Afghan Fighting Was 'Fruitless And Expensive'

By Sam Kiley, Foreign Affairs Editor

Two men, successive commanders of the Special Air Service, gave the same advice to their superiors.

One even drove the length of Helmand in an unarmoured Land Rover to seek out the truth.

The first to conduct the reconnaissance, in late 2005, met with tribal elders, drug khans and ordinary farmers, and reported back with these words: "There isn't an insurgency in Helmand - but we can give you one."

The next, who also toured the southern Afghan province where opium farmers quietly produced some 70% of the world's heroin base, came back more specific advice.

He told the Ministry of Defence the military estimate of a light brigade of about 3,000 men was only just adequate to secure a British presence in one town, Lashkagar.

"Anything beyond that risked sparking a conflict that we had no way to control," the former SAS commander said.

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1. Gallery: Life In Camp Bastion

   Soldiers from 2nd Royal Tank Regiment relax in transit accommodation as they prepare to leave Camp Bastion in Helmand Province, Afghanistan after a gruelling six month tour

2. British troops cross themselves during prayer as they stand at ease on the parade square at Camp 501, Camp Bastion

3. The coffin containing the body of British Army soldier L/cpl Paul "Sandy" Sandford is carried by his fellow soldiers during his repatriation ceremony

4. Troops from various regiments including Sandford's, the Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment held a repatriation ceremony for the British soldier killed in action on 6 June, 2007

5. British soldiers play a game of Scrabble as they watch the live broadcast of the Royal wedding

6. Soldiers wait to talk to then Chancellor Gordon Brown, with a cross in the foreground - part of a monument in the memory of fallen comrades

7. Merlin Pilot Wing Commander Nigel Colman Officer Commanding 78 Squadron sits at the back of a Merlin at Camp Bastion

8. Troops observe the minute's silence at Camp Bastion during a special Armistice Day Parade on the 93rd anniversary of the end of the First World War

9. Lieutenant Chris Millen, serving with 2nd Royal Tank Regiment, relaxes in his bedspace in transit accommodation as he prepares leave Camp Bastion

10. Capt Robbie Robertson (left) and Capt Olly Denning spar at Camp Bastion

11. Troops from 1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards with a Scimitar tank

12. Trooper Ben Rakestrow (right), 21, from Egypt squadron, 2nd Royal Tank Regiment, sits on his rather colourful bedspread with friends in transit accommodation at Camp Bastion

13. Royal Military Police (RMP) as they clear their vehicle and its shelter of snow following a rare snow shower

14. British soldier Jamie Anderson lifts weights as he passes time at Camp Bastion

15. A British soldier controls the ball during a football match as comrades (background), and an Afghan National Army soldier, right, look on during a football training session at Camp Bastion

Smarting from the failure to secure Basra in southern Iraq, senior British officers appeared to both SAS bosses as anxious to recover the forces reputation but blind to the potential costs and the resources kicking the Helmand hornet's nest would need.

It was kicked in 2006. Within weeks of their deployment in Helmand many in 16th Air Assault Brigade were fighting in Forward Operating Bases for their lives.

In Musa Qala, Now Zad, Sangin and along a chain of 'platoon houses', units came close to being overrun and massacred.

Besieged for weeks that stretched into months, they ran perilously close to running out of food, water and ammunition.

The landscape beyond their walls was torn and smashed by wave upon wave of airstrikes against insurgents.

Video: Key Moments In The Conflict

This set the pattern for the next three years.

Tough infantry fighting gave ample opportunity for winning medals and the testing of British fighting spirit. It did nothing for the lives of Helmandis but bring violence.

The troops loved it. The media, myself among them, loved it too. But it was, in the end, entirely fruitless, expensive, bloody and the result of military hubris.

Too few troops were sent, too lightly armed, without sufficient helicopters to do the job.

Proof of this is that by 2010 the province was so angry that about 40,000 troops, 30,000 of them American, were fighting across Helmand and peace was brought to none of it.

Video: Fallon: Afghanistan Now Safer Place

As NATO forces have been withdrawn large chunks of the province have already slipped away from limited government control. Musa Qala and Now Zad have gone, Afghan troops are hanging on to a small base in Sangin.

And the drug khans are enjoying an unprecedented boom. Opium revenues are up by a third this year to $3bn.

Now the Union flag has been lowered, and the last troops pulled out of Camp Bastion, Helmand is to be left to the Afghans to deal with.

