The Thrill of Murder at Age 14 Absent Parental Responsibility

"This was a completely unprovoked, random, extremely violent attack on an innocent woman cleaning up her yard on a spring day."

"This brutal attack occurred in Ms. Doney's yard in the middle of the afternoon, a place where she was entitled to feel safe and likely did feel safe."

Justice Lisa Wannamaker

 

"I used to enjoy working in the garden with my wife, with the flowers stretched over a couple of ponds and the songs of birds which returned to the birdhouse."

"Now it's like a little bird has flown into a closed window and was killed. I can only put it now in a place where it rests, is buried and marked."

"I'll never forget that little bird that I spent 63 years with."

Bruce Doney

 

"The loving relationship I enjoyed with my Mom was abruptly torn from me. I was violently robbed. Robbed of the chance to be with her at the end to say goodbye ..."

"I am crushed and recoil in horror that Mom was left alone to die and found in front of her home by a neighbour."

"She was robbed of her dignity as a greatly loved human being."

Judy Kirwin, Eleanor Doney's daughter 

Eleanor Doney is pictured with her husband, Bruce, in this undated Facebook photo. Photo by FACEBOOK

 

 

The murderer's identity/name has been withheld. For it was a 14-year-old boy obsessed with violent acts of killing who deliberately stabbed 83-year-old Eleanor Doney to death in Pickering, east of Toronto on May 29, 2025. The boy had costumed himself after a fictional character whom he admired, a serial killer out of a Japanese comic book. Ted Bundy, serial killer, was another admired figure for this 14-year-old who spent innumerable hours in his bedroom on his computer peering avidly into the dark corners of the Internet.

 

Psychopathy was his admired niche, acts of murder, and above all serial killings held him enthralled and he yearned to pattern himself after those he so avidly admired, to feel for himself just how emotionally elevating it felt to take another's life. He had garbed himself in copy of the Japanese character, in a shiny black trench coat, a black COVID-type mask, black gloves, too-large black dress shoes, and he carried a briefcase. That briefcase held a knife.

 

A neighbour's doorbell camera was able to capture what had occurred that fateful day; the boy stopping to talk with Mrs. Doney, then withdrawing his knife from the briefcase and repeatedly stabbing her, even as she attempted to escape the violent menace threatening her life by withdrawing into her home. When she collapsed, the boy continued down the street. When police arrived they issued a community warning. The boy was identified by school administrators and that night was arrested at  his home. 

 

Eleanor Doney was killed outside her Pickering, Ont., home by a teen attacker on May 29, 2025. Photo by Jack Boland/Toronto Sun/Postmedia/File

 

"The emotional impact of losing my mother has been profound and life-altering. Her death was sudden, violent, and hard to understand. She was attacked in front of her own home -- a place where she should have felt safe and protected."

"The fact that her life was taken by a young offender is something I still struggle to make sense of."

"My mother was a sweet, gentle person whom everyone loved. She had a strong Christian faith that guided the way she lived her life."

"Helping others wasn't just something she did -- it was who she was."

Jeff Doney  

Crown prosecutor Tammi D'Eri spoke of the appropriate sentencing for this child killer, that it was "highly concerning" he displayed little insight into his violent tendencies and his explanation for his attraction to lethal violence was incoherent in its reasoning. His continued preoccupation with violence and serial killers persists. There were behavioural incident reports from the penal facility where he is incarcerated. Among them a report of an altercation with another resident, following which he remarked that he "hasn't felt this alive" since he murdered Mrs. Doney.

 

The boy's lawyer, on the other hand -- Erin Dann -- while agreeing a horrific premeditated murder had been committed by her client, wanted him to be given a year's credit from time spent in custody to increase the likelihood he would remain in a youth facility until conditional release to aid his rehabilitation. Should he serve the additional year the Crown requested, he would turn 21 before release and transfer to an adult prison would be a likely outcome. 

 

She cited psychological assessments that his serial killer obsession and lack of remorse and empathy in all likelihood represented mental health problems, not fixed attitudes. "Because these risk factors relate to mental health concerns, there's real potential here for rehabilitation and reintegration if properly addressed"; the youth facility where treatment programming is available represents the best place to meet that need, she urged.  

