The health ministry of Democratic Republic of Congo said Monday two community health workers engaged in Ebola prevention have been killed in the eastern North Kivu province. The ministry said the workers had been receiving death threats for months. Ministry officials, meanwhile, have confirmed the first case of Ebola in Goma, a city of more than 2 million people, along the Rwandan border. Authorities said the patient is a pastor who took a bus from Butembo, one of the towns hardest hit by Ebola, to Goma. He arrived in Goma on Sunday and was quickly taken to an Ebola treatment center. The health ministry said in a statement: “Given that the patient was quickly identified, as well as all the passengers on the bus from Butembo, the risk of the disease spreading in the city of Goma is low.” The French news agency AFP reports the bus driver and passengers are receiving vaccinations Monday. Ebola has killed more than 1,600 people in DR Congo. Efforts to contain the disease have been hampered by violent attacks on health care workers and treatment centers. Some Congolese people have also contributed to the spread of the disease by refusing to take their loved …

British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said Monday that the international deal on Iran’s nuclear program “isn’t dead yet,” and that while the opportunity to find a resolution to the current crisis surrounding the agreement is closing, it is still possible to keep it alive. He spoke ahead of talks with other European Union foreign ministers in Brussels where they planned to discuss the Iran situation. The 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action was agreed to by Iran and a group of world powers that included Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States to allay concerns Iran was working to develop a nuclear weapon. Iran has long said its nuclear program was solely for peaceful purposes, and it won badly needed relief from sanctions in return for limiting its nuclear activity far below what would be needed to make a weapon. Hunt said Monday that Iran was more than a year away from having the capability to build a nuclear device. Boris Johnson, a leadership candidate for Britain’s Conservative Party, and Britain’s former Brexit Minister Dominic Raab visit a pub in Oxshott. Boris Johnson, a Conservative favorite to succeed Theresa May when she steps down as prime minister later …

Taiwan’s presidential race kicked off Monday with China the top issue as a Beijing-friendly mayor won the chief opposition party’s primary to face an incumbent who wants Beijing to keep a distance. The opposition Nationalists announced that Han Kuo-yu, now mayor of the Taiwanese port city Kaohsiung, had won the presidential primary Monday against four other candidates, including the founder of consumer electronics assembler Foxconn Technology. Han will go up against incumbent Tsai Ing-wen in the January 2020 general election. China is expected to define the late-year campaign because the two contenders differ on how to handle it, reflecting divisions among Taiwanese people. A policeman scuffles with a protester inside a mall in Sha Tin District in Hong Kong, July 14, 2019. Divided public Taiwan and China have been separately ruled since the Chinese civil war of the 1940s, but Beijing still claims sovereignty over the island. Opinion surveys as recent as January show most Taiwanese oppose rule by China, and protests in Hong Kong since June against the territory’s own rule by Beijing have solidified that sentiment. “Now, incidents in Hong Kong actually are having an effect on youth,” said George Hou, mass communications lecturer at Taiwan-based I-Shou University …

Reuters contributed to this report. NEW DELHI — At least eight people were killed when a house collapsed in northern India following heavy monsoon rain, which has left more than 85 dead across South Asia, officials said Monday. Floods and landslides caused by torrential downpours have killed at least 67 people across Nepal while 30 more are missing, police said. In overcrowded Rohingya refugee camps in southeast Bangladesh, 10 people have died and thousands of shanty homes have been destroyed since April.  Rohingya children walk around a landslide area at Balukhali refugee camp in Ukhia, July 7, 2019. Monsoon-triggered landslides in Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh have killed one person and left more than 4,500 homeless, said officials said. In Myanmar, days of heavy monsoon rain and dangerously high river levels have forced more than 18,000 people from their homes and flooded at least one camp for people displaced by recent fighting, authorities and a politician said Monday. Four towns along the Ayeyarwady and Chindwin rivers were in danger of being inundated as the rivers rose, the Department of Disaster Management said. “We are working together with local authorities helping the people and providing food,” said the department’s director, Phyu …