NATO's boot is being pulled out of the nest. Let's hope the hornets go back to it.

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US Ebola Nurse Slams Quarantine Process

An American nurse who has been treating Ebola patients in Africa has criticised quarantine rules that keep her isolated despite testing negative.

Doctors Without Borders worker Kaci Hickox returned to the US from Sierra Leone on Friday and was taken to a New Jersey hospital in case she had the killer virus.

She has now been told she is free from the disease, but will be unable to leave quarantine for another 21 days.

Illinois joined New York and New Jersey on Saturday night in introducing a mandatory 21-day quarantine period for anyone who has been involved in treating victims in west Africa.

Other states, including Virginia and Georgia, are also considering whether to impose the same regime.

Video: '10,000 Ebola Orphans By Christmas'

It follows 33-year-old doctor Craig Spencer falling ill with ebola having spent several days travelling around New York, riding the subway and visiting a bowling alley.

Writing in the Dallas Morning News, Ms Hickox said: "This is not a situation I would wish on anyone, and I am scared for those who will follow me.

"I am scared about how health care workers will be treated at airports when they declare that they have been fighting Ebola in West Africa.

"I am scared that, like me, they will arrive and see a frenzy of disorganisation, fear and, most frightening, quarantine."

Video: Ebola Response: Science Not Fear

She said on telling a border official she had just arrived back, she was immediately ushered into a private room before having questions "barked" at her.

She said she was made to wait hours with little to eat, only to later test negative for the virus.

Despite the test, she must wait in a secure facility in New Jersey until it is certain she has not contracted the disease.

She said: "I... thought of many colleagues who will return home to America and face the same ordeal. Will they be made to feel like criminals and prisoners?

Video: New York Fears After New Ebola case

"The US must treat returning health care workers with dignity and humanity."

The number of Ebola cases worldwide has now exceeded 10,000, with nearly 5,000 not surviving.

President Barack Obama urged Americans on Saturday to be guided by the facts about Ebola and "not fear".

Dr Spencer, who is being held at the Bellevue Hospital Center in New York, was described by officials overnight on Saturday as "entering the next phase of his illness".

Video: Cured Texas Ebola Nurse 'Blessed'

A health service statement said: "The patient is awake and communicating. In addition to the required supportive therapy, we initiated antiviral therapy within hours of admission. We also administered plasma therapy yesterday."

Meanwhile, in Sierra Leone, a team from the British Army has started training residents in how to use protective equipment to reduce the spread of the disease.

Many of the locals who have volunteered to help fight the virus have no medical background.

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Teen Isolated Over Ebola Fears In Australia

A woman who recently travelled from West Africa to Australia is in isolation and has been tested for possible Ebola.

The patient, whose nationality has not been revealed, had developed a fever and is now at the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital.

The 18-year-old was one of nine family members who had flown from Guinea to Queensland 11 days ago.

Officials were notified a few days before that their arrival and they were met at the airport.

The nine were then put into home quarantine in Brisbane, where eight of them remain, while the 18-year-old is now in hospital being assessed.

Video: Liberia Gripped By Ebola Virus Fear

The patient, who was not a health worker, was coming to live in Australia permanently, say officials.

They said she did not have any known contact with anyone who was sick with Ebola in West Africa but came from an area that had a "reasonably large number of cases".

Queensland state chief health officer Jeannette Young said: "There is no risk to the community at all because she hasn't left the house or had any visitors in the time that she has been here in Brisbane."

The teenager has already had one test for Ebola and the results are expected in the coming hours.

Video: Suiting Up In An Ebola Hotspot

The patient will then have a second test in three days' time, Ms Young added, saying it was unlikely she was suffering from Ebola.

She said Queensland health authorities were monitoring four families from Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, where the vast majority of Ebola cases have occurred.

The number of Ebola infections has passed the 10,000 mark and the death toll is almost 5,000 worldwide, mainly in the three West African nations.

There have been no confirmed Ebola cases in Australia.

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Britain's War In Afghanistan Comes To An End

By Alistair Bunkall, Defence Correspondent

Britain's war in Afghanistan is officially over.

In a symbolic ceremony at Camp Bastion, the Union Flag was lowered for the last time, marking the formal handover of power to Afghan Forces.

That simple act brought the 13-year war to an end for British forces - the longest conflict in modern times.

At a peak, 9,500 British military personnel were based in Afghanistan as part of Operation Herrick.

