Geneva

U.N.: Virus in Angola remains a threat

Medical experts are having some success countering an outbreak of a deadly Ebolalike virus in Angola, but it has yet to be brought fully under control, the U.N. health agency said Friday.

The rare Marburg virus has killed 174 people out of a total 200 cases, said Dr. Mike Ryan, director of alert and response operations for the World Health Organization.

The disease first appeared in October in the northern province of Uige, and Ryan said officials had since seen some success against the virus there.

Like Ebola, Marburg is a hemorrhagic fever. It spreads through contact with bodily fluids and can kill rapidly. There is no vaccine.

Monaco

Princess Caroline’s husband hospitalized

The prince of Hanover, the sometimes-rowdy husband of Monaco’s Princess Caroline, is hospitalized in serious condition with an acute pancreas problem, the royal palace said Friday.

Prince Ernst August of Hanover, 51, was taken Tuesday to intensive care at Monaco’s Princess Grace Hospital.

The statement did not make clear whether the prince remained in intensive care Friday but said he was “under continuous surveillance.”

News of his condition came as Caroline and Monaco mourn Wednesday’s death of the princess’ father, Prince Rainier III, at age 81 after a monthlong hospitalization.

United Nations

Attackers destroy Darfur village

More than 350 armed militiamen destroyed a village in Sudan’s conflict-wracked Darfur region in the worst attack since January, the United Nations and the African Union said Friday.

A joint statement issued by the top U.N. envoy in Sudan, Jan Pronk, and the top AU envoy, Baba Gana Kingibe, said the names of the militia leader and his known collaborators would be turned over for possible U.N. sanctions and prosecution by the International Criminal Court.

The two organizations expressed “utter shock and disbelief” at Thursday’s daylong attack on the South Darfur village of Khor Abeche by armed militia from the Miseriyya tribe of Niteaga under the command of Nasir Al Tijani Adel Kaadir.

Germany

European commander shifts focus to Africa

U.S. forces stationed in Europe will increasingly shift their stance toward Africa and the former communist countries in eastern Europe as they move to counter terror threats in those areas, the top European commander said.

Marine Gen. James. L. Jones, who serves as NATO supreme commander and the head of the U.S. European Command, outlined changes to transform the 60-year U.S. military presence on the continent Friday.

European Command isn’t directly involved in operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, but plans to consolidate forces and shift them further south and east are in direct response to the threats developing from those conflicts.