Behavior of SUV driver under scrutiny in deadly NY commuter train crash probe - 6 killed, 15 hurt when NY commuter train slams SUV - VIDEO: Six dead after train hits SUV

Feb. 4, 2015: Emergency personnel work to remove the wreckage of a deadly SUV and commuter train accident in Valhalla, N.Y. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow)

Federal investigators probing a deadly crash involving a New York commuter train and a SUV have focused on the behavior of the vehicle’s driver, who was identified Wednesday as a 49-year-old mother of three. 

Five men on the train, as well as the SUV’s driver, were killed late Tuesday in the deadliest accident in the 32-year history of the Metro-North commuter rail. The train smashed into the Mercedes ML350 driven by jewelry store employee Ellen Brody, which had become stuck on the tracks between the railroad crossing gates. 

“The big question everyone wants to know is: Why was this vehicle in the crossing?” said Robert Sumwalt, National Transportation Safety Board vice chairman.

The wreck happened after dark in backed-up traffic in an area where the tracks are straight but driving can be tricky. Motorists exiting or entering the adjacent Taconic State Parkway have to turn and cross the tracks near a wooded area and a cemetery.

Witnesses said Brody calmly got out of her vehicle after the crossing gates came down around her and hit her car. She then got back in and drove forward before the train hit the car, killing her instantly. 

“It looks like where she stopped she did not want to go on the tracks but the proximity of the gate to her car, you know, it was dark — maybe she didn’t know she was in front of the gate,” Rick Hope, who was in the car behind Brody, told WNYW.

“I said to myself, ‘The clock is ticking here, the gate is down, the bells are ringing — what are you going to do here?"” Hope added. “She looked a little confused, gets back in the car and pulls forward on the tracks.”

Traffic was moving slowly at the time, choked with drivers seeking to avoid the Taconic State Parkway because of an accident, Hope noted.

As of Wednesday evening, investigators had no evidence the crossing gates weren’t working properly, but their examination was just beginning, Sumwalt said.

Among other things, investigators also planned to examine the tracks, interview the crew and find out whether the SUV had a data recorder of its own.

Railroad grade crossings typically have gate arms designed to lift automatically if they hit a car or other object on the way down, railroad safety consultant Grady Cothen said. The wooden arms are designed to be easily broken if a car trapped between them moves forward or backward, he said.

Acknowledging that collisions between trains and cars rarely cause rider deaths, Sumwalt said the NTSB would also examine the adequacy of the train’s exits and the intensity of the fire, which investigators believe was sparked by the SUV’s gas tank.

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said early indications are that the train was going 58 mph, or within the 60-to-70-mph speed limit in that area. The NTSB said it wanted to confirm speed and other data extracted from the recorder before releasing it.

It was not the first deadly crash at the site: A Metro-North train hit a truck, killing its driver, at the same Commerce Street crossing in 1984, according to Federal Railroad Administration records.

Rep. Patrick Maloney, D-N.Y., said Tuesday’s accident underscores the need for positive train control, a technology that uses WiFi and GPS to monitor trains’ exact position and automatically applies the brakes to prevent collisions or lessen their severity. While not specifically designed to address grade-crossing accidents, the technology can be expanded for such purposes, he said.

Congress passed a 2008 law that requires all railroads to install positive train control by the end of 2015, but it’s clear most of them will not meet the deadline.

The crash was so powerful that the electrified third rail came up and pierced the train and the SUV, and the SUV was pushed about 1,000 feet, Sumwalt said. The blaze consumed the SUV and the train’s first car.

Elizabeth Bordiga was commuting home from her New York City nursing job when she suddenly felt the train jerk a few times. She and other passengers in the middle part of the train started calmly walking to the back. But then they started smelling gasoline, and somebody said there was a fire.

But they couldn’t open the emergency window or figure out how to escape until a firefighter got a door open, she said. Commuters lifted each other down from the train to the ground about 7 feet below, said Bordiga, who uses a cane.

“When I was on the ground, I looked to the right and saw flames,” she said. “I couldn’t believe it.”

The train’s engineer tried to rescue people until the smoke and flames got so severe that he had to escape, Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino said

While officials did not immediately release any victims’ names, employers confirmed that the dead included Walter Liedtke, a curator of European paintings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Eric Vandercar, 53, a senior managing director at Mesirow Financial.

Every day, trains travel across more than 212,000 highway-grade rail crossings in the U.S. There are an average of 230 to 250 deaths a year at such crossings, down over 50 percent from two decades ago, FRA figures show.

Risky driver behavior or poor judgment accounts for 94 percent of grade crossing accidents, according to a 2004 government report.

Metro-North is the nation’s second-busiest commuter railroad, after the Long Island Rail Road, serving about 280,000 riders a day.

Late last year, the NTSB issued rulings on five Metro-North accidents in New York and Connecticut in 2013 and 2014, repeatedly finding fault with the railroad.

Among the accidents was a 2013 derailment in the Bronx that killed four people, the railroad’s first passenger fatalities, The NTSB said the engineer had fallen asleep at the controls because of a severe, undiagnosed case of sleep apnea.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Behavior of SUV driver under scrutiny in deadly NY commuter train crash probe - 6 killed, 15 hurt when NY commuter train slams SUV - VIDEO: Six dead after train hits SUV

Pilot"s mayday call cited "engine flameout" in deadly Taiwan plane crash - Video captures Taiwan plane crash that killed 31 - WATCH DRAMATIC VIDEO : TransAsia plane crash

TAIPEI, Taiwan –  A pilot of TransAsia Airways Flight 235 said “mayday, mayday, engine flameout” moments before the propjet banked sharply and crashed into a river, an aviation official said Thursday, but declined to comment on a possible cause for the accident.

Engine flameout refers to flames being extinguished in the combustion chamber of the engine, so that it shuts down and no longer drives the propeller. Causes of a flameout could include a lack of fuel or being struck by volcanic ash, a bird or some other object. “Mayday” is an international emergency call.

Video images of the plane’s final moments in the air captured on car dashboard cameras appear to show the left engine’s propeller at standstill as the aircraft turned sharply over Taipei, with its wings going vertical and clipping a highway bridge before plunging into the Keelung River on Wednesday.

At least 31 people on board were killed, and 15 people were injured, including a toddler and his father. The search continued for 12 people still missing.