Camp Bastion was the epicentre of operations. A further 136 smaller bases were dotted around Helmand Province in the south of the country.

Towns such as Musa Qala, Sangin and Nad Ali, were scenes of bloody fighting. They became infamous in Britain for the toll fighting took on British forces.

Video: Key Moments In The Conflict

In total, 453 British lives were lost fighting the Taliban. Thousands more were injured, many permanently.

The deadliest year was 2009, when 108 British troops were killed.

Defence Secretary Michael Fallon told Sky News: "Afghanistan is now a safer, most prosperous and democratic place than when we started.

"We've not eliminated the insurgency but what we have done, through the British troops' sacrifice, is given Afghanistan the best possible chance of a safer future by training a 300,000-strong Afghan army and security force."

Video: Fallon: Afghanistan Now Safer Place

Camp Bastion grew out of nothing to become a monstrous fortress in Helmand to accommodate ever-growing numbers of troops and the increasing demands of a vicious fight against the Taliban insurgency.

Early on the British Government sought to wipe out the illegal opium poppy trade, but that failed and the mission moved on.

An 11,500 ft runway was built allowing the largest transport planes to fly in at any time of the day or night. Bastion became the third busiest British airport after Heathrow and Gatwick.

The first rotations of troops deployed with sub-standard equipment, when the initial emphasis was on reconstruction.

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1. Gallery: A Timeline In Pictures

   October 7, 2001: US President George W Bush announces the US and Britain have started bombing Afghanistan

2. March 26, 2006: The first regular British troops of the Helmand Task Force unload their kit after arriving by helicopter to an American-run base in Lashkar Gah in Helmand

3. April 25, 2006: Defence Secretary John Reid announces Britain's GR7 Harriers would stay on in Afghanistan until at least 2007

4. January 2, 2008: Prince Harry sits with a group of Gurkha soldiers after firing a machine gun from the observation post on JTAC Hill, close to forward operating base Delhi, in Helmand Province

5. February 21, 2008: Prince Harry riding an abandoned motorcycle past his Spartan armoured vehicle, in the desert in Helmand

6. The Ministry of Defence announced in February 2008 that the then 23-year-old Prince, an officer in the Household Cavalry regiment, had spent the past 10 weeks secretly serving in Helmand

7. February 20, 2008: Prince Harry sitting below the turret of his Spartan armoured vehicle as he communicates with other units by radio

8. July 13, 2009: US Marine Sergeant Anthony Zabala runs to safety as an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) explodes in Garmsir district of Helmand

9. 2009 saw the most IED attacks of the war so far, with 7,228 IED attacks killing 280 coalition soldiers

10. November 10, 2009: Friends and family react as hearses carrying the coffins of six dead soldiers pass mourners lining the High Street in Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire

11. November 14, 2010: Prince William salutes the memorial to the British soldiers killed in Afghanistan, during a remembrance day ceremony at Camp Bastion

12. Capt Judith Gallagher with the Dragon Runner developed by Qinetiq which can remotely disarm IEDs and can be carried by a soldier in a back pack

13. July 20, 2010: Soldiers from Scots Guards during an operation at an Afghan National Police base on Punjab hill, Helmand

14. January 28, 2011: Mr Miliband arrives at Camp Bastion in Helmand for his first visit to Afghanistan

15. January 29, 2011: Labour leader Ed Miliband, shadow defence secretary Jim Murphy and shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander watch a landmine detection exercise at Camp Bastion

16. April 9, 2011: British troops, most of whom are new in theatre starting their tour, travel in a chinook helicopter to Lashkar Gah in Helmand

17. April 10, 2011: A Chinook makes a delivery at Patrol Base Attal in Helmand

18. July 20, 2011: Afghan elders wait for beginning of a handing over ceremony of control of security in the town of Lashkar Gah to the Afghan police and army

19. July 27, 2011: Cpl Ryan Wordsworth of X-Ray Company, 45 Commando Royal Marines, brushes his teeth at Patrol Base Kalang in Afghanistan

20. November 14, 2011: A soldier from the Alpha (Grenadier) company, the 3rd Battalion Royal regiment for Scotland meets a young child on a patrol in Nad e-Ali

21. March 22, 2012: Sergeant Jon Van Zyl of the Princess of Wales' Royal Regiment stands in front of two Mastiff vehicles and beneath Venus and Jupiter in the clear Helmand desert sky

