BBC News with Maria Marshall.
President Obama and European leaders have agreed to do more to stand the global Ebola outbreak amid fears that the virus could spread even more quickly. The White House said Mr. Obama called for more significant commitment to fight the disease. Earlier the US authorities confirmed that a second nurse in Texas had contracted the virus after treating a Liberian man who died from Ebola. From Washington Ragini Vaidyanathan reports.
The news the 29-year-old Amber Vincent tested positive for Ebola came as no surprise. Ever since her fellow nurse was diagnosed with the virus, authority has been embraced for further cases. Officials admit Mrs. Vincent should never have been allowed to board a plane from Ohio to Texas a day before she reported symptoms. They are now trying to make contact with other passengers on the flight although their risk remains low.
The president of Guinea Alfa Conde has asked retired doctors and other health workers to come out of retirement to help fight Ebola. The current outbreak is believed to start in Guinea. And so far nearly 800 people there have died from the disease.
There has been turbulence in share markets in Europe and the US triggered by the worries about the strength of the global economy. American stocks continued their month-long fall, sending the Dow Jones Industrial Average nearly 3% lower at one point although it rallied to close 1% down. Earlier there were falls in London, Paris and Frankfurt. Here is our business reporter S. H.
Some traders are suggesting there is a shift in markets sentiment driving the losses being seen on US markets over the last few days. The price of oil saw its biggest one-day drop on Tuesday in months. It's now trading just above 80 dollars a barrel and concerns over the impact of the spread of Ebola have investors skittish. But there are also worries about sluggishness in the global economy especially in China and the Euro Zone. Weak economic data coming out of the US on Wednesday added to the fears of a slowdown in economic growth.
A blizzard and several avalanches in the Himalaya in central Nepal are reported to have killed at least 26 trackers and three farmers in one of the deadliest spells of bad weather ever seen in the region. Here is our South Asia editor, Charles H.
Three great mountain massives dominate central Nepal, Dhaulagiri, Ala Puerna and Manaslu; all are encircled by tracking routes popular with foreign hikers who needs stamina but no mountaineering expertise, and all have been hit by severe weather at the time of the year, usually offering fine conditions. The Nepalese army have been searching for survivors, having recovered 12 bodies after a blizzard on the A. Circuit. They include Israelis, Poles and Nepalese. Avalanches to the east and west have left 10 more people dead or presumed dead.
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The US special envoy to the coalition against Islamic State militants General John Alan has said the airstrikes around the Syrian town of Kobani had been intensified. He told reporters the aids were intended to create a breathing space for the town's Kurdish defenders.
Clearly there was a need, given the circumstances associated with the defences of that town, there was a need for additional fire support to go in to try to relieve the defenders and to buy some space ultimately for the reorganization on the ground. And so we have picked up the temple and the intensity of the airstrikes in order to provide that wide space.
The Pentagon has warned that despite the air strikes Kobani could still fall to Islamic State fighters.
Brazilian police has joined police forces in the US and Britain in successfully hunting down child pornographers hidden in the dark web, a virtual world not visible to most Internet users. Only the FBI in the United States and Scotland Yard in London have managed to chock through the dark web for pornography before. A Brazilian police spokesman said they arrested 45 people across 17 states for sharing and storing child pornography.
Afghanistan's new first lady Rula Ghani says she intends to play her part in improving the lives of women in the country. Her decision marks a change from the tradition of Afghan leaders' wives staying out of the public eye. In her first broadcast interview since her husband took office last month, Mrs. Ghani told BBC she hoped to encourage greater respect for women.
I would like to give women out there the courage and the possibility to do something about improving their life. I am not looking for changing the social structure. I think that there are some very positive elements so basically what I would like is to help women become more assertive within there at the present environment. Rula Ghani.