An audio recording of the pilot’s communications with the control tower at takeoff and during the minutes-long flight were widely broadcast. A Taiwan Civil Aeronautical Administration official who declined to be named confirmed the distress call and its wording Thursday, but did not say how it might relate to a cause for the crash.

About 10 Taipei fire agency divers were looking for any more bodies that may be at the cold river bottom. A crane was used to bring the rear section of the plane to the shore Wednesday night. The fuselage was largely dismantled by hydraulic rescue tools and now lay alongside recovered luggage.

At midday Thursday, about a dozen relatives of Taiwanese victims arrived at the riverbank in the capital to perform traditional mourning rituals. Accompanied by Buddhist monks ringing brass bells, they bowed to the river and held aloft cloth inscriptions tied to pieces of bamboo meant to guide the spirits of the dead to rest.

Police diver Cheng Ying-chih said search and rescue efforts were being hampered by “zero visibility” in the turbid river and cold water temperatures that were forcing divers to work on one-hour shifts.

He said the front of the plane had broken into numerous pieces, making the job all the more difficult.

“We’re looking at a very tough search and rescue job,” Cheng told reporters gathered on the river bank beside the wreckage where luggage had been removed and placed in neat rows.

The mangled rear part of the fuselage lay upside down, its wings and tail assembly sheared off and multiple holes torn into its side.

Soldiers and rescue workers worked to shore up the bank with sandbags and steel plates in preparation for lifting further wreckage under cloudy skies. Relatives of some of the Taiwanese victims were expected to visit the scene to carry out traditional Buddhist mourning rituals.

The pilots’ actions in the flights final moments have led to speculation that they attempted to avoid high-rise buildings by following the line of the river and then banked sharply in an attempt to bring it down in the water rather than crash on land. Taiwan’s aviation authority said it had no evidence of that.

Both the administration and the airline, Taipei-based TransAsia Airways, declined to speculate on causes for the crash at about 10:55 a.m. Wednesday near the capital city’s downtown airport. The plane’s black box was found overnight. The pilots’ bodies have not yet been recovered.

The crashed aircraft, which is less than a year old, had once changed an engine, TransAsia Airways Vice President Wang Cheng-chung told a news conference Wednesday. He said the original one was returned to the manufacturer, Pratt & Whitney Canada, after a glitch was found.

“P&WC gave a complete, brand new engine to TransAsia . and installed it for us,” Wang said.

The engine was replaced in April before the aircraft went into use, an airline publicist said.

The ATR 72 turbo-propeller jet suddenly banked 90 degrees within two minutes of takeoff and descended on its side into the Keelung River. It clipped a bridge and a taxi moments before the crash, injuring the driver and a passenger.

Relatives of some of the 31 passengers from China will reach Taipei on a charter flight Thursday afternoon. Local television filmed a mainland Chinese man scolding a travel agency for its handling of injured passengers.

The 15 people who survived the crash were pulled from the open door of a relatively unscathed portion of the fuselage which jutting above the river’s surface after the crash.

Among the survivors was a family of three, including a 2-year-old boy whose heart stopped beating after three minutes under water. He recovered after receiving CPR, his brother Lin Ming-yi told reporters.

Another ATR 72 operated by the same Taipei-based airline crashed in the outlying Taiwan-controlled islands of Penghu last July 23, killing 48 at the end of a typhoon for reasons that are still under investigation.

ATR, a French-Italian consortium based in Toulouse, France, said it was sending a team to Taiwan to help in the investigation.

The ATR 72-600 that crashed Wednesday is manufacturer’s best plane model, and the pilot had 4,900 hours of flying experience, said Lin Chih-ming of the Civil Aeronautics Administration.

The plane has a general good reputation for safety and reliability and is known among airlines for being cheap and efficient to use, said Greg Waldron, Asia managing editor at Flightglobal magazine in Singapore. About 1,200 of the planes are currently in use worldwide.

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Pilot"s mayday call cited "engine flameout" in deadly Taiwan plane crash - Video captures Taiwan plane crash that killed 31 - WATCH DRAMATIC VIDEO : TransAsia plane crash

DR. ABLOW: Do our digital devices own us? - VIDEO: Why we should unplug

Last Tuesday, a ninth-grader at John F. Kennedy High School in Paterson, N.J., was caught on video throwing his 62-year-old teacher to the ground and wrestling with him in order to retrieve his cellphone, which the teacher had confiscated. Teachers at the school allow cellphones to be used for educational purposes in the classroom, but they may take them and hold them until the end of class if a student appears to be using his phone for any other purpose.

Granted, the boy may have demonstrated problems controlling his impulses in other settings, too, but the video of his attack has resulted in national attention. And that’s because it isn’t the first dramatic example of how attached to our phones we have become. 

Last year, a Houston woman was shot by a mugger when she refused to hand over her cellphone. She survived, and she later asserted that she had done the right thing. 

We have already crossed the Rubicon, almost irrevocably incorporating technology into our psyches in a way that makes us part flesh and blood, part hardware.

In 2013, a 22-year-old man was killed by a train when he tried to retrieve the cellphone he had dropped on the tracks.

Without giving a great deal of thought to the psychological implications, our species has deployed mobile technology very quickly, in a very widespread manner. One reason is that the marketplace embraced smartphones in an astounding way — as if our phones and their apps are a lock-and-key fit with our psyches.  According to one source, there are 7 billion mobile devices on earth, one for almost each person.

What is “in” our cellphones that would lead people to attack others or risk death to keep them? I would argue that the phones absorb and record our thoughts and intentions so dramatically that we become unconsciously convinced they are “parts of us.” Why else would so many people hesitate even to leave a room without taking their cellphones with them? Why would they interrupt meetings and family time to check them? Why would young people be opting to spend their money on newer, faster ones, instead of on clothing?

Why would there be so much interest in personalizing the sounds they make, the apps they hold and the cases that hold them?

I contend we have already crossed the Rubicon, almost irrevocably incorporating technology into our psyches in a way that makes us part flesh and blood, part hardware. The fact that the hardware is outside our bodies (for now) does not mean the integration has not occurred. We are psychologically magnetized to our devices. That’s why some people will fight for them, and even die for them.