A 23-year-old man who fled conflict in Afghanistan six years ago has died at an Australian immigration detention center. Refugee groups say the death highlights serious concerns about the indefinite detention of asylum seekers. Emergency services were called to the Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation Center late Friday. An Afghan national could not be revived and died. The cause of his death is unknown, but police say it is not being treated as suspicious. The man reportedly arrived in Australia seeking asylum as an unaccompanied minor in 2013, and had been asking for legal help to obtain a residency visa. Refugee campaigners believe the tragedy should be the subject of an official inquiry. They say that there are many other Afghan asylum-seekers “languishing” for indefinite periods in detention facilities. Carolyn Grayden is from the Asylum Seeker Resource Center, an independent organization in Melbourne. “What is really needed here is a broader inquiry into the circumstances of how he was treated arriving as an unaccompanied minor through a very protracted refugee determination process, a process that has been designed to punish people that arrive by boat,” she said. Asylum-seekers detained Australia automatically detains all asylum-seekers while health and security checks are carried …

Artists are often at the forefront of social change, as they use their works to address difficult political and cultural issues. Protecting the environment and cultural heritage are the focus of the annual Ballet in the Bush initiative. As Marize de Klerk reports from Sterkrivier, South Africa, American dancers recently joined international and South African ballet talent in the African bush for the sake of their art and an endangered species, the rhino.   …

Public health clinics in cities like Rio de Janeiro report spikes in arboviruses, or mosquito-borne viruses.  One breed of mosquito is the major offender in causing illness.  Researchers in Brazil invented traps to catch them before they strike. Arash Arabasadi has more.   …

China’s economic growth slowed to its lowest level in a decade last quarter amid a tariff war with Washington, adding to pressure on Beijing to reverse a deepening slump. The world’s second-largest economy expanded by 6.2% over a year earlier in the three months ending in June, down from the previous quarter’s 6.4%, government data showed Monday. That was the slowest growth since the first quarter of 2009 in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. Chinese leaders have stepped up spending and bank lending to shore up growth and avert politically dangerous job losses. But they face an avalanche of unexpectedly bad news including plunging auto sales as they fight a trade battle with President Donald Trump over Beijing’s technology ambitions. The economy faces a “complex environment both at home and abroad,” the National Bureau of Statistics said in a statement. Growth in retail sales slowed to 8.4% in the first half of 2019, down 0.1 percentage points from the first quarter, the government reported. Growth in factory output decelerated to 6% in the first half, down 0.1 percentage points from the first quarter. Chinese exports to the United States fell 7.8% in June from a year, depressed by …

The U.S. may approve licenses for companies to restart new sales to Huawei in as little as two weeks, according to a senior U.S. official, in a sign President Donald Trump’s recent effort to ease restrictions on the Chinese company could move forward quickly. Huawei, the world’s largest telecommunications equipment maker, was added to a Commerce Department list in May that prohibits U.S. companies from supplying it with new American-made goods and services unless they obtain licenses that will likely be denied. But late last month, after meeting with Chinese president Xi Jinping, President Donald Trump announced American firms could sell products to Huawei. And in recent days, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said licenses would be issued where there is no threat to national security. Chip industry, China pressure Trump’s reversal, and rapid implementation by the Commerce Department, suggests chip industry lobbying, coupled with Chinese political pressure, may well reignite U.S. technology sales to Huawei. Two U.S. chipmakers who supply Huawei told Reuters in recent days they would apply for more licenses after Ross’s comments. They asked to remain anonymous. A customer response management company and a firm that simulates cross-sectional radar for Huawei are also likely to file applications …

Demonstrators returned to an immigration jail in Washington state a day after an armed man threw incendiary devices at the detention center and later died. Willem Van Spronsen, 69, was found dead Saturday after four police officers arrived and opened fire. Demonstrators returned Sunday to the privately run Tacoma Northwest Detention Center, KOMO-TV reported. The demonstrators were protesting the facility and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement roundups that were supposed to begin Sunday. The facility holds migrants pending deportation proceedings. The detention center has also held immigration-seeking parents separated from their children under President Donald Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy, an effort meant to deter illegal immigration. The center’s operator, GEO Group, said in a statement it was aware of a “community gathering” Sunday. “We respect every individual’s right to use their voice and express their opinions,” the center said. ‘I think this was a suicide’ Bullet holes riddled the scene Sunday, The News-Tribune reported. Police searched Van Spronsen’s Vashon Island home, the Tacoma newspaper reported. Van Spronsen’s friend, Deb Bartley, told The Seattle Times she thinks he wanted to provoke a fatal conflict. She described him as an anarchist and anti-fascist. “He was ready to end it,” Bartley said. “I …

