U.S. sending 3,000 Troops to Africa

Under pressure to do more to confront the Ebola outbreak sweeping across West Africa, President Obama on Tuesday is to announce an expansion of military and medical resources to combat the spread of the deadly virus. The president will will offer help in the construction of as many as 17 Ebola treatment centers in the region, with about 1,700 treatment beds. The military will also provide engineers to help construct the additional treatment facilities and will send enough people to train up to 500 health care workers a week to deal with the crisis. Officials said the military expected to send as many as 3,000 people to Africa to take charge of responding to the Ebola outbreak. The American government will also provide 400,000 Ebola home health and treatment kits to Liberia, as well as tens of thousands of kits intended to test whether people have the disease. The World Health Organization has issued a dire Ebola warning for Liberia in particular, saying that the number of afflicted patients was increasing exponentially and that all new treatment facilities were overwhelmed, “pointing to a large but previously invisible caseload.” Ebola is a virus that usually begins with an influenza-like stage characterized by fatigue, fever, headaches, joint, muscle, and abdominal pain. The disease has a high risk of death.

In Other News A grand jury in Missouri now has more time decide whether Ferguson police Officer Darren Wilson should be charged for the shooting death of teenager Michael Brown. St. Louis County Judge Carolyn Whittington has extended the grand jury's deadline until January 7. The grand jury will mull testimony and decide whether they believe Wilson committed a crime when he shot Brown, an unarmed 18-year-old, on August 9. So far, police and witnesses have given conflicting narratives on what happened. Outrage over the shooting led to days of protests in Ferguson and a heated debate over whether Brown's race played a role in his death. Brown was black, like two- thirds of his neighbors in Ferguson. Wilson is white, like most of the city's police department. The grand jury, which meets in secrecy, consists of nine white people (six men and three women) and three black people (two women and a man). Thousands of people are being evacuated from the area around an active volcano in the Philippines after the country's seismology agency issued an alert saying a hazardous eruption could happen "within weeks.“ Mount Mayon, which towers over the city of Legazpi in the central Philippines, has shown "a noticeable escalation of unrest." Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Jonathan Papelbon will begin serving a seven-game suspension during Monday's game against the San Diego Padres. Philadelphia fans booed Papelbon during a 5-4 loss to the Miami Marlins on Sunday. He was brought in to close out the game but yielded four runs in the top of the ninth. Frustrated by his play and the reaction it drew, Papelbon made a gesture in response by grabbing his crotch. Second base umpire Joe West then ejected the closer for his conduct.