The selfie has become so ubiquitous that it no longer seems bizarre to see someone smiling into a cellphone or sticking out her tongue or making a sad face — acting — and then snapping a photo. And these images are then sent not only to her supposed “friends,” who may number in the hundreds, but also to her unconscious mind — reinforcing the idea that she is what her cellphone records her to be. Take away the cellphone and, in some measure, she believes she disappears. She feels she dies a little bit, or more than a little bit, psychologically. 

The business of selling “selfie sticks” — telescoping rods that hold a cellphone far enough away to facilitate a really good shot — is robust enough to make many retailers place large kiosks of them near the checkout register. Cellphones, you might say, are growing arms. Ours apparently aren’t long enough.

This is just the beginning. Cellphones will soon be able to determine whether you are looking at the content on their screens, rather than looking away. They will demand attention. The extent to which we own them versus them owning us will be increasingly in doubt.

Make no mistake: While technology can be good when harnessed for the good (raising money for charity occurs to me), there will be hell to pay for giving so little thought to the downside. That downside likely includes an epidemic of narcissism in young people, increased rates of anxiety and dramatically decreased feelings of autonomy. Because to the extent that one’s self-image is outsourced to a mobile device, it is no more deeply rooted than that. 

Bill Hemmer and Martha MacCallum bring you the news that matters to you!

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DR. ABLOW: Do our digital devices own us? - VIDEO: Why we should unplug

Colorado to California: Hands off our water supply - VIDEO: Concern over decision to keep river water

Colorado is moving to keep tighter control over its own water supply, rankling drought-stricken western states like California.

In the process, Colorado is learning a valuable lesson in interstate diplomacy.

James Eklund, director of the Colorado Water Conservation Board, initially gave some tough remarks in explaining his state’s intentions in an interview with The Associated Press. “If anybody thought we were going to roll over and say, ‘OK, California, you’re in a really bad drought, you get to use the water that we were going to use,’ they’re mistaken,” he said.

Some of Eklund’s fellow water authorities were taken aback. Eklund is in charge of the state’s water policy and planning and as senior deputy legal counsel to Gov. John Hickenlooper, his word carries a lot of weight.

“There was a lot of surprise with that remark,” said Bill Hasencamp, Colorado River Program manager at the Metropolitan Water District in Los Angeles, which serves 19 million people.

Eklund later tried to downplay his comments. “Unfortunately my comment, the quote that was attributed to me, suggested that we were flexing our muscle,” he said. “And that’s just not the case.”

But Colorado is still moving forward on its new water plan.

To understand what’s at stake here, a brief overview of the critical nature of the Colorado River and those who depend on it is in order:

The river provides water to 40 million people in the states of Arizona, Wyoming, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, California and Colorado. These seven states also make up one of the driest regions in the nation, dependent on a water flow that is miniscule in comparison to rivers in other parts of the United States.

Making matters worse, recent droughts throughout the region have reduced the Colorado’s already limited flow and left massive reservoirs like Lake Mead, which sits in Nevada and just over the Arizona border, at record lows.

Every state gets a predetermined share of the resource, a quantity divided up in 1922 under a federal compact. And while the 1922 Colorado River Compact governs the system, scientists now know the 93-year-old agreement was reached at a time when the region was going through an unusually wet period. States get their allowance regardless of whether they need more or less.

“There’s a long-term deficit beyond just a short-term drought that we have to come to grips with,” Hasencamp said. “There’s just not enough water in the Colorado River to meet the demands that were designed in the 1922 Compact.”

Unlike California, Colorado has had more than it needs. In years past, Colorado has allowed Southern California to dip into its surplus, to help stretch its supply. That is about to change.

Under Eklund, Colorado is drawing up a water plan for the state. The draft, which has been presented to Hickenlooper, calls for Colorado to save for the future. It would keep its legal share of the 1922 Compact allotment, rather than spread the wealth.

“States depend on water that originates here,” Eklund said. “And as a result, everybody watches us. If we twitch on water, everybody notices.”

Douglas Kenney, a western water expert at the University of Colorado Law School, said it’s never been a secret upstream states like Colorado are going to consume more water. “I mean, that’s predictable,” he said. “And states like California have certainly known this is coming. What can they do? Well, they can look to the other sources of supply, they can conserve water, they can look for creative deals … it’s not something that sneaks up on anyone.”

In fact, Southern California has been making plans. According to Hasencamp, it’s invested more than $1 billion over the last decade to reduce its dependence on the Colorado.

Kenney said the issue is bigger than the region itself. “Once you broaden a little further it is a problem with national economic implications, and of course that translates to the global economies.”

More than 16 million people in Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Southern California, Utah and Wyoming are employed as a result of working directly or indirectly with this water.Researchers at Arizona State University estimate the total economic impact of the Colorado River is $1.4 trillion.

“The seven states have to work together,” Hasencamp said.

Eklund said he was not trying to send a tough message to other states. “The state of Colorado is working … to make sure that we have collaborative approaches to the situation on the Colorado River, which is in the midst of the worst 15 years of drought that we’ve ever measured.”

In his State of the State address, Hickenlooper pointed out, “Even when our snow pack is substantial and the state has what looks like a water surplus, a drought always looms. Water in Colorado is always in finite supply.”

Hickenlooper went on to say the new water plan “goes a long way to ensure we strategically allocate this precious resource to maximize our entire state’s ability to grow and flourish.”

Hasencamp said downstream states are making hard choices and doing what they can to lessen demand on the scarce resource. “We know that we can’t have one state fight against another,” Hasencamp said. “We all have to work together.”

Alicia Acuna joined Fox News Channel (FNC) in 1997 and currently serves as a general assignment reporter based in the network’s Denver bureau.

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Colorado to California: Hands off our water supply - VIDEO: Concern over decision to keep river water

VIDEO: Rooting for Kaci Fennell

Friday, January 23, 2015 | 9:20 PM    

KINGSTON, Jamaica – The Jamaica Observer joins the family and friends of Miss Universe Jamaica Kaci Fennell in wishing her all the very best on Sunday, in Doral, Miami. Do enjoy our audio-visual love letter.

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VIDEO: Rooting for Kaci Fennell

House votes to overturn Obama immigration actions, bill heads to Senate - VIDEO: White House blasts move to block Obama"s immigration action

The Republican-led House voted Wednesday to overturn President Obama’s immigration actions from last November — and to unravel a directive from 2012 protecting immigrants who came to the U.S. illegally as children — sending the bill to the Senate where it faces an uncertain fate. 