22. December 18, 2012: The Princess Royal talks to Lieutenant Colonel Ben Wrench, Major Angus Watson and Sergeant Gardner in Camp Tombstone during her visit to Camp Bastion

23. January 21, 2013: Prince Harry does a pre-flight check of his Apache helicopter after starting his 12 hour VHR (very high ready-ness) shift

24. Harry scrambles to his Apache

25. April 2, 2013: Petty Officers inspect a Chinook airframe for small arms fire damage as part of the ongoing battlefield maintenance and repair on Camp Bastion

26. October 5, 2013: Soldiers approach a Chinook aircraft in the Nahr-e Saraj district, Helmand

27. October 11, 2013: An Afghan National Army (ANA) soldier from 3 Brigade 209 Kandak looks through his rifle scope as he is trained on marksmanship skills at ANA Camp Shorabak, Helmand

28. December 23, 2013: Private Zina Saunders, a dog handler, gives Hazel Christmas presents which were sent by the handler's friends and family in the UK

29. December 23, 2013: Soldiers based at Patrol Base Lash Durai, Afghanistan get into the festive spirit

30. October 3, 2014: David Cameron addresses British troops at Camp Bastion in Helmand for the final time before troops wind down their mission in Afghanistan

Very quickly they found themselves in close-quarter fights. New technology had to hurried through to protect against the Taliban's maturing tactics, principally roadside IEDs.

A shortage of helicopters to move troops, equipment and supplies, was finally addressed after considerable public and media pressure on the government and senior military chiefs.

The hospital in Bastion became a world leader in trauma medicine, attracting and training the brightest surgeons and nurses from the military and NHS.

If a casualty made it to the hospital within an hour of being wounded on the battlefield they had an incredible 98% chance of survival.

1/15

1. Gallery: Life In Camp Bastion

   Soldiers from 2nd Royal Tank Regiment relax in transit accommodation as they prepare to leave Camp Bastion in Helmand Province, Afghanistan after a gruelling six month tour

2. British troops cross themselves during prayer as they stand at ease on the parade square at Camp 501, Camp Bastion

3. The coffin containing the body of British Army soldier L/cpl Paul "Sandy" Sandford is carried by his fellow soldiers during his repatriation ceremony

4. Troops from various regiments including Sandford's, the Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment held a repatriation ceremony for the British soldier killed in action on 6 June, 2007

5. British soldiers play a game of Scrabble as they watch the live broadcast of the Royal wedding

6. Soldiers wait to talk to then Chancellor Gordon Brown, with a cross in the foreground - part of a monument in the memory of fallen comrades

7. Merlin Pilot Wing Commander Nigel Colman Officer Commanding 78 Squadron sits at the back of a Merlin at Camp Bastion

8. Troops observe the minute's silence at Camp Bastion during a special Armistice Day Parade on the 93rd anniversary of the end of the First World War

9. Lieutenant Chris Millen, serving with 2nd Royal Tank Regiment, relaxes in his bedspace in transit accommodation as he prepares leave Camp Bastion

10. Capt Robbie Robertson (left) and Capt Olly Denning spar at Camp Bastion

11. Troops from 1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards with a Scimitar tank

12. Trooper Ben Rakestrow (right), 21, from Egypt squadron, 2nd Royal Tank Regiment, sits on his rather colourful bedspread with friends in transit accommodation at Camp Bastion

13. Royal Military Police (RMP) as they clear their vehicle and its shelter of snow following a rare snow shower

14. British soldier Jamie Anderson lifts weights as he passes time at Camp Bastion

15. A British soldier controls the ball during a football match as comrades (background), and an Afghan National Army soldier, right, look on during a football training session at Camp Bastion

Although combat operations are now over, British involvement in Afghanistan will continue for a number of years.

A few hundred will be based at the Qargha Officer Training Academy outside Kabul.

It has been nicknamed "Sandhurst in the Sand" and is Britain's contribution to Operation Resolute Support, the name for the training and advisory mission to Afghan forces.

Special Forces operations will also continue in the country for the foreseeable future. 

When asked if British troops could return in a combat role, Lord Dannatt, the former Chief of The General Staff, told Sky News: "You can't rule anything in, you can't rule anything out. If my judgment of the Prime Minister's feeling on this is correct, I wouldn't see a situation in which British combat troops would go back in."

