Briefly

IRAQ

US gives sanctions waiver for Iranian gas

The United States has granted Iraq a 45-day sanctions waiver enabling the Middle East country to continue importing vital Iranian gas and electricity supplies. In a statement on Wednesday, the US State Department said the waiver "ensures that Iraq is able to meet its short-term energy needs while it takes steps to reduce its dependence on Iranian energy imports". Washington has applied stringent sanctions on Teheran that punish any country trading with it.

DR CONGO

WHO: Ebola outbreak still global emergency

The World Health Organization announced on Wednesday that the Ebola outbreak which started in August 2018 in the Democratic Republic of Congo, or DR Congo, still constitutes a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a news conference in Geneva, Switzerland that the decision was the unanimous view of the WHO Emergency Committee.

AUSTRALIA

All bushfires in NSW now contained

All the blazes in Australia's hard-hit state of New South Wales, or NSW, have been brought under control, firefighters said on Thursday, signaling the end of a months-long crisis that claimed 33 lives nationwide. "As of this afternoon, all fires in New South Wales have now been contained," a Rural Fire Service spokesman said, as fresh rainfall helped extinguish fires that have burned along the east coast since September. "It is very good news."