The House voted 236-191 to approve the legislation, which funds the Homeland Security Department through the rest of the budget year to the tune of $40 billion. But as part of that bill, Republicans added provisions to gut the president’s immigration directives. 

Despite deep Democratic opposition, the House voted 237-190 on an amendment to undo the actions Obama announced in November that provide temporary deportation relief, and offer work permits, to some 4 million illegal immigrants. 

Another amendment would cancel Obama’s 2012 policy that’s granted work permits and stays of deportation to more than 600,000 immigrants who arrived in the U.S. illegally as kids. That measure passed more narrowly, 218-209, as more than two dozen Republicans joined Democrats in opposition. 

Republicans say Obama’s moves amounted to an unconstitutional overreach that must be stopped. 

“We do not take this action lightly, but simply there is no alternative,” House Speaker John Boehner said Wednesday. “It’s not a dispute between the parties or even between the branches of our government. This executive overreach is an affront to the rule of law and to the Constitution itself.” 

But as the White House threatened a veto, Democratic leaders claimed the GOP provisions would hurt immigrant families — and ultimately hurt Republicans politically. 

“The amendments … that the Republicans are tacking onto the bill, or at least trying to tack onto the bill, to keep the Department of Homeland Security open are inconsistent with our nation’s values and its history. They would tear families apart,” House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said. 

Even with Republicans in control of the Senate the bill faces tough chances there, especially because House GOP leaders decided to satisfy demands from conservative members by including a vote to undo the 2012 policy that deals with younger immigrants known as “Dreamers.” The amendment, which is opposed by some of the more moderate Republicans in the House, would ultimately expose those young people to deportation. 

Security-minded lawmakers on both sides of the aisle also are worried about using the DHS funding bill to wage the immigration fight, saying security funding should not be put at risk, particularly in the wake of the Paris terror attacks. Current DHS funding expires at the end of next month. 

In the Senate, Republicans would have to rally a 60-vote majority to advance the legislation, and they have only 54 members. 

With even some Republicans voicing reservations, the Senate may have to strip out the immigration provisions and send a straight DHS funding bill back to the House, as the Feb. 27 deadline looms. 

This, then, could set up another fight between GOP leadership and the conservative reaches of the party. 

One senior House GOP aide told Fox News, “I don’t know how this one ends.” 

Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, in a written statement, said the bill would not pass the Senate. “Republicans have only been in control for a week and already they are picking an unnecessary political fight that risks shutting down the Department of Homeland Security and endangering our security,” he said, urging Republicans to pass a “clean” funding bill.

Some House Republicans acknowledged that the Senate is likely to reject their approach. 

“They’re not going to pass this bill,” Rep. Charlie Dent, R-Pa., said in predicting the Senate outcome. 

Obama has threatened to veto the House bill, and Democrats roundly denounced it, even as immigrant advocates warned Republicans they risked alienating Latino voters who will be crucial to the 2016 presidential election. 

“Just two weeks into this new Congress, Republicans have turned a bipartisan issue, funding our Department of Homeland Security, into a cesspool of despicable amendments that cater to the most extremist anti-immigrant fringe,” Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Fla., said in a House debate. 

Fox News’ Chad Pergram and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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House votes to overturn Obama immigration actions, bill heads to Senate - VIDEO: White House blasts move to block Obama"s immigration action

VA"s letter offers sympathies for death of veteran who"s very much alive - VIDEO: VA"s mix-up

A disabled Army veteran’s wife received a letter from the Department of Veterans Affairs this month extending its sympathies on the death of her husband, James Fales.

The problem? James Fales was the one who opened the letter.

“At first, it was kind of a shock; then it became humorous, to a point,” Fales, who served 11 years in the military and retired as a sergeant, told “Fox & Friends” Sunday.

The VA letter, dated Jan. 8, 2015, to Dee Fales was meant to offer condolences and to include information about death benefits and burial expenses that will be covered by the Department of Veterans Affairs, KFSM-TV reported.

CLICK TO READ THE VA’s LETTER TO DEE FALES.

When James Fales called the VA to alert them about the error, “They asked to verify who I was calling about, and I told them ‘By the way, this is me!’” Fales said. “And the only response I got on the phone was, ‘Oh boy.’ So now they are processing me to put me back as alive in the VA system.”

During the interview with “Fox & Friends,” Fales said that while the benefits division of the VA had him listed as deceased, the VA health care system had him very much alive.

“Since the government says I’m dead now, can I stop paying taxes?”

- James Fales

“I was still making doctors’ appointments,” said Fales, who is being treated for post-traumatic stress disorder and an ankle injury, according to KFSM.

Fales is unsure how the mixup may impact his medical care and says he and his wife are optimistic the VA will fix the error.

The Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks issued the following statement, according to KFSM:

“We do apologize and regret that this error has occurred, and want to reassure our Veterans that we will work diligently to assist them in any way we are able to in order to resolve the issue.”

Being listed as dead hasn’t killed Fales’ sense of humor, however.

“Since the government says I’m dead now, can I stop paying taxes?” he joked.

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VA"s letter offers sympathies for death of veteran who"s very much alive - VIDEO: VA"s mix-up

GOP blasts Obama plan to tax highest earners - VIDEO: What to expect in address

FILE: May 22, 2010: President Obama outlined a foreign policy vision at the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, N.Y. (AP)

Congressional Republicans on Sunday pummeled President Obama’s plan to increase taxes on America’s highest wage earners, dismissing the proposal as not serious and a “non-starter.”

The plan was released late Saturday by the White House and attempts to increase taxes on the top earners and others to pay for cuts for the middle class.

The president is scheduled to further explain the plan on Tuesday night in his State of the Union address.

“The notion … that in order for some people to do better, someone has to do worse is just not true,” Florida GOP Sen. Marco Rubio told CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “Raising taxes on people that are successful is not going to make people that are struggling more successful. … It would also be counter-productive.”

Among the other Obama proposals are increasing the investment tax rate, eliminating a tax break on inheritances, giving a tax credit to working families and expanding the child care tax credit — in total roughly $320 billion in tax hikes over the next 10 years.