And questioned about the change seen in the once warring nation, the former Head of the Army, Gen Sir Mike Jackson, told the Murnaghan programme: "Is Afghanistan perfect? No, of course it isn't. Has it got a long way to go? I suspect it has. But I do think it is a better place." 

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Woman Hanged In Iran Despite Call For Retrial

A woman has been executed in Iran after being convicted of murdering a man who she claimed was trying to rape her.

Reyhaneh Jabbari, 27, was hanged in a Tehran prison despite an international campaign to stop the execution.

She was sentenced to death in 2009 for killing former intelligence agent Morteza Abdolali Sarbandi.

But Amnesty International said she had been convicted after a "deeply flawed" investigation and trial.

She apparently admitted to stabbing him in the back but said another man also in the house killed him, according to the human rights organisation.

Amnesty said her claims do not appear to have ever been properly investigated and it had called for a retrial.

A Facebook page, with more than 17,000 likes, was set up to try to save her from execution - it now says Rest In Peace.

Her execution had been put off several times, including in the last month.

Amnesty spokeswoman Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui said: "The shocking news that Reyhaneh Jabbari has been executed is deeply disappointing in the extreme.

"This is another bloody stain on Iran's human rights record.

"Tragically, this case is far from uncommon. Once again Iran has insisted on applying the death penalty despite serious concerns over the fairness of the trial."

Jabbari was hanged at dawn on Saturday for premeditated murder, the official IRNA news agency reported.

It quoted the court ruling as rejecting the attempted rape claim and saying all evidence proved Jabbari had plotted to kill the victim.

The court ruling said she stabbed him in 2007 after buying a knife two days earlier.

The execution was carried out after his family refused to pardon Jabbari or accept blood money.

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Ukrainian Refugees Flee To Russian Arctic

By Katie Stallard, Russia correspondent, in Murmansk

More than 800,000 refugees have crossed the border into Russia since the start of the year, according to the UN's refugee agency (UNHCR).

At least a quarter of a million are thought to be displaced inside Ukraine.

With the country heading to the polls on Sunday for parliamentary elections, the situation in the east remains dangerously unstable, despite the ceasefire supposedly in place.

Larisa and Evgeniy Golubyatnikova fled the fighting near Donetsk in August with their two children - three-year-old Margarita and her 13-year-old brother Vadim.

They told me their village was surrounded and they could hear shelling close by.

They had to leave so quickly they could only bring the children and a single suitcase.

"Do you like it here in the north?" Larisa asks her daughter.

The family is among 72 refugees living in a college dormitory in Murmansk

"I like it in Ukraine," Margarita replies.

"They are shooting there, it is scary," her mother tells her.

Video: Ukraine Conflict Deaths

The family is living in one room of a college dormitory in the northern city of Murmansk.

Some 72 Ukrainian refugees have been housed here, the youngest of whom is just six months old.

It was the only destination on offer for relocation when they arrived in the crowded refugee camp in Southern Russia this summer, but they decided it was better than staying at the camp.

Within 24 hours they were on board a plane bound for the Arctic.

Video: Trapped Between The Battle Lines

"We don't have anyone here," Larisa explained, "That is why it is hard and scary.

"I think after a move like this one, nothing can scare us anymore."

Her husband, Evgeniy, added: "The only comfort is that there is a peaceful sky over our head now.

"It was hard, even unbearable to stay there. We did it for our children."

Video: Lenin Statue Toppled In Ukraine

Located north of the Arctic Circle, winters in Murmansk can be tough. For six weeks of the year it will be completely dark, the temperature regularly drops below -20C.

But the family has found warmth amongst the people - volunteers have donated winter clothes and done their best to make them feel welcome.

"Margarita misses her granny, especially after speaking to her on the phone," Larisa told us.

"We told her that we left from where they were shooting, that here it is better here."

Video: MP Dumped In Bin By Angry Mob

Adjusting to their new life in the Arctic has not been easy - the college accommodation is only temporary, and they still need somewhere permanent to stay.

But the family thinks their children will have a better future here than in Ukraine.

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Egypt Declares Emergency After Sinai Attack

Egypt has declared a three-month state of emergency on the Sinai Peninsula after a suicide car bomb attack killed more than 30 soldiers.

The bombing on Friday was carried out by a suspected jihadist who rammed a checkpoint with his explosives-packed vehicle, security officials said.

The attack, in an agricultural area northwest of El Arish, the main town in north Sinai, killed 33 soldiers and left more over 25 injured, medics said.

A senior army official and five officers were said to be among those wounded.

