Kinshasa, 29 oct (Prensa Latina) El presidente de República Democrática del Congo (RDC), Félix Tshisekedi, denunció hoy en Moscú la explotación ilícita de recursos naturales que alimenta los conflictos armados, durante su participación en la tercera Cumbre Rusia-África.
The FBI confirmed that federal and state agencies were conducting "court-authorized investigative activity" at multiple locations across Minnesota, including sites in the Twin Cities and Rochester, according to MPR News. Meanwhile, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison's office also confirmed that its Medicaid Fraud Control Unit executed search warrants at Iska Inc. in St. Louis Park and Bright Horizon Therapy in Edina, both of which provide autism-related or other Medicaid-funded services.
The operation involved the FBI, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, IRS criminal investigators, U.S. Postal Inspectors and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, according to FOX 9 Minneapolis.
"This is an active investigation, and no further details are available at this time," FBI Minneapolis spokesperson Matt Vogel told MPR News.
Iska Inc. received more than $16.7 million in Medicaid payments between 2018 and 2025, according to state data reviewed by the Minnesota Star Tribune. The business participated in Minnesota's Early Intensive Developmental and Behavioral Intervention program, which provides services to children and young people with autism and has faced increasing scrutiny over fraud allegations.
The latest searches follow a series of enforcement operations targeting suspected fraud in Minnesota's publicly funded programs. In April, federal and state investigators executed 22 search warrants in Minnesota, including at autism service providers and childcare businesses.
The Justice Department also announced charges against 15 defendants in May in connection with alleged health care fraud schemes involving more than $90 million in intended losses. The cases included an alleged $46.6 million scheme targeting Minnesota's autism intervention program, which DOJ said saw Medicaid claims surge from more than $600,000 in 2018 to more than $400 million by 2025.
The raids come ahead of Vice President JD Vance's planned visit to Minnesota — alongside members of the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud — where allegations of public-services fraud have fueled growing questions about oversight.
Nearly half of confirmed infections have been fatal, while undetected transmission, attacks on health workers and limited treatment options hamper containment.
The Eola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has surpassed 10,000 confirmed cases, with nearly half of those infected dying, as health authorities struggle to contain the fastest-growing outbreak on record and prevent further spread across Africa.
The outbreak, declared in May and caused by the rare Bundibugyo virus, has become the deadliest Ebola epidemic in Congo’s history, according to data released Tuesday by the country’s Health Ministry. No approved vaccine or treatment is available for this strain.
The epidemic has spread to 66 health zones across eight provinces, up from three when the outbreak was first declared. At least 2,600 patients have recovered, but response teams continue to face armed conflict, poor road conditions, community resistance and distrust fueled by misinformation.
Footage shows healthcare workers singing and dancing at an Ebola treatment centre in DR Congo after the last patient made a full recovery and left.
The Doctors Without Borders-run centre in Mongbwalu was where the latest outbreak began. pic.twitter.com/syUqGFQYlP
The outbreak has also spread farther across Africa than any previous Ebola epidemic, reaching three regions of the continent. Cases have been reported in five countries, including Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda and France. Uganda and France currently have no active cases.
Weak disease surveillance has compounded the crisis, with many initial infections confirmed only after patients developed symptoms or traveled elsewhere. The spread of the virus beyond known contacts remains a major obstacle to containment.
About 80% of reported infections in Congo involve people who were not among the contacts being monitored by health authorities, indicating that transmission chains remain undetected. According to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, at least 95% of cases would need to be identified among known contacts for the outbreak to be considered largely under control.
At least half of recorded deaths have involved people who were never admitted to treatment centers, highlighting the difficulty of persuading communities to report symptoms and seek medical care.
The response has also been undermined by overcrowded treatment facilities, inadequate transport and repeated strikes by health workers protesting delayed or unpaid wages. In the Nia Nia health zone in Ituri province, some Ebola response personnel, including surveillance and community engagement staff, went on strike last week over unpaid bonuses owed since late August.
Violence against health workers remains another serious concern. On Saturday, a nurse was killed and another health worker seriously injured while responding to an Ebola alert in Bafwasende, in Tshopo province. More than five months after the outbreak was declared, response teams continue to face attacks by angry residents.
In Ituri, the outbreak’s epicenter, burial teams must also persuade families to hand over the bodies of relatives who have died from Ebola so they can be buried safely. Some residents remain skeptical of the disease’s severity despite being directly exposed to the risk.
Sephora Bgosi, a member of an Ebola burial team in Ituri, said some people continued to underestimate the disease even when they faced a direct risk of infection. She stressed that Ebola is highly dangerous and can be fatal.
Ebola Disrupts Essential Health Services
The epidemic is placing additional pressure on Congo’s already underfunded and overstretched health system, disrupting essential services and diverting attention from other outbreaks, including cholera.
Maternal deaths have doubled in some provinces since the outbreak began, as more pregnant women avoid hospitals for fear of infection and isolation. Routine services, including childhood vaccinations, have also been disrupted. Schooling has been interrupted in affected areas, where millions of children are already out of school, while families face trauma, stigma and further economic hardship.
Despite the mounting toll, the outbreak has produced rare moments of relief. A video that went viral this week showed health workers in full protective equipment dancing as the last two patients were discharged from a treatment center in Mongbwalu, in Ituri province.
At least 2,600 people have recovered in Congo, offering some respite to communities affected by the epidemic. World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus responded to the video by acknowledging that the outbreak remained far from over while emphasizing the importance of every recovery.
African health ministers were scheduled to hold a virtual summit on Wednesday to strengthen the continent’s collective response. Jean Kaseya, head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, stressed the need for faster cross-border action, closer coordination, greater solidarity and decisive political leadership as the virus continues to spread.
Kinshasa, 29 oct (Prensa Latina) La Oficina de Coordinación para Asuntos Humanitarios (OCHA) alertó sobre las consecuencias humanitarias que dejan hoy los enfrentamientos entre grupos armados en la provincia de Ituri, en República Democrática del Congo (RDC).
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