The president also wants to impose a financial fee on some of the country’s largest financial firms. His full fiscal 2016 budget is scheduled to be released to the GOP-led Congress next month.

However, the centerpiece of the proposal is to increase to 28 percent the capital gains and dividends rate on couples making more than $500,000 a year. The top capital gains rate has already been raised from 15 percent to 23.8 percent during Obama’s presidency.

Rubio on Sunday also criticized Obama’s recent proposal to offer some Americans free community college tuition.

“I’m all for reforming our higher education system,” said Rubio, a potential 2016 presidential candidate. “In the 21st century, to have the skills you need for a middle-class job, you need higher education of some form or fashion. It may not be a four-year degree. The problem is he just wants to pour that additional money into the broken, existing system.”

Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, called the plan “a non-starter.”

“We’re not just one good tax increase away from prosperity in this nation,” Chaffetz, chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, told CNN’s “State of the Union.”

He also argued that elected officials need to “quit spending this money that we don’t have.”

White House senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer appeared on Sunday talk shows to support the plan, which he argues is an effort to further stimulate economic recovery.

“Now that the economy’s in a stronger place than it’s been in a very long time, we need to double down on our efforts to deal with wage stagnation and declining economic mobility,” Pfeiffer told CBS.

He also said the “simple proposition,” or solution, is to ask the wealthy to pay a little more and invest more in the middle class.

Obama also got support from leading House Democrats, including Rep. Chris Van Hollen, Maryland, and Sander Levin, Michigan.

“It’s clear that President Obama and Democrats are focused on reducing the economic squeeze being felt by the middle class,” said Van Hollen, the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee. “I’m pleased that pieces of this proposal overlap with the plan I recently outlined.”

Levin, the top Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee, said the president’s proposals “focus right where we need to — creating opportunity for middle-class families and those struggling to join the middle class.”

The offices of GOP congressional leaders also criticized the plan.

A spokesman for Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, chairman of the chamber’s Ways and Means Committee, which writes federal tax law, said the proposal was “not a serious plan.”

“We lift families up and grow the economy with a simpler, flatter tax code, not big tax increases to pay for more Washington spending,” said spokesman Brendan Buck.

Ryan said last week that he was focused on broader tax code reform and that his committee would not pass a tax increase to fund transportation infrastructure projects, amid talk Congress will pursue such an increase.

“It’s not surprising to see the president call for tax hikes, but now he’s asking Congress to reverse bipartisan tax relief that he signed into law,” a top staffer for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told The Hill newspaper.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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GOP blasts Obama plan to tax highest earners - VIDEO: What to expect in address

New ISIS video appears to show child killing alleged Russian spies

A horrifying new video released online on Tuesday appears to show ISIS using a young boy to execute a pair of captives the terror group claims are Russian spies.

The slickly-produced video shows two men being interrogated in Russian about their alleged attempt to infiltrate ISIS. One captive, and alleged Kazakh national, states he was ordered to spy on an ISIS leader , while the other confesses to having been sent to assassinate a senior ISIS commander. The video later skips to an outdoor scene where the alleged spies are kneeling in a field before a burly man and a young boy of 10 or less armed with a pistol. 

“Allah has gifted the Islamic State’s security agency with the apprehension of these two spies,” the adult states. “By Allah’s grace, they are now in the custody of the lion cubs of the Caliphate.”

At that point the young boy steps forward and appears to calmly shoot the two men repeatedly in the head.

ISIS has been known to employ child soldiers, which it calls the “lion cubs of the Caliphate.” The video ends with a scene from a previous ISIS propaganda video released in November, showing a training camp for “the next generation” of jihadis. The same boy appears in that video, speaking of his ambitions to grow up to “kill infidels” and identifying himself as “Abdullah” from Kazakhstan.

The U.S. State Department did not immediately return a request for comment about the video. An official with Russia’s Federal Security Service declined to comment when asked about the video by Russia media outlet RIA Novosti. The news agency said the Russian embassy in Damascus also had no comment.

A recent study by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) revealed the growing use of children by ISIS both in its propaganda and in military roles, but this is the first such graphic use of a young child in a public execution.

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New ISIS video appears to show child killing alleged Russian spies

Obama meets with leaders of new GOP-run Congress - VIDEO: Obama holds bipartisan meeting

President Barack Obama and Republican congressional leaders paid lip service to the notion of bipartisanship in their first meeting of the year Tuesday, but neither side appeared to give ground on GOP priorities that have been met with a flurry of veto threats from the White House.

As he opened Tuesday’s meeting, Obama urged leaders to stake out areas of compromise on trade, tax reform and cybersecurity, saying he was hopeful that “a spirit of cooperation and putting America first” will prevail. The president was flanked by House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, the two Republicans now in charge on Capitol Hill.

Obama’s sunny spin on Washington’s new power dynamic was at odds with much of what has played out in the week since the new Congress was seated. Republicans have taken aim at core elements of the president’s agenda, including legislation on immigration and health care that the White House has vowed to veto.

Boehner appeared to double down on the Republican strategy in Tuesday’s meeting. His office said the Ohio Republican made clear that the House would push forward on a bill that would block the president’s executive actions on immigration and also urged the president to sign a bill approving construction of the Keystone XL pipeline.

The Keystone measure and immigration bill are among the five veto threats the White House has issued in the week since Congress returned to Washington.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest took a sharper tone in discussing Republicans than the president, saying the GOP’s approach to the opening days of the new Congress raises questions “about how serious they are about trying to work with the president.”

“In the first five days that they’ve been in session, they’ve advanced five pieces of legislation all the way to the rules committee that they already know this president strongly opposes,” Earnest said.

Despite the areas of disagreement, the White House and Boehner both raised the prospect of working together on trade, overhauling the nation’s complex tax code, and cybersecurity.

The president renewed his call for Congress to pass legislation encouraging the private sector to share cyberthreat data with the government and shield companies from lawsuits if they opt to do so.

“I think we agreed that this is an area where we can work hard together, get some legislation done and make sure that we are much more effective in protecting the American people from these kinds of cyberattacks,” Obama said.

Boehner’s office concurred, saying “Republicans are ready to work with both parties to address this important issue and put some common-sense measures on the president’s desk.”

Absent from Tuesday’s meeting was Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., who suffered an injury during a recent workout and has not yet returned to Capitol Hill.