 

Unusual images of the 14-year-old killer were captured on a neighbour's security video before and after the stabbing of Eleanor Doney and provided to National Post. Photo by Courtesy of John Meloche

 

At the court hearing it was revealed that police had seized two cellphones and a computer from the boy's home that revealed his wide online activity and intense fascination with murder, serial killers, psychopathy and obsession with the fictional Yoshikage Kira. On the day before the fatal stabbing, school officials caught the boy with a knife and suspended him for five days. Two medical assessments prepared for the court appearance prior to his guilty plea, revealed that, as he informed psychologists, he had a fluctuating "urge to kill" in the weeks leading up to his attack.  

"By the heinous act committed it not only shattered Eleanor's life but so many Eleanor had deeply impacted."

"This was all taken away in an instant for the  utter senselessness of murder. The fear/worry/terror that was caused lasted, and still lasts, to this day."

"Safety and peace were stolen, not just from us who knew Eleanor but to all of our community and beyond."

"What is left is anxiety, stress, pain, hurt and fear."

Brian Kirwin, Eleanor Doney's son-in-law 

Ukraine Unsettling Russia in Crimea

"There's no place to hide in Crimea."

"The Ukrainians have the ability to touch every single place where there's an air defense weapon or a logistics hub or an airfield."

Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, retired commanding general of U.S. Army Europe 

 

"To achieve the final objective, this blockade must be intensified."

"This situation must be maintained for a sufficiently long period of time."

Kostiantyn Mashovetz, Ukrainian military analyst

 

"According to announcements by Ukraine’s drone forces, the USF (Unmanned Systems Forces), dozens of electrical substations or other power infrastructure have been hit by Ukrainian robot aircraft across Crimea in recent weeks, with 38+ strikes claimed in the first week of July and 45+ in the second week of July. Besides power transmission and generation infrastructure, attacks have hit gas distribution stations and compressor stations."

"Most of the strikes have been carried out by Ukraine’s workhorse FP-2 push propeller drone, a slow-flying plane roughly the size of a large sofa. USF commanders have said attacks against the Russia-run power grid in Crimea are succeeding because of months of preliminary attacks that hit and destroyed Russian air defenses. The top Ukrainian target in those preparatory drone attacks has been Russia’s Pantsir gun/missile system, an air defense weapon designed to shoot down drones."

Stefan Korshak, Kyiv Post Senior Defense Correspondent 

Temporarily occupied Crimea (Photo: Reuters)

 

Crimea, annexed by Vladimir Putin in 2014 is being given very special attention at this point in time, a dozen  years later by the Ukraine military, where attacks in recent weeks have been increased substantially for the dual purpose of returning the critical geography to its rightful owner, as well as depriving the Russian military of its supply lines. The Kerch Strait Bridge is in Ukraine's crosshairs, the sole direct link to Russia. Ukraine has targeted bridges and roads in its bid to transform the peninsula from its current status as a Russian-occupied fortress into a military nightmare for the Kremlin.

 

This most recent wave of attacks saw Ukraine targeting air defense and radar systems across the peninsula. The energy grid and fuel reserves have also received attention from the Ukrainian military, battered to the extent that blackouts occur, shaking life in Crimea. Causing Russian forces along the southern front to shift into defensive mode. 

 

In the last week alone, Russia bombarded Kyiv, killing 30 people, in its own show of retaliatory force; its usual tactics, targeting civilian enclaves claiming they were aiming at military targets. A stark contrast in military priorities, where Kyiv focuses on military installations or fuel depots to deprive Russia of its critical fuel lines, and Moscow's response is to hit civilian areas.

 

Moscow's special attention toward its prize restoration of Crimea as part of Russia saw to it that years were spent fortifying the geography with advanced air defenses and coastal batteries, fighter jets and bomber-packed airfields -- while on land, missile launch systems abounded. Russia gave itself direct access to Crimea when it built the $3.7 billion Kerch Strait Bridge. 

 

Even in the conflict's first years, Ukraine had targeted Russia's naval headquarters in Sevastopol, driving Russian warships from Crimean ports. They were limited however, by the weapons in Ukraine's possession at that time. According to Ukrainian officials now, their arsenal is capable of inflicting more pain, in essence sufficiently so, to convince Moscow it needed to return to the negotiating table. 

The view from a Ukrainian drone during what the military says was a strike against Russian tankers in the Sea of Azov. (Commander of Unmanned Aerial Systems Force/Reuters)

 

Videos were posted by Ukrainian military units in June of their Crimean strikes. The clips are a vital part of Ukraine's wartime propaganda, illustrating battlefield successes against Russia. Russian forces were increasingly attempting to counteract Ukrainian drone strikes by patrolling critical southern routes with drones and interceptor units, according to Kateryna Stepanenko, analyst at the Institute for the Study of War. "But they need more mobile air defense to blunt the impact of Ukrainian strikes" she noted. 