Guatemala said on Sunday it would postpone President Jimmy Morales’ visit to Washington to discuss Guatemala’s potential designation as a ‘safe third country’ for asylum seekers, stressing it had no plans to sign such an agreement. In a statement, Guatemala said the planned meeting between Morales and U.S. President Donald Trump this week had been postponed until the Guatemalan Constitutional Court had ruled on legal challenges. Last week, five former senior officials appealed to the court to block any agreement with the United States that would declare Guatemala a ‘safe third country.’ Under such a deal, Guatemala would be obliged to offer asylum to migrants who entered its territory en route to the United States. Migrants from Honduras and El Salvador heading to the U.S.-Mexican border overland usually cross into Mexico via Guatemala. Over the past week, opposition has mounted to such a designation for Guatemala, which would reshape migration in the region. “The government of the republic reiterates that at no point it considers signing an agreement to convert Guatemala into a safe third country,” the Guatemalan government said:  A senior U.S. official said: “The meeting is being rescheduled.” “The United States will continue to work with the Government …

A healthy lifestyle can cut your risk of developing Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia even if you have genes that raise your risk for these mind-destroying diseases, a large study has found. People with high genetic risk and poor health habits were about three times more likely to develop dementia versus those with low genetic risk and good habits, researchers reported Sunday. Regardless of how much genetic risk someone had, a good diet, adequate exercise, limiting alcohol and not smoking made dementia less likely. “I consider that good news,” said John Haaga of the U.S. National Institute on Aging, one of the study’s many sponsors. “No one can guarantee you’ll escape this awful disease” but you can tip the odds in your favor with clean living, he said. Results were discussed at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Los Angeles and published online by the Journal of the American Medical Association. 50 million people About 50 million people have dementia, and Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type. Genes and lifestyle contribute to many diseases, but researchers only recently have had the tools and information to do large studies to see how much each factor matters. One such study …

Police and protesters are gearing up for a fight in Hawaii as construction is set to begin on a massive telescope on Mauna Kea, the islands’ highest peak, considered sacred by some native Hawaiians. State officials said the road to the top of Mauna Kea mountain on the Big Island will be closed starting Monday as equipment is delivered to the construction site. Scientists chose Mauna Kea in 2009 after a five-year, worldwide search for the ideal site for the largest telescope in the Northern Hemisphere. Construction was supposed to begin in 2014 but was halted by protests. Opponents of the $1.4 billion telescope will desecrate sacred land. According to the University of Hawaii, ancient Hawaiians considered the location kapu, or forbidden. Only the highest-ranking chiefs and priests were allowed to make the long trek to Mauna Kea’s summit above the clouds. Supporters of telescope say it will not only make important scientific discoveries but bring educational and economic opportunities to Hawaii. The company behind the telescope is made up of a group of universities in California and Canada, with partners from China, India and Japan.   Astronomers hope the telescope will help them look back 13 billion years to …

Emergency workers in Ridgecrest, Calif., are assessing the damage after a second major earthquake struck the desert community northeast of Los Angeles on Friday night. No deaths or major injuries have been reported from either the Thursday or Friday quake, but as Mike O’Sullivan reports, Friday’s magnitude-7.1 temblor caused additional damage and left residents shaken. …

Hong Kong has long been seen as a good place to do business, thanks to its proximity to China and the one-country, two systems policy that provides a wide degree of economic freedom. But as Beijing expands its control, that reputation is at risk, as VOA’s Bill Gallo reports. …

Afghan officials say the Taliban has detonated a vehicle bomb near the Afghan spy agency’s office in the central eastern Ghazni city. A provincial government spokesman, Arif Noori told VOA that the attack killed 12 people, including civilians and injured more than 50 others, including students. A Taliban spokesman, while claiming responsibility for the bombing, said the powerful blast destroyed an important facility of the National Directorate of Security (NDS), inflicting heavy casualties. The insurgent group has reportedly killed around 300 pro government forces in redent days. The attack occurred as delegates from Afghanistan are set to open a two-day conference Sunday in Qatar to engage in peace discussions with Taliban envoys.  …