The White House said the president also updated lawmakers on foreign policy issues, including the military campaign against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria. Obama has called on Congress to vote on a new authorization for use of military force that would be a guidepost for that effort. Boehner and other Republicans have said they want the White House to write the authorization, then send it to Congress for votes.

The White House said the president was also likely to update lawmakers on foreign policy issues, including the military campaign against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria.

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Obama meets with leaders of new GOP-run Congress - VIDEO: Obama holds bipartisan meeting

Obama calls for expanded access to fast Internet - VIDEO: WH moving forward with plans to regulate broadband industry

President Obama is diving deeper into the debate over Internet control, urging the Federal Communications Commission to pre-empt state laws that restrict local governments from building broadband services. 

The president unveiled his plans Wednesday in Cedar Falls, Iowa, one of a handful of American cities — along with Chattanooga, Tenn., and Kansas City, Mo. — offering government-provided, high-speed Internet. 

The White House touts these networks as a fast and affordable option for consumers. And Obama sees them as local models for so-called net neutrality — his plan to preserve an open Internet, free of tiered pricing and restrictions imposed by commercial providers. 

“Today, high-speed broadband is not a luxury. It’s a necessity,” Obama said Wednesday. “This is about helping local businesses grow and prosper and compete in the global economy.” 

But the move has angered Republicans and others who worry the federal government is trampling on the ability of states to set their own rules. 

Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., on Wednesday accused the president of pushing a “federal takeover of state laws governing broadband and the Internet.” 

According to the White House, 19 states have laws restricting municipal broadband networks. 

Fischer and other lawmakers worry about the impact an array of local government-run broadband networks would have on the private sector. She and 10 other Republican senators wrote to the FCC last summer urging the commission not to “force taxpayer funded competition against private broadband providers — against the wishes of the states.” 

Advocates of those state laws say they are designed to protect taxpayers from municipal projects that are expensive, can fail or may be unnecessary. 

The National Governors Association and the National Conference of State Legislatures have urged the FCC not to pre-empt state laws on broadband. 

But the administration argues these state measures stifle competition. 

Obama wants to expand access to broadband communications services, siding with local communities that want either to expand competition or provide municipal services themselves. To promote it, he announced that his administration will provide technical and financial assistance to towns and cities that want to improve Internet service for their residents. 

The proposals do not require congressional approval and are part of a series of measures Obama is rolling out before his State of the Union address next week. 

The administration’s stance would put it at odds with major cable and telephone companies such as AT&T, Comcast and Time Warner Cable Inc., that currently provide Internet service, often with little or no competition. Obama has already angered the industry by calling for new FCC rules that treat Internet service providers as public utilities, as part of his net neutrality push. 

In a White House video before the announcement, Obama says: “You know what it feels like when you don’t have a good Internet connection. Everything is buffering, you try to download a video and you’ve got that little circle thing that goes round and round, it’s really aggravating.” 

“There are real world consequences to this and it makes us less economically competitive,” he says. 

Jeff Zients, director of Obama’s National Economic Council, said Obama wants to use the bully pulpit of the presidency to press the FCC, an independent regulatory agency, to “ensure that all states have a playing field that allows for a vibrant and competitive market for communication services.” 

The FCC is already considering requests for Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Wilson, N.C., to prevent state laws from blocking the expansion of their broadband projects. FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said in June that local communities that want to provide their own broadband service “shouldn’t be stopped by state laws promoted by cable and telephone companies that don’t want that competition.” 

A new White House report says that while 94 percent of Americans living in urban areas can purchase an Internet connection of 25 megabits per second, only 51 percent of Americans in rural areas have access to such Internet speeds. 

The report also says that because of lack of competition three out of four Americans lack a choice for such Internet service. 

The White House also announced that the Commerce Department would promote greater broadband access by hosting regional workshops and offering technical assistance to communities. The Department of Agriculture also will provide grants and loans of $40 million to $50 million to assist rural areas. 

A council comprising more than a dozen government agencies will also seek to remove regulatory and policy barriers that hinder broadband competition, the White House said. 

Fox News’ Doug McKelway and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Obama calls for expanded access to fast Internet - VIDEO: WH moving forward with plans to regulate broadband industry

VIDEO: Violent clashes in southern Mexico

Violent clashes erupted between student protesters and riot police in the southern Mexican state of Guerrero on Sunday, leaving at least 20 people injured – including eight police officers.

The clashes have been linked to the death of 43 college students who disappeared on September 26, causing a political crisis in Mexico.

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VIDEO: Violent clashes in southern Mexico

Touchless, Spice release "Work It" video

Touchless

Spice

Rising dancehall artiste Touchless has released the video for his collaborative single ‘Work It’, which features dancehall artiste Spice.

“The video is in response to Touchless’ fans, who wanted him to come up with a hot video befitting the Work It song with Spice, and that’s exactly what we did,” a member of Touchless’ management team said. “We captured the total essence of Work It – raw, steamy, sexy and fun.

There are stunning visuals and a look uncommon to most dancehall videos that will blow your mind. All we can say is watch the video and you will watch it over and over again.”

The video, released on YouTube, will debut on television this weekend just in time for Touchless to perform at two major events for the Christmas, Sting and GT Taylor Christmas Extravaganza.

Additionally, Touchless will be performing at the Galliday Bounce stage show on December 28. “Come out and see his dynamite routines that will leave you wanting more,” the representative saidd.

Born Brandon Campbell and originally from St Ann, Touchless has also released songs, including Bruck Out, Summa Body, and Real Boss, featuring Don SLR among others.

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Touchless, Spice release "Work It" video

Police say human remains could be missing UVA student Hannah Graham - VIDEO: Remains sent to Richmond to be identified

Police say human remains found Saturday in Virginia could be those of missing University of Virginia student Hannah Graham – who was last seen on Sept. 13.

Further forensic tests are needed to confirm whether the remains are those of Hannah Graham, Charlottesville Police Chief Tim Longo told a news conference. The remains were found on an abandoned property in southern Albemarle County by a search team from the Chesterfield County Sheriff’s Office, Longo said. They are being transported to Richmond for identification.

“Right now we have the discovery of human remains and a great deal of work ahead of us,” said Col. Steve Sellers, Albemarle County Police chief. “We cannot and will not jump to any conclusions regarding today’s discovery. I ask for the public’s patience as we move forward and pursue what is now a new, ongoing death investigation.”