 

Ukrainian commanders anticipate that Russian troops would adapt, to shift their tactics in turn: "Adaptation can take days, weeks or months, but we consistently find new ways to strike in any direction, at any depth, with whatever assets we have", stated Artem Bielienkov, chief of staff of Ukraine's 412th Unmanned Systems Brigade. 

 

Widespread blackouts in Crimea have resulted from strikes on fuel facilities. Local authorities have declared a state of emergency, gas stations have run out of fuel, and thousands fled the peninsula since the latest strikes began by Ukraine. There were Ukrainian strikes on oil and gas storage facilities, compression stations and power plants.  

 

"The occupiers' attempts to fix the  damage to key facilities -- like the Tavria and Balaklava thermal power plants, major substations and fuel terminals -- are running into complex technical and logistical problems."

Hennadii Riabtsev, Ukrainian energy analyst 

China's Love for 'Harmony' and Dread of 'Splitism

"It [Beijing's new 'ethnic unity' law] risks deepening restrictions on freedoms of language, education, practice of religion, culture, expression and assembly [of minorities in China]."

"[Eight human rights experts stated that the law could have] serious implications for Tibetans, Uyghurs and Mongolians]."

Volker Turk,  United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

A delegate in ethnic minority costume holds a document following the closing session of the National People’s Congress (NPC) at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China March 12, 2026. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang

 

"This new law is the culmination of a policy trajectory that has been building for over a decade, dating back to the 2014 Central Ethnic Work Conference. Under Xi, Beijing is steering away from the post-1949 legal framework of nominal ethnic autonomy (albeit under tight Party control) imported from the Soviet Union. In its place, officials have steadily been pivoting towards what scholars have termed “second-generation ethnic policies”—an aggressive assimilationist approach that emphasizes a common Chinese national identity over accommodation of ethnic differences. Provincial and municipal authorities across China have enacted a wave of local “ethnic unity and progress” regulations in recent years, such as those in Xinjiang (2015) or Inner Mongolia (2021). The new national legislation elevates this approach to the level of a national statute governing all of China."

"The new law’s core concept is captured in the term zhulao (铸牢) – to “forge” or “cast” metal – and its instruction that “forging the communal consciousness of the Chinese nation” is core to the Party’s ethnic policies.  As James Leibold has pointed out, this phrasing reflects a hardening of Beijing’s political line under Xi Jinping – explicitly written into the Party’s Charter at the 19th Party Congress in 2017 – aimed at “melting” subnational and ethnic identities into a shared collective one."

Council on Foreign Relations  

China is in the throes of a wide-ranging propaganda campaign in the promotion and defence of its new "ethnic unity" law, a prime target of critics who contend that this law will continue to add to undermining the rights of Tibetans, Uyghurs and other minorities in the vast country where Han Chinese predominate. With this new law Beijing has granted itself sweeping powers in pursuit of groups and individuals living overseas viewed by the Chinese Communist Party as undermining national unity. It is these groups, claims Beijing that incite ethnic division, and not China's strict totalitarian laws.

 

Beijing watchers have been alerted to the potential of Chinese authorities seeking to accuse activists living abroad of crimes that would merit Beijing authorities' intimidation of those it suspects, to force them to repatriate to China with the knowledge that their family members back in China will become vulnerable to 'special notice' that could degenerate into arrest. Alternatively those who are suspect would become subject to extradition requests back to China, of the host country.

 

China's vice minister of justice, Hu Weilie, blames criticism of its new unity law legislation on "distorted interpretations" by Western media. The law, he emphasized, effective from July 1 is "legitimate, legal, necessary", fully in line with international norms. Guo Jiakun, a spokesmen for China's Foreign Ministry, singled out the United States and European Union for "maliciously slandering" China's policies. 

 

Free Tibet protest against China’s Ethnic Unity law and in honour of activist Pawo Lobga Rangzen, Chinese Consulate General, Camperdown, Australia, 8 July 2026. Credit: Alexandra Buxbaum/Sipa USA

 

The Chinese Communist Party under the leadership of President Xi Jinping has become increasingly sensitive to any criticism regarding treatment of ethnic minorities. The imposition of heavy crackdowns on such groups, targeting Tibetans in particular, to erode the influence of the Dalai Lama in Tibet and the Uyghurs, a Muslim Turkic minority in Xinjiang province, should be immune, according to Beijing from foreign interference.

