Brazil drought crisis deepens in Sao Paulo

Water levels at the Atibainha dam, part of the Cantareira system, are extremely low

The governor of the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo has asked for emergency clearance to siphon the remaining water out of the main reservoir serving Sao Paulo city, which has almost run dry.

After nine months of unprecedented drought, 95% of the water has gone.
Geraldo Alckmin, re-elected in last week's elections, has been criticised for not imposing water rationing to tackle the crisis.
Twenty-nine other Brazilian cities have been affected by the drought.
In Sao Paulo's main reservoir, the Cantareira system, the fall in the level has exposed a cracked earth landscape littered with the wrecks of dozens of old cars dumped over the years.

The Cantareira System provides water to greater Sao Paulo

The region got only a third of the usual rain during Brazil's wet season from December to February

Residents of the region of Sao Paulo state that depends on the Cantareira water system protest during a drought that is the worse in 80 years

The drought has also affected other states. Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais are locked in an increasingly hostile battle over water resources, since Sao Paulo - the economic power engine of Brazil - is trying to draw water from a river system that also serves these other two states.
So far the crisis in Sao Paulo city has been managed by a policy of cutting water pressure at night and giving incentives to people who cut back on use.

Brazil says first suspected Ebola case tests negative

 

Brazilian authorities sent an Air Force plane to pick Mr Bah

 up from Cascavel

Brazil says a Guinean man who had been suspected of having Ebola has tested negative for the disease.

The man arrived in the country on Thursday and had been quarantined.
Souleymane Bah went to a public health centre in the town of Cascavel in the southern state of Parana after suffering a fever.
He was flown to the National Institute of Infectology in Rio de Janeiro but fears he was the country's first case of Ebola infection proved unfounded.
Health Minister Arthur Chioro said "all health protocols and procedures were applied efficiently and with great success".
Guinea is one of the three West African countries most affected by Ebola.
Mr Bah's symptoms appeared on the 20th day after he left Guinea - within the 21-day incubation period. He no longer has the fever.
Mr Bah arrived in Brazil as a refugee and was granted leave to remain until 2015 by immigration police.
Sixty-four people who came into contact with Mr Bah, mostly in the health centre in Parana, were monitored for symptoms of Ebola.

Haiti: Hundreds attend 'Baby Doc' Duvalier's funeral

 

 Duvalier's coffin was draped with the Haitian flag, but he was

 not given a state funeral

Hundreds of people in Haiti have attended the funeral of the country's former ruler, Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier.

Duvalier was accused of corruption and widespread human rights abuses during his 15-year rule.
He was not given a state funeral, but the Haitian government sent representatives to the service.
Duvalier died of a heart attack in the capital Port-au-Prince last Saturday aged 63.
Some of those who served under him - including retired military officers - friends and family members paid their last respects at the chapel of his former school.
"Long live Duvalier! He's not dead!" they chanted during the service.
President Michel Martelly wrote on Twitter last week that Duvalier was "an authentic son of Haiti".
'Not guilty' Duvalier was just 19 when in 1971 he inherited the title of "president-for-life" from his father, the notorious Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier.
During "Baby Doc" Duvalier's repressive regime, tens of thousands of people were tortured and killed, human rights groups say.

 

For some time, Jean-Claude Duvalier was the youngest president

 in the world

 

Supporters said the impoverished Caribbean nation was better off 

under Duvalier's rule

 

The son of "Baby Doc," Francois-Nicolas Duvalier, was at the

 religious ceremony

"Baby Doc" Duvalier was forced to flee Haiti following a popular rebellion in 1986.
He lived in great luxury in France during exile, but returned home in 2011, a year after Haiti was devastated by a major earthquake.
Duvalier described his return to Haiti as a gesture of solidarity to the nation.
He was arrested and charged, but released shortly afterwards.
When he finally appeared in court in February 2013, he denied responsibility for abuses carried out during his time as president.
Judges ruled he could face crimes against humanity charges, but the case had stalled some time before he died.

UN chief calls for peace in Libya during surprise visit

The UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, has called for peace in Libya during a surprise visit to Tripoli as part of a UN-brokered reconciliation process.

On his first visit since 2011, when Col Muammar Gaddafi was ousted, he told MPs meeting at a hotel in the city there was "no alternative to dialogue".
Italian Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini accompanied him.
The UN brokered talks last month between rival parliamentary factions, after months of militia violence.
Instability has plagued the oil-rich country and the new parliament elected in July has been forced to meet outside the capital as rival militias battle for control of the city.
Mr Ban and Ms Mogherini arrived in Tripoli by plane from neighbouring Tunisia, where the UN mission to Libya has been based since it was evacuated during the summer.
MPs were called to a city hotel amid tight security.
"Libya needs a strong parliament and a strong government," Mr Ban told them. "The fighting must stop... Enough of killings, enough of displacements of people."
Ms Mogherini, who is set to become the EU's new foreign policy chief next month, delivered a message of support for the Libyan parliament.
Italy, she said, was "fully committed to staying by your side - on the side of the Libyan people... to save Libya from a destiny it doesn't deserve".

Cameroon flies freed Boko Haram hostages to capital

 

Akaoua Babiana, the wife of Cameroon's deputy PM, was among the hostages released

cluding 10 Chinese workers held for months by suspected Boko Haram militants have arrived in Cameroon's capital.
The hostages were flown to Yaounde from the country's far northern region after being freed early on Saturday.
They include the wife of Cameroon's Vice-Prime Minister, Amadou Ali.
They were seized in two separate raids in May and July close to the Nigeria border. It is not clear how their release was secured.
Boko Haram is seeking to establish an Islamist state in Nigeria but its fighters often cross the long and porous border with Cameroon.
Many Nigerian civilians in border towns have fled to Cameroon to escape militant attacks, which have been stepped up in recent months.
In July, Cameroon, Nigeria, Chad and Niger agreed to form a 2,800-strong regional force to tackle Boko Haram militants.
Cameroon has reinforced its troops in its northern regions.

 

  The Chinese workers were kidnapped in Cameroon in May

 

 The freed hostages were said to be relieved to be released but weak

The freed hostages were taken to Yaounde general hospital upon their arrival in the capital, Reuters reports.
"You can imagine that after the ordeal they are very happy to be released and very relieved," Issa Tchiroma Bakary, Cameroon's Minister of Communications, told the news agency.
"But they are very weak. They are in very poor physical condition."
President Paul Biya announced their release said in a statement on state radio: "The 27 hostages kidnapped on May 16, 2014, at Waza and on July 27, 2014, at Kolofata were given this night to Cameroonian authorities.

"Ten Chinese, the wife of the Vice Prime Minister Amadou Ali, the Lamido (a local religious leader) of Kolofata, and the members of their families kidnapped with them are safe."
No details were given on the circumstances of the release or whether a ransom was paid.
In July, Cameroon said Mr Ali's wife, Akaoua Babiana, and her maid were abducted in "a savage attack" on his home in Kolofata by Boko Haram militants.
Mr Ali managed to escape to a neighbouring town.
Efforts to step up regional co-operation gained momentum after Boko Haram caused an international outcry by abducting more than 200 girls from a boarding school in north-eastern Nigeria.
The girls are thought to be held in the vast Sambisa forest, along Nigeria's border with Cameroon.