and cloth scattered across hundreds of meters (yards). Lt. Col. Jean-Marc Me- nichini, who has been involved in the opera- tion focusing on recover- ing victims' remains, said Wednesday "there are no longer any visible remains" at the crash site. A special unit of moun- tain troops, with help from German investigators, is now clearing the crash site of everything else that is there — including debris and personal effects. While the retrieval of DNA from the body parts may be completed as early as this week, Daoust said it would take two to four months to match the sam- ples with the victims' DNA profiles. Dental and surgical re- cords, tattoos, DNA from hair- or toothbrushes — will all serve to identify and ul- timately return the remains to families. Daoust said all the fami- lies will be informed at the same time who has been identified. "If I announced an iden- tification as soon as I had it to a family, psychologi- cally it's an oppression and a pressure on those that don't yet have an identifi- cation," he said. If some victims have still not been identified when ev- erything possible has been done, it will be horrifying for those families, but they will understand investiga- tors did all they could, he added. Jim Hall, a former chair- man of the American Na- tional Transportation Safety Board, said France's timeframe for recovering and identifying victims seemed ambitious. Hall oversaw the 1996 crash of a ValuJet flight into the Flor- ida Everglades that killed all 110 aboard, and said that recovery operation — sim- ilarly perilous and com- plex — took weeks, if not months. "Nothing is more impor- tant to the families and to our culture and respect for human life than to perform that function in a deliber- ate and responsible fash- ion," Hall said. FRANCE Bodies recovered, but families must wait months MINISTERE DE L'INTERIEU — YVES MALENFER French emergency rescue services work among debris of the Germanwings passenger jet at the crash site near Seyne-les-Alpes, France. By Ahmed Al-Haj The Associated Press SANAA, YEMEN Saudi- led coalition warplanes bombed Shiite rebel po- sitions Wednesday across Yemen as a missile strike on a dairy factory killed 35 workers, authorities said, as both sides disputed who fired on it. Wednesday's strikes marked a week of airstrikes by the Saudi-led campaign, which aims to weaken the Shiite rebels known as Houthis and forces allied with them, largely fighters loyal to Yemen's deposed leader Ali Abdullah Saleh. Since their advance be- gan last year, the Houthis have overrun Yemen's capi- tal, Sanaa, and several prov- inces, forcing President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi to flee the country. Wednesday's airstrikes targeted rebel-controlled army camps in the Red Sea port city of Hodeida and anti-aircraft guns there re- turned fire. In the firefight, missiles hit warehouses be- longing to a factory that makes dairy products. Parts of the dairy's main building collapsed with workers still inside, five eyewitnesses and officials said. At least 35 workers died in the collapse, many of them crushed to death or burned alive. YEMEN Airstrikes near factory kill 35 Servicingyourdisposalneedsin Tehama County, and the City of Red Bluff including Residential, Commercial, and Temporary bin services. GREENWASTEOFTEHAMA A WASTE CONNECTIONS COMPANY 530-528-8500 1805 AIRPORT BLVD. RED BLUFF, CA GreenWasteisaproud supporter of local events. AnIndependentlyownedandoperatedMemberof Coldwell Banker Residential Affiliates. 741 Main Street, Suite #2 Red Bluff, CA 96080 1-800-287-2187 (530) 527-2187 FOR24/7PROPERTYINFOCALL1-888-902-7253 TEHAMA COUNTY REAL ESTATE TEAM • OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK www.redbluffcoldwellbanker.com See All Tehama County Listings at OurknowledgeableandprofessionalstaffofRealtors are here to assist you with all your Real Estate needs. *18Monthsto3YearsforShortSales/4–7YearsforForeclosures. If you were involved in a Foreclosure or Short Sale between 2007 – 2012 YOU MAY QUALIFY FOR HOME OWNERSHIP AGAIN. Depending upon the time frame* you may be eligible to purchase a home. Stop by or call and make an appointment today! (530) 529-1220 100 Jackson St.,Red Bluff 2 FREE Tanning Sessions with any new membership in the month of April Valid:4-1-2015to4-30-2015 WeDo Alignments, Brakes, Shocks, Struts, Oil Changes, Suspension, Trailer Repairs, Batteries & Wipers 1375MontgomeryRd. Red Bluff, CA 530 529-0797 Smog Check (MOST CARS & PICK-UPS) 527-9841 • 195 S. Main St. starting at $ 29 95 + $ 8 25 certificate SERVICESATLOWERPRICES All makes and models. We perform dealer recommened 30K, 60K, 90K MembersWelcome THURSDAY, APRIL 2, 2015 REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM | NEWS | 5 B