 

According to Chinese government authorities, the new legislation will protect the traditions of all of the 56 officially recognized ethnic groups in China. While in point of fact, assimilation is the goal the new law is meant to achieve, for the minority groups to be swallowed whole into the culture of the majority Han Chinese. The state-operated Global Times published an editorial accusing "some Western countries and media outlets" of maligning China's ethnic policies. These reactions from outside sources "amount to nothing more than one-sided rhetoric". 

 

Restrictions on the use of Mongolian in local schools in Inner Mongolia prompted widespread protests in 2020. With this new legislation, any acts that "undermine ethnic unity or create ethnic divisions" among Chinese people inside or outside of China and requires all of Chinese society to participate in the mission of ethnic integration are banned. Mandarin Chinese is mandated as the sole language of school instructions as well as in official communication. Parents are ordered by the legislation to "educate and guide children to love the Chinese Communist Party". 

 

Protesters in London's Piccadilly Circus gather in support of Tibet   Getty Images

 

Four Years and Counting...Putin's War

Firefighters try to put out a fire at a city marketplace following a Russian missile and drone attack in Kyiv, 15 June, 2026 AP Photo

"To intercept ballistics, we need the means for interception."

"Russians are certainly using the fact that there is a serious deficit of interceptor missiles now, in Ukraine and the world."

Ukrainian air force spokesman Yurii Ihnat

 

"As long as Patriot missiles remain in our allies' stockpiles, Russia is only encouraged to keep 'vanquishing' residential buildings."

"The United States and Europe have enough strength to stop this terror."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy 

 

"When we were leaving the building, bodies were lying there."

"When we got downstairs, cars started exploding, and we came out from under the rubble straight into the fire."

Khrystyna Piatetska, 20, Kyiv's Darnytskyi district 

Rescuers use a crane to remove debris while they work at the site of an apartment building, which was hit during Russian missile and drone strikes in Kyiv. (Oleksandr Ratushniak/Reuters

 

 It goes on and on. So far, Vladimir Putin's 'special military operation' has been the death of 15,000 Ukrainian civilians. The Russian military claims it aims its missiles and drones only at military targets. The reality is Moscow considers civilian infrastructure to be 'military targets' in its campaign to demoralize Ukrainians and place pressure on Ukraine's government to collapse its resistance against Russia's goals of annexing as much Ukrainian territory into Greater Russia as can be accomplished before Mr. Putin is satisfied that what he set out to accomplish has been achieved -- perhaps less than more -- but satisfactorily to the extent that he can rest on his land-grab laurels and agree to a Russo-advantaged 'peace' agreement. 

 

In the latest attacks on Ukraine, civilians have been killed and wounded as is usual for Russian attacks. Ukraine, on the other hand, has tasked its forces to damage over two dozen Russian tankers and other such shipping vessels in the Sea of Azov. Ukraine's achievements have been a world of difference from Russia's. Its intention is to hit Russian oil refineries across Russia in a bid to undercut its war plans. Ukraine's Russia infrastructure hits have succeeded to a considerable degree, triggering a widespread fuel crisis of notable gasoline shortages. 

 

The Kremlin's rather less-than-honourable response has been to intensify Kyiv bombardment along with other cities, knowing full well Ukraine's vulnerable state in fending off ballistic missiles. According to Ukraine's General Staff, 21 tankers meant to transport oil and petroleum products were most recently damaged overnight as well as four tugboats, two cargo ships and a dredging vessel. Russia reported a single individual dead as well as their count of ships having been struck as being no more than four in total.

 

A local resident inspects a damaged car after a Russian missile attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, July 6, 2026. (Efrem Lukatsky/The Associated Press)

 

Two Russian aerial glide bombs struck a crowded area in Ukraine's northeast Sumy region killing four, a child included, wounding many others. Another eleven civilians were wounded in missile and drone attacks overnight on Kyiv -- while in Odessa, two people were dead following a building struck by a Russian missile. Across Kyiv's Solomianskyi, Darnytskyi and Dniprovski districts, according to the emergency service, explosions and fires were reported.

