Surgeon with Ebola arrives in the US

Surgeon with Ebola arrives in the US

OMAHA, Neb.

A surgeon who contracted Ebola while working in Sierra Leone arrived in Nebraska on Saturday for treatment at a biocontainment unit where two other people with the disease have been successfully treated.

Dr. Martin Salia, who was diagnosed with Ebola on Monday, landed at Eppley Airfield in Omaha on Saturday afternoon and was taken by ambulance to the Nebraska Medical Center.

The hospital said the medical crew that accompanied Salia, 44, from West Africa determined he was stable enough to fly, but that the team caring for him in Sierra Leone indicated he was critically ill and “possibly sicker than the first patients successfully treated in the United States.”

Space agency: Primary mission completed

BERLIN

The pioneering lander Philae completed its primary mission of exploring the comet’s surface and returned plenty of data before depleted batteries forced it to go silent, the European Space Agency said Saturday.

“All of our instruments could be operated, and now it’s time to see what we got,” ESA’s blog quoted lander manager Stephan Ulamec as saying.

Since landing Wednesday on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko some 311 million miles away, the lander has performed a series of scientific tests and sent reams of data, including photos, back to Earth.

In addition, the lander was lifted Friday by about 11/2 inches) and rotated about 35 degrees in an effort to pull it out of a shadow so that solar panels could recharge the depleted batteries, ESA’s blog said.

Planes warned to avoid airspace near Alaska volcano

The National Weather Service on Saturday warned airplanes to avoid airspace near an erupting Alaska volcano as it spewed ash 30,000 feet above sea level.

Winds were blowing ash from Pavlof Volcano to the west and southwest.

Pavlof began erupting, pushing lava out from a vent near its summit, on Wednesday. On Friday, the ash cloud reached 16,000 feet.

The eruption intensified at 6 a.m. Saturday, sending the ash cloud higher, said Dave Schneider, a geophysicist at Alaska Volcano Observatory.

It’s not clear how long this eruption will last, Schneider said. Pavlof’s eruptions may last for weeks or months with varying levels of intensity, he said.

Pavlof is Alaska’s most active volcano and is located about 625 miles southwest of Anchorage.

Associated Press