DR Congo, Syria, Gaza

Today's three stories you should know

DR Congo

Deaths from a spiralling Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have reached 131, authorities said, as the U.N.’s World Health Organization (WHO), expressed alarm over the scale of the spread. There have been 543 suspected cases and 33 confirmed cases in DRC, according to officials, and two confirmed cases in neighbouring Uganda, where more than 100 people have been quarantined. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Saturday declared the outbreak of the rare Bundibugyo strain of the virus a public health emergency of international concern. Unlike the more common Zaire strain, there are no approved virus-specific therapeutics or vaccines for the Bundibugyo variety.

More from Reuters here.

Syria

One soldier has been killed and at least 21 people wounded by a car bomb close to a defense ministry building in Syria’s capital Damascus. The ministry said in a statement that soldiers were in the process of defusing a separate improvised explosive device when the car exploded. Sporadic attacks have happened since longtime leader Bashar al-Assad was toppled by a lightning offensive in 2024 after more than 13 years of civil war. Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa has struggled to unite the country’s myriad factions since coming to power.

More from Al Jazeera here.

Gaza

Ireland’s President Catherine Connolly has said she is proud of her sister, who was among hundreds of activists snatched from boats in international waters by Israeli forces while taking part in an aid flotilla to Gaza. “I’m very worried about her, and I’m also very concerned about her colleagues on board,” Connolly said, adding the news was “quite upsetting.” Margaret Connolly, a doctor, was on one of 10 boats boarded by Israeli forces on Monday. By Tuesday evening, organizers of the Global Sumud Flotilla said the entire fleet, which numbered more than 50 vessels, had been seized. “My heart goes out to President Connolly and her family, and indeed all of the families of those detained,” Irish Tánaiste (deputy prime minister) Simon Harris said. “What Israel has done is, in my view, illegal.”

More from the National here.