 

A dozen missiles, among them six ballistic missiles, as well as 121 drones were launched by Russia overnight, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who went on to state that most of the drones and some of the missiles had been shot down. The ballistic missiles, however, reached their targets, a reflection of dire air defence gaps in Ukraine's defensive armaments. 

 

Two missiles and 111 drones were shot down or electronically suppressed according to Ukrainian air defences, while according to the air force, direct hits were recorded at 11 locations. Russian forces, according to its Defence Ministry, targeted drone production facilities in Kyiv. The ports of Izmail and Chornomorsk in the Odesa region were also targeted. 

 

Although Oleksseandr Syrsky, Ukraine's commander-in-chief spoke of a turning point in the war with Russia was "still a long way off" in spite of a string of recent successes for his troops, Kyiv's military has stopped the Russian advance in recent months across much of the front line, while delivering a string of major long-range attacks on Russian oil refineries. In Ukraine, many observers, along with some of their European backers feel that the Ukrainian troops are now on the front foot in the four-year war.

 

A Ukrainian serviceman of K-2 brigade of the Unmanned Systems Forces operates a midrange drone during a flight towards Russian positions at the frontline, 21 June, 2026 AP Photo

 

  

Canada-U.S. Trade Insecurity

"Taken together, size does not change the direction of travel, but it does influence the pace."

"Larger, more globally integrated firms are responding earlier and at greater scale, while smaller firms remain earlier in the cycle."

"This highlights both the potential scale of the shift and the likelihood that similar patterns may emerge across other sectors."

KPMG Canada 

 

"While most manufacturers are staying, many are reassessing where future investment, growth and production will occur. The decisions made today will shape Canada's manufacturing sector for years to come."

"Businesses can only operate in endurance mode for so long."

"At some point, uncertainty begins to shape long-term decisions about where investment, production and growth will occur."

"[While Canadian manufacturing still has a part to play in North America], the question is how strong that position will be." 

Anamika Gadia, KPMG Canada partner/national leader, industrial markets

Trade uncertainty is prompting more Canadian manufacturers to shift production to the U.S. and delay investments in Canada, a new survey finds. Photo by Peter Power

 

Ongoing and worsening trade uncertainty with Canada's largest trading partner across the long 'undefended' border with the United States is creating an atmosphere of economic destabilization in Canada the likes of which have never in anyone's living memory ever before been seen. The situation has led a growing number of Canadian manufacturers to move their enterprises or to plan to move a portion of their production to the U.S. A majority, responding to a recent survey, plan to restrain themselves in their Canadian investments.

 

This is a scenario seen before in a much more prolonged manner when China in the process of becoming the manufacturing behemoth it now is, began flooding the international market with consumer goods to be sold at prices that appealed hugely to the purchasing public throughout Europe and North America. Cheaper goods, widely available, because of cheap Chinese labour and government support (subsidies) eventually convinced manufacturers throughout the Western world that since they were unable to match the pricing and wide range of Chinese-produced goods, it was best to fold their manufacturing and submit to the inevitable.

 

Under this volatile administration with a president who believes himself an expert on deal-making, and who has been accusing all countries globally that have or were doing business with the United States of taking 'advantage' of the most powerful economic force on the planet, and he wasn't going to take it any longer, so here's tariffs for you, and you, and you, the world is reeling. Try that on for size. And as much as global manufacturing had been altered by the world's premier production manufacturing in China, the world economy was far more immediately and deeply beleaguered and beggared by the new Trump-led upending of world trade alliances.

 

According to the 2026 KPMG Canada manufacturing poll, four in ten (42 percent) of Canadian companies have latterly adjusted their horizons by shifting or planning to shift production to the United States, 29 percent of whom had already taken the plunge in banking on the move to further their bottom line. Another 13 percent plan to do likewise, while 77 percent of that group anticipate committing within two years  under the operating environment as it is at present. 

 

Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

 

"I love Canada [but I'm] not going to bend."

"The United States can't subsidize a country for $200 billion a year, We don't need their cars. We don't need their energy. We don't need their lumber. We don't need anything that they give."

"We do it because we want to be helpful. But it comes a point when you just can't do that."

"[Canada, a longtime ally, would be much better off without tariffs -- as part of the U.S.]"

"[Not to use military force against Canada, only] economic force."

"That would really be something [taking control of Canada]."

"You get rid of that artificially drawn line, and you take a look at what that looks like. And it would also be much better for national security. They’re great, but we’re spending hundreds of billions here to protect it [subsidies include substantial military support while the United States loses out through trade deficits]."