Wealthy financier and registered sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was arrested Saturday in New York on sex-trafficking charges involving allegations that date to the 2000s, according to law enforcement officials.  Epstein, a wealthy hedge fund manager who once counted as friends former President Bill Clinton, Great Britain’s Prince Andrew, and President Donald Trump, was taken into federal custody, according to two officials. The officials spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the pending case.  Epstein is expected to appear Monday in Manhattan federal court. A message was sent to his attorney seeking comment.  Epstein’s arrest was first reported by The Daily Beast.  Plea deal scrutiny The arrest comes amid renewed scrutiny of a once-secret plea deal that Epstein entered into.  In 2008, Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida to state charges of soliciting and procuring a person younger than 18 for prostitution. The deal ended a federal investigation that could have landed Epstein in prison for life. Instead, he was sentenced to 13 months in jail and was required to reach financial settlements with dozens of his once-teenage victims. Epstein also was required to register as a sex offender.    …

Haitian opposition lawmaker Printemps Belizaire said gunmen apparently targeted his vehicle Saturday. The incident happened Saturday afternoon shortly after the deputy had attended the funeral of journalist Rospide Petion, who was shot and killed by unknown gunmen last month on his way home from reporting on anti-corruption protests. His killer has not been found, and colleagues believe he was slain for being too outspoken about the PetroCaribe corruption probe, which has implicated multiple government officials, including the president. Belizaire represents the Lavalas party in the Chamber of Deputies and is vocal in his demands for President Jovenel Moise to resign amid corruption allegations. He said he had been invited to a wedding in the Fontamara neighborhood of Port-au-Prince but decided not to attend and loaned his car and driver to Pedrica Saint Jean, who handles protocol matters for the parliament. He said the car, a dark gray Toyota SUV, was “ambushed” after leaving the wedding. Deputy Printemps Belizaire at the scene of the attack in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, July 6, 2019. “The shooters had high-powered long range weapons and were shooting from the front and behind the car,” the deputy told VOA Creole as he showed the reporter bullet holes the car …

Joao Gilberto, a Brazilian singer, guitarist and songwriter considered one of the fathers of the bossa nova genre that gained global popularity in the 1960s and became an iconic sound of the South American nation, died Saturday, his son said. He was 88. Joao Marcelo said his father had been battling health issues though no official cause of his death in Rio de Janeiro was given. “His struggle was noble. He tried to maintain his dignity in the light of losing his independence,” Marcelo posted on Facebook. A fusion of samba and jazz, bossa nova emerged in the late 1950s and gained a worldwide following in the 1960s, pioneered by Gilberto and Antonio Carlos Jobim, who composed the iconic The Girl From Ipanema that was performed by Gilberto and others. His wife, Astrud Gilberto, made her vocal debut in the song.   Began guitar at 14 Self-taught, Gilberto said he discovered music at age 14 when he held a guitar in his hands for the first time. With his unique playing style and modern jazz influences, he created the beat that defined bossa nova, helping launch the genre with his song Bim-Bom. By 1961, Gilberto had finished the albums that …

Greeks vote on Sunday in a snap election that polls say will bring opposition conservatives to power, ending four years of leftist rule blamed for saddling the country with more debt and mismanaging crises. The election is largely a showdown of two contenders. Incumbent Alexis Tsipras of the Syriza party is on one side — a 44-year-old radical leftist who stormed to power in 2015 vowing to tear up the austerity rule book, only to relent weeks later. On the other side of the fence is Kyriakos Mitsotakis, 51, of New Democracy. He is from a famous political dynasty; he hopes to follow the footsteps of his father as prime minister, while a sister of his was foreign minister. Opinion polls put New Democracy’s lead at up to 10 percentage points, potentially giving it an absolute majority in the country’s 300-seat parliament. Voting starts at 7 a.m. (0400 GMT) and ends at 7 p.m., with first official projections expected about two hours after voting ends. Financial crisis Greece endured a debilitating financial crisis from 2010 that saw the country needing a cash lifeline from its European Union partners three times. The economy is the public’s main concern, said Thomas Gerakis of pollsters MARC. “Voters want …