State-run TV said clashes between troops and militants followed the bombing, without providing further details. 

Video: What Could Egypt Do About I.S.?

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said: "I strongly condemn today's terrorist attack in North Sinai, which has led to such a tragic loss of life. 

"We stand with the Egyptian government in their fight against terrorism. There can never be a justification for such actions.

"I will be offering my personal condolences to Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri when we meet on Monday in London and look forward to discussing practical cooperation to tackle terrorism during our talks." 

The Egyptian presidency said in a statement that the emergency measures in parts of north Sinai would begin in the early hours of Saturday morning "for a duration of three months".

The decision was also taken to close the Rafah crossing into the Gaza Strip, the only route into the Palestinian territory not controlled by Israel.

Video: Egypt's 'Crime Against Humanity'

"The army and the police will take all necessary measures to tackle the dangers of terrorism and its financing, to preserve the security of the region... and protect the lives of citizens," the presidential decree said.

President Abdel Fattah al Sisi also claimed that external support had been given to the attackers.

"It is very important to know the motives behind this operation," he said.

"Let me tell you first of all that there are external motives behind this operation. External support was given to those who undertook this operation against the Egyptian army, as we've seen.

"Why? Pay attention, I'm talking to all Egyptians. This was done to break the will of Egypt and the Egyptians. This was done to break the will of the army."

Video: Middle East: Egypt

Militants also shot dead an officer and wounded two soldiers on Friday at another checkpoint south of El Arish, security officials said.

Jihadists in the peninsula have killed scores of policemen and soldiers since Islamist president Mohammed Morsi was overthrown to avenge a police crackdown on his supporters.

President Abdel Fattah al Sisi, the army chief who toppled Mr Morsi and later won elections, has pledged to eradicate the militants.

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Automatic Quarantine In US For Ebola Medics

New York and New Jersey are to begin automatically quarantining medical staff who return from areas badly affected by Ebola.

The decision by the health authorities follows former Doctors Without Borders medic Craig Spencer testing positive for the disease several days after he returned from Guinea.

The World Health Organisation says the number of Ebola deaths has risen to 4,922 from 10,141 cases, mostly in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.

Dr Spencer, 33, was able to travel on the subway and go bowling before he showed the classic symptoms of the virus and had to go to hospital.

The US government said it was considering adopting the move for the whole country after it emerged that Dr Spencer had already been checked at the border and declared safe.

Video: Ebola Response: Science Not Fear

Hours after the policy was announced, a female healthcare worker who had been quarantined when she arrived from the affected region into Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey, was isolated with a fever.

She had no symptoms on arrival at the airport before being quarantined, but is now being evaluated at University Hospital, Newark.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said. "We've seen what happens... You ride a subway. You ride a bus. You could infect hundreds and hundreds of people."

Video: Cured Texas Ebola Nurse 'Blessed'

President Barack Obama praised New York City's quick reaction to its first Ebola case and said he has promised local officials any federal help they need.

He said the US must be guided by science and not fear as it responded to Ebola, insisting the disease can be beaten if people remain vigilant.

The president also sought to reassure members of the public by hugging Dallas nurse Nina Pham, who was one of the first to be treated for the virus in the US.

Video: Ebola: Busting The Myths

She had caught it while working as one of the medical staff treating a man who had earlier arrived from Liberia and who later died of the disease.

Ms Pham, 26, was declared cured on Friday, and gave a speech, thanking those who had treated her.

She said: "I feel fortunate and blessed to be standing here today."

Video: How Ebola Attacks The Human Body

Officials said she did not take any experimental drugs, but she did use blood plasma from previous survivor Dr Kent Brantly, who she also thanked.

Her colleague Amber Vinson, who caught the disease at the same time, was also declared cured, but was not yet well enough to leave hospital.

Dr Spencer remains in a stable condition in an isolation ward at Bellevue Hospital Center in New York undergoing treatment.

Video: Liberia Gripped By Ebola Virus Fear

Meanwhile, a medical worker quarantined after arriving at New Jersey airport has tested negative for the virus.

The latest case comes as the World Health Organisation announced that it expects hundreds of thousands of doses of a new Ebola vaccine to be available by early next year.

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New York Doctor Is City's First Ebola Case

A New York doctor who returned from treating patients in Guinea this month has become the city's first person to test postive for ebola.

Craig Spencer, 33, has been held at an isolation ward at Manhattan's Bellevue Hospital, a designated centre for dealing with the virus.