Authorities are asking anyone who recalls seeing any suspicious activity or vehicles in the area of Old Lynchburg Road in Charlottesville – where the remains were found – to contact the Albemarle County Police Department at 434-296-5807.

Thousands of volunteers had searched for the 18-year-old Graham in the weeks since her disappearance.

Jesse Leroy Matthew Jr., 32, has been charged with abduction with intent to defile Graham. A preliminary hearing is set for Dec. 4 on the charge. In the meantime, Matthew is being held in the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail.

Police officials Saturday afternoon had blocked the road leading to the site where the remains were found.

Surveillance videos captured some of what Graham did the night she vanished. Authorities say she met friends at a restaurant for dinner Sept. 12 before stopping by two parties at off-campus housing units. She left the second party alone and eventually texted a friend saying she was lost, authorities said.

She can be seen walking unsteadily and even running at times, past a pub and a service station and then onto a seven-block pedestrian strip that includes the Tempo Restaurant.

Tempo Restaurant owner Brice Cunningham has said Graham appeared to be incapacitated as she walked away with Matthew. Police have said they have no reason to believe she and Matthew knew each other before their encounter.

Matthew, an operating room technician at the university’s hospital who sometimes drives a taxi, had been drinking at the bar earlier that night before he encountered Graham, Cunningham has said.

A week after Graham went missing, Longo publicly described Matthew in detail without naming him, saying investigators wanted to talk to the “person of interest” and had searched his apartment because he was the last person to see her.

Matthew showed up at police headquarters, asked for a lawyer, and then sped away, according to a police account. His exit prompted a warrant for “reckless driving,” a charge that Longo cited as he named the suspect and appealed for information from anyone who saw him with Graham the night she disappeared.

Matthew was arrested a few days later in Galveston, Texas.

While Matthew was a fugitive in Texas, Virginia police added a charge of abduction with intent to defile, a violent felony that under Virginia law compels suspects to submit to DNA testing.

Very quickly thereafter, Virginia State Police announced a “forensic link” to Harrington’s killing. That case, in turn, has been linked by DNA evidence since 2012 to the rape of a woman in Fairfax, Virginia, who survived after a passer-by startled her attacker, the FBI has said.

Following Matthew’s arrest, Christopher Newport University released a statement noting that he had been named in a police file involving a Sept. 7, 2003 sexual assault on the Newport News campus. Matthew was a student there from January 2003 through Oct. 15, 2003.

Matthew had transferred to CNU after three years at Liberty University, where he also was briefly on the football team.

When he was at Liberty University, he was accused of raping a student on campus. That charge was dropped when the person declined to move forward with prosecution, Lynchburg Commonwealth’s Attorney Michael Doucette said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Police say human remains could be missing UVA student Hannah Graham - VIDEO: Remains sent to Richmond to be identified

Maryland delays effort to recoup $55M for failed ObamaCare site - VIDEO: ObamaCare reportedly fading as midterm issue - Full Coverage: Midterm elections

FILE: Oct. 2, 2013: A man looks over the Affordable Care Act signup page on the HealthCare.gov website in New York. (REUTERS)

Maryland officials reportedly have agreed to delay court action seeking $55 million from the primary contractor for the state’s problematic ObamaCare website.

Officials from Maryland’s health care exchange in April fired the contractor, Noridian Healthcare Solutions, and vowed to seek court actions to recoup the money.

Both sides have struck a temporary deal so state officials can focus on the second year of ObamaCare enrollment that starts Nov. 15, according to The Baltimore Sun.  

A spokeswoman for Democratic Gov. Martin O’Malley told The Sun that officials are still “evaluating claims that we may pursue in litigation.”

The first ObamaCare enrollment, on Oct. 1, 2013, got off to a disastrous start, marked by an overwhelming public response that crashed the federal site, HealthCare.gov, and several state-run sites.

President Obama, angry and “frustrated” by the start of arguably his biggest legislative accomplishment, made sure the software problems were essentially fixed after the first several weeks by hiring industry experts to work around the clock to write better computer code and fix software bugs.

But at least two state-run sites — Maryland and Oregon’s — had to scrap their failed, multi-million dollar, online projects.

Oregon has moved online customers to the federal site after software bugs and other technical problems kept the state from fully enrolling a single customer online.

The problems and transition is estimated to cost state and federal taxpayers at least an additional $85 million — including $50 million to manually enroll thousands of customers and $35 million to Deloitte Consulting to salvage the faulty technology.

Maryland officials have decided to replace their technology, instead of fixing the system or like Oregon joining the federal exchange system.

They have hired Deloitte Consulting, which has successfully run the Connecticut exchange. The effort is expected to cost $43 million.

The decision also comes just weeks before Election Day for Democratic nominee for governor Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown, who was O’Malley’s point man for ObamaCare.

Maryland and contractor Noridian have blamed each other and subcontractors, including IBM, for the problems.

The decision to delay action also came amid an ongoing inspector general’s probe, which was requested in February by Maryland GOP Rep. Andy Harris.

“Millions of dollars were wasted because of a lack of oversight by Lieutenant Governor Brown, and now the state must try to recoup some of the money he allowed to be sent to companies who couldn’t deliver,” Harris told The Sun. “The federal investigation should provide critical information about how taxpayer dollars were wasted and whether fraud occurred.”

Justin Schall, Brown’s campaign manager, said: “It’s disappointing that congressman Harris would mislead the people of Maryland and play political games with a federal investigation.”

Thirty-six states are part of the federal exchange, and there are 14 state-run sites.

The president crafted the legislation to help an estimated 30 million uninsured Americans get coverage.

The administration reached its goal of enrolling 6 million people by its self-imposed March 31 deadline. And right now, 7.3 million people have enrolled in marketplace plans, paid their premiums and have access to insurance, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.

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Maryland delays effort to recoup $55M for failed ObamaCare site - VIDEO: ObamaCare reportedly fading as midterm issue - Full Coverage: Midterm elections

STARNES: Houston now seeks pastor speeches - VIDEO: Houston has "gone too far," pastor says - GREGG JARRETT: The abuse of subpoenas

Five Christian pastors will no longer have to turn their sermons over to attorneys for the city of Houston. Instead, they will be forced to turn over their speeches related to the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO).