British Interior Minister Sajid Javid will soon formally endorse Boris Johnson to be the next leader of the Conservative Party and the country’s next prime minister, the Sunday Times reported.  Johnson is the front-runner in a contest with Foreign Minister Jeremy Hunt to be the next leader. Voting is due to close on July 22, with the winner set to be announced the following day.  Johnson has pledged to leave the European Union with or without a deal on Oct. 31 if he becomes prime minister, while Hunt has said that he would, if absolutely necessary, go for a no-deal Brexit.  The Sunday Times said Javid has positioned himself to be Johnson’s finance minister, taking over from current Finance Minister Philip Hammond.  It reported that in a speech on Tuesday, Javid will say: “Trust in our democracy will be at stake if we don’t make Oct. 31 a ‘deal or no deal’ deadline. To prepare that, we are agreed on the need for ramped-up no-deal preparations, including a budget.”  The newspaper also said that Johnson would visit the United States before the end of September to meet President Donald Trump.  …

A vacant pizza restaurant exploded Saturday in a thundering roar at a South Florida shopping plaza, injuring more than 20 people as large chunks of concrete flew through the air. The blast flung debris widely along a busy road in Plantation, west of Fort Lauderdale. The restaurant was destroyed, and nearby businesses and cars were damaged. Though firefighters found ruptured gas lines afterward, authorities said it was too early to determine a cause. “We thought it was thunder at first, and then we felt the building shake and things started falling. I looked outside and it was almost like the world was ending,” said Alex Carver, a worker at a deli across the street from the explosion. “It was nuts, man. It was crazy.” Debris thrown 50-100 yards The explosion hurled large pieces of concrete up to 50 yards (45 meters) away and sent pieces of metal scattering as far as 100 yards (90 meters) across the street.  Carver said two of his co-workers’ cars were destroyed. At least 21 people were injured though none of the injuries was life-threatening, Police Sgt. Jesica Ryan said. The explosion demolished the building, leaving behind only part of its metal frame. The restaurant, …

Tunisia’s Coast Guard recovered on Saturday the bodies of 14 African migrants who drowned when their boat carrying more than 80 people sank after setting off for Europe from neighboring Libya, the Tunisian Red Crescent said. Tunisian fishermen rescued four people but one later died at a hospital, the U.N. refugee agency UNHCR said Thursday. The others on the overcrowded boat were feared drowned. At least 65 migrants heading for Europe from Libya drowned last May when their boat capsized off Tunisia. Libya’s west coast is a main departure point for African migrants hoping to reach Europe, though numbers have dropped because of an Italian-led effort to disrupt smuggling networks and support the Libyan Coast Guard. Although the fighting in Libya has made the situation more difficult for human smugglers, international aid officials have warned it could also prompt more Libyans to flee their country. Libyans who are picked up by the Libyan Coast Guard are routinely taken back to Libya and detained. The United Nations has pleaded with Libya’s government to free the detainees, some of whom have been locked up for years. In May, 108 migrants and refugees were sent to the Tajoura detention center near Tripoli, which was hit by airstrikes on Tuesday night that killed at least 53 people. …

Former Vice President Joe Biden on Saturday apologized for recent comments about working with segregationist senators in his early days in the U.S. Senate, saying he understands now his remarks could have been offensive to some. “Was I wrong a few weeks ago?” Biden asked a mostly black audience of several hundred during the first day of a weekend visit to South Carolina. “Yes, I was. I regret it, and I’m sorry for any of the pain of misconception that caused anybody.” Biden’s comments came as he and rival presidential candidate Kamala Harris were set to circle each other while campaigning Sunday in South Carolina, the first Southern state to vote in next year’s primary and a crucial proving ground for candidates seeking support of black Democrats. Biden defended his record on racial issues and reminded voters of his ties to former President Barack Obama, whose popularity in South Carolina remains high. The former vice president and the California senator probably will be pressed on their tense debate exchange over race and federally mandated school busing. Though the issue is not at the forefront of the 2020 primary, it could resonate in a state with a complicated history with race …