U.S. President Donald Trump  

The majority (49 percent) represent businesses with over $300 million in gross revenue, mostly having made the move in full or in part. A third (34 percent) of companies generating less than $300 million have or are planning to move, leaving a mere fifth (20 percent) which have as yet chosen to take no action. "Higher margins when producing and selling within the U.S. than when exporting from Canada", reported a third (32 percent) of respondents, attesting to "stronger margins on international sales from the U.S."

 

Lower operating costs in some states, more favourable tax environment and easier supply chains when customers are already in the U.S. are cited by some firms choosing to migrate south -- outside of the tariffs issue. When queried what circumstances could alleviate the situation to the point where owners would prefer to remain in Canada, corporate executives and decision-makers representing 275 companies polled responded that certainty around free trade, continued tariff relief, lower corporate taxes, cheaper energy, better access to skilled workers and lower housing costs for workers. 

 

 The survey revealed capital investment projects have been "paused, reduced or cancelled" by 57 percent of firms, with 42 percent operating similarly with respect to their research and development.          Roughly half of those polled stated they were focused on weathering the economic tempests driven largely by U.S. President Donald Trump and his trade policies. The poll revealed as well that 61 percent felt they would be unable to remain in business lacking access to the U.S. market. Almost all (96 percent) stated their products qualified for tariff-free treatment under the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement. An Agreement that is now lacking stability given the U.S. refusal to renegotiate.

 

U.S. President Donald Trump (left) and Prime Minister Mark Carney (right) attend a work lunch as part of the G7 summit, in Evian, France, June 16, 2026. Photo by Evelyn Hockstein / POOL / AFP /Getty Images

 

"While tariffs are an obvious factor, Canadian manufacturers are making long-term decisions about where to locate based on a broader assessment of where they are most likely to have a competitive advantage."

"Otherwise, Canadian exporters may have to depend on U.S. customers to act as importer of record, potentially straining key commercial relationships."

Joy Nott, KPMG Canada partner, trade and customs 

The Ebola Outbreak Continues to Plague the DRC

"This is the fastest growing Ebola outbreak ever, not only among the previous Bundibugyo outbreaks, but all the different viruses that are causing Ebola."

 "Unfortunately, the virus is still ahead of our response. It's moving faster than deploying the resources to control the situation."

Wessam Mankoula, head, emergency preparedness and response, African Centres for Disease Control and Prevention 

WHO/ Josua Mulala Raymond

 

A statement from the World Health Organization on Thursday affirmed that the Democratic Republic of Congo's Ebola outbreak represents the "fastest growing" such communicable disease of its type ever. To the present, 600 people had died of its effect. The UN health agency's  updated numbers were that 1,759 confirmed cases in DR Congo occurred since mid-May, when the outbreak was declared.

 

Mr. Mankoula compared the situation to the deadliest Ebola outbreak up to this point which occurred in 2013-16 in West Africa, with 994 cases in the first six weeks, while with the current outbreak and an identical time period, 1,596 had been enumerated. The rare Bundibugyo species identified with the current outbreak has no approved vaccine nor treatment. It is believed to have spread for an  undetected period of time. Ebola spreads through close contact and infected bodily fluids.

 

Healthcare workers tend to an Ebola patient in Ituri. Photograph: Moses Sawasawa/AP

 

Health authorities in the vast geography of the country which supplied the WHO's figures, indicate that the outbreak in the DRC has a case fatality rate of 34 percent. To date, 285 patients have recovered from their morbid infection. Another 304 suspected cases are under investigation. Four provinces have been hit by the disease in the northeastern DRC where the outbreak is located, where the worst-hit area is Ituri province.

 

On July 2nd, two potential treatments for Bundibugyo began as trials to evaluate the effectiveness of the monoclonal antibody MBP134 and the antiviral drug remdesivir alone and in combination.  It was on May 15 following several deaths in Ituri province where armed groups have destabilized the area creating a massive number of displaced people living in internal refugee camps that the outbreak was formally declared. 

 

According to Anne Ancia of the WHO in the DRC, there are some 700 beds available across 22 operating treatment centres. Efforts currently are underway to open an additional 300 beds. As well, and critically, over 10,000 contacts of those infected are being monitored, with a follow-up rate of 82 percent. Yet a 95 percent rate of follow-up of the infected is required -- according to the WHO -- to effectively tame the outbreak.