I don’t mean to point out the obvious here – but what do those attorneys think a sermon is? It’s a speech.

According to an amended motion filed Friday in Harris County, Texas court, the city’s attorneys will no longer demand sermons related to homosexuals, gender identity, or Mayor Annise Parker – Houston’s first openly lesbian mayor.

The amended subpoenas do require the pastors to turn over “all speeches or presentations related to HERO” – along with 17 different categories of information.

I don’t mean to point out the obvious here – but what do those attorneys think a sermon is? It’s a speech.

The Alliance Defending Freedom is a religious liberty law firm that is representing the pastors. Attorney Erik Stanley tells me the amended subpoenas don’t solve anything.

“The city of Houston still doesn’t get it,” he said. “The subpoenas still ask for information that encompasses speeches made by the pastors and private communications with their church members.”

Stanley said the only resolution is for the city to rescind the subpoenas entirely.

“This tramples their First Amendment rights to free speech and the free exercise of religion,” Stanley said. “Any inquiry into what these pastors did in standing against the ordinance passed by the city of Houston and encouraging members to sign the petition is a violation of the First Amendment.”

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The subpoenas were issued in a response to a lawsuit filed related to HERO, also known as the “Bathroom Bill.” Religious groups were opposed to a provision of the law that would allow men who identify as women to use the restrooms of their choice.

The city’s attorney said the pastors were subpoenaed because they were helping to lead opposition to the Bathroom Bill.

According to the Houston Chronicle, Mayor Parker said on Friday, “We don’t need to intrude on matters of faith to have equal rights in Houston, and it was never the intention of the city of Houston to intrude on any matters of faith or to get between a pastor and their parishioners.”

Folks, that’s a load of grade A fertilizer. 

“We don’t want their sermons, we want the instructions on the petition process. That’s always what we wanted and, again, they knew that’s what we wanted because that’s the subject of the lawsuit,” she said.

There’s just one problem, Madam Mayor, the pastors aren’t party to the lawsuit. And if you weren’t looking for their sermons, why did you put that in the subpoena. 

The amended subpoenas are not likely to quell growing national outrage over what many are calling an all-out assault on religious liberty.

Sen. Ted Cruz forcefully denounced the city’s actions during a Thursday rally in support of the pastors in Houston.

“Caesar has no jurisdiction over the pulpit,” Cruz said to a cheering crowd of pastors and supporters. “When you subpoena one pastor, you subpoena every pastor.”

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott issued a blistering letter to the city attorney Wednesday night – demanding they immediately rescind the subpoenas.

He called the subpoenas “aggressive and invasive” and said they show “no regard for the very serious First Amendment considerations at stake.”

“Whether you intend it to be so or not, your action is a direct assault on the religious liberty guaranteed by the First Amendment,” Abbott wrote.

Also on Wednesday, Mayor Parker issued a defiant statement on Twitter – justifying the city’s attack on the ministers.

“If the 5 pastors used pulpits for politics, their sermons are fair game,” Parker tweeted.

Stanley said the mayor’s tweet revealed the city’s true intent.

“I think the mayor’s comment unmasks what the city is really after,” he said. “The city views these pastors and the communications they make with their members, their sermons, and their speeches as fair game.”

He said it was nothing more than a “strong-arm intimidation tactic to silence these pastors.”

“They are sending a message that you better not go up against City Hall on these issues,” Stanley added.

Family Research Council President Tony Perkins had a strong reaction to the city of Houston’s latest move. He told me Friday, “this head-fake might fool some, but the reality is, Mayor Parker didn’t need a subpoena to access those sermons in the first place. “They were already public,” he said. 

“In this ‘new’ filing, the mayor still insists on seeing private emails, texts, and other communications related to the mayor’s office and the city’s Bathroom Bill.’ While two words – ‘or sermons’ – are dropped from the ‘revised’ subpoena, the government intrusion into private religious affairs remains.  The ‘revised’ subpoena is a difference without a distinction.”   

Alliance Defending Freedom said they will move forward with a request to quash the subpoenas. Regardless of the outcome, the pastors will not turn over any documents to the city.

As Senator Cruz so eloquently said, Caesar has no jurisdiction over the pulpit.

Todd Starnes is host of Fox News & Commentary, heard on hundreds of radio stations. Sign up for his American Dispatch newsletter, be sure to join his Facebook page, and follow him on Twitter. His latest book is “God Less America.”

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STARNES: Houston now seeks pastor speeches - VIDEO: Houston has "gone too far," pastor says - GREGG JARRETT: The abuse of subpoenas

VIDEO: Ebola: Cuba to send medics to Africa

As demands grow for more international help to fight Ebola, Cuba’s former president, Fidel Castro, has said his country will send almost 300 extra doctors and nurses to Africa.

He also said Cuba was ready to cooperate with the United States in the interest of global peace.

The announcement came as President Obama urged Americans to avoid hysteria over Ebola, as Donna Larsen reports.

Donna Larsen reports.

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VIDEO: Ebola: Cuba to send medics to Africa

VIDEO: Top secret space plane lands in US

A unmanned US plane on a top-secret, two-year mission to space has returned to Earth and landed in California.

The aircraft, resembling a miniature space shuttle and known as the Orbital Test Vehicle or X-37B, spent 674 days in orbit around the planet.

Pictures released by the 30th Space Wing show it touching down at Vandenberg Air Force Base on Friday morning.

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VIDEO: Top secret space plane lands in US

VIDEO: The quest for an Ebola vaccine

Authorities in West Africa are struggling to deal with the Ebola outbreak which has already claimed thousands of lives in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.

Meanwhile, in labs around the world the race is on to try and develop a vaccine against the disease.

In San Diego scientists are using the blood of people who have survived the disease to try and understand more about Ebola.

Alastair Leithead reports from Texas.

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VIDEO: The quest for an Ebola vaccine

VIDEO: Doctor on sister"s Ebola death

Dr Albert Benjamin’s sister, Dr Olivet Buck, was treating Ebola patients in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Last month she died after contracting the deadly virus.

Dr Benjamin spoke to the BBC about the horrific conditions in which his sister and other primary care workers in Freetown have been forced to operate.

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VIDEO: Doctor on sister"s Ebola death