 

"Population movements, persistent insecurity, and the fragility of the health system continue to complicate efforts to bring the outbreak under control."

"Humanitarian needs remain substantial, particularly regarding civilian protection, access to food, and essential health services, while other diseases such as malaria and measles continue to spread. "

"[Treatment centres are operating at around 90 percent capacity] placing significant pressure on the response." 

Anne Ancia, DRC representative for the World Health Organization 

UNFPA/Jonas Yunus    Health workers in North Kivu, eastern DR Congo, prepare to treat patients as the Ebola outbreak continues.

 

 

Women in Afghanistan--Striving and Surviving

"Our mothers used to tell us that they worked hard so our future would be better and more peaceful."

"Our future did not become better or more peaceful."

"Now we tell our own children the same thing, but I don't think that will happen."

Fariba Noori, acting head Afghanistan's Women's Chamber of Commerce and Industry 

A woman working in a saffron company, Herat province, western Afghanistan, May 2023. Photo: UN Women/Sayed Habib Bidell

 

Over ten thousand Afghan women have secured business licenses, according to the Afghanistan Chamber of commerce and Industry, in the country where the ruling Taliban government has imposed the world's strictest restrictions on girls and women. Those same women and girls have been faced with the existential necessity of fending for themselves and some manage do just that by starting their own businesses which must comply with government rules. 

 

Women's enterprise in seeking out ways that can help them avoid starvation and feed their families, do so within the most incongruously infelicitous political/social/religious atmosphere almost anywhere on the globe under totalitarian Islamist governance. Girls may not attend school beyond the equivalent of a primary education; where once young woman in Afghanistan flocked to universities, this administration has locked them out. Women who once strode the streets of the country's cities with confidence employed in responsible positions, are now constrained by edict to remain in their homes.

 

Women-led businesses are the largest employer of women in the private sector. The company Kandahar Treasure is one of them. Photo: Kandahar Treasure

 

Once they were lawyers, engineers, university professors, medical practitioners in women's only hospitals, now they must seek no higher than to become of necessity carpet weavers, cosmeticians or vocational trainers -- for the Taliban government has closed them off from working at government jobs or for nonprofits. They may no longer operate beauty salons, study midwifery or nursing, speak with male clients, suppliers or banking officials.  

 

Fewer than 7 percent of Afghan women had employment in 2024, according to the United Nations Development Program, in a country that restricts its women from working outside their homes other than female-restricted places where men cannot enter. One of the last and only methods by which Afghan women can employ themselves gainfully in support of their households is through entrepreneurship, within the confines of the government's strict guidelines.

 

There are examples of success on a modest, life-saving scale emerging in an unhealthy economy. One such takes place in a warehouse in Mazar-i-Sharif where 60 women  knot, trim and weave rugs for their employer, 19-year-old Nasira Azazi. Barred from studying beyond grade six, she was 14 when the Taliban returned to power.

 

"I fell into depression. Here, there are at least more topics to discuss, more motivation to get the job done", she explained of the business she launched with financial support from the U.N. Development Program. Her business now employees about 450 female workers located in two workshops as well as at their own homes. The business by necessity has become a family affair.

 

She is reliant on her two brothers for the designs of the rugs her business produces, along with the marketing, while her father runs one of the workshops. Management, human resources, finances are Ms. Azizi's responsibility. She is limited in her public activities, since she cannot herself do business with male clients. Women themselves must rely on male family members to conduct business on their behalf.

 

Ghoncha Karimi, Photo Kiana Hayeri, The New York Times

 

Ghoncha Karimi, a 39-year-old beekeeper, occasionally outfits herself like a man in her travels outside Herat to tend to her apiaries on the city's outskirts. She has 50 beehives and the honey she is able to produce and sell contributes greatly to her family's income. When the Taliban, in 2023 made it clear she could no longer receive male clients in her shop, her sales were diminished. When she objected to these constraints to a Taliban official she was imprisoned for 20 days' punishment.

 

According to Samullah Ibrahimi of the Afghan Ministry of Work and Social Affairs, women are encouraged to pursue vocational training programs, with the women expected to respect "the principles of the country". He referred to a "committee for economic empowerment" that had provided work for 26 Afghan women in 2026, out of a population in Afghanistan of close to 45 million people.

 

An Afghan woman entrepreneur displaying her products at the Oman expo, supported by UN Women, January 2025. Photo: UN Women