His apartment in Harlem has been sealed off and authorities are trying to track down those who came into contact with him in the days before he was admitted to hospital.

The doctor, originally from Detroit, Michigan, had been working in west Africa for medical charity Doctors Without Borders.

Dr Spencer arrived in New York from Guinea on 17 October and reported coming down with a fever and diarrhoea on Thursday.

Craig Spencer is being treated at the Bellevue Hospital in New York City

Before he was admitted to hospital, he travelled on the subway, went to a bowling alley in Brooklyn and then took a cab back to Manhattan.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said there was no reason for people to worry.

Video: Mayor Says No Ebola Risk To Public

He told a news conference: "Ebola is an extremely hard disease to contract. It is transmitted only through direct contact with infected persons' blood or other bodily fluids.

"Travelling on the same subway car ... does not ... put someone at risk."

Two of Dr Spencer's friends and his fiancee have been placed in quarantine. The fiancee is in hospital, but all three are healthy.

Video: Ebola: New York 'Shouldn't Panic'

A fourth person, a taxi driver, did not come into close contact with him.

Guinea is one of the three worst-hit countries in the latest ebola outbreak, along with Sierra Leone and Liberia. Nearly 4,900 people have died so far.

Mali had earlier become the latest country to admit one of its residents had tested positive for the disease.

Video: Ebola: Busting The Myths

A health ministry official said the girl had just arrived from Guinea, where her mother died of the virus a few weeks before.

Bellevue is one of three Manhattan hospitals and eight in the state of New York equipped to handle patients diagnosed with ebola.

The ongoing threat from ebola was underlined on Thursday by the findings of a study in medical journal Lancet Infectious Diseases, which estimated that by 15 December, part of Liberia could suffer 171,000 cases of the disease.

Video: Suiting Up In An Ebola Hotspot

The total number of cases would affect one in eight of Montserrado county's 1.38 million population, with at least 90,000 expected to die.

The study said that number could be cut substantially if quarantine procedures are put in place and standard medical techniques - like using soap, bleach, masks and gloves extensively - are put in place.

In the UK, David Cameron pledged a further £80m for the fight against the disease.

Video: Emergency Aid To Fight Ebola

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Canada Terror Attack Gunman Was Not Tracked

The gunman who killed a soldier at a war memorial and then opened fire inside Canada's parliament building had not been under surveillance, police admit.

Michael Zehaf-Bibeau had wanted to travel to Syria but was not on a list of around 90 "high-risk" individuals, officers added.

Police say the 32-year-old Muslim convert had a passport application delayed over concerns about extremism.

CCTV footage shows people fleeing as the gunman ran into the country's parliament complex in the capital Ottawa during Wednesday's attack.

After entering the building, the suspect opened fire before being shot dead by Sergeant-at-Arms Kevin Vickers, who has been hailed as a hero.

Video: Canadian Police News Conference

Moments earlier Zehaf-Bibeau shot and killed 24-year-old Canadian soldier Nathan Cirillo at the National War Memorial.

Police said the attacker had a criminal record for violent and drug-related offences.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Commissioner Bob Paulson said Zehaf-Bibeau had a "very developed criminality".

"He is an interesting individual in the sense he had a very developed criminality," he said.

Commissioner Paulson added that the suspect also had a history of "violence and of drugs and of mental instability".

Video: Ottawa Not Intimidated By Attack

He said the delay over Zehaf-Bibeau's passport application may have contributed to his motive for carrying out the attack.

"I think the passport figured prominently in his motives and his - you know I'm not inside his head - but I think it was central to what was driving him."

An email from Zehaf-Bibeau was found on the hard drive of someone who has been charged with a terrorism-related offence in Canada, the RCMP said.

Authorities say the suspect acted alone and police have not linked his attack with the killing of another soldier in Quebec on Monday.

The suspect's mother Susan Bibeau said she is crying for the victims of the shooting, not for her son.

Video: Brother's Pride For Shooting Hero

"We have no explanation to offer. I am mad at our son, I don't understand and part of me wants to hate him at this time."

She added that her son was a social misfit who was "lost".

"(He) was lost and did not fit in," the woman said in a statement given to Associated Press.

"I, his mother, spoke with him last week over lunch, I had not seen him for over five years before that."

Zehaf-Bibeau was not among 93 high-risk travellers being monitored by authorities, but was seeking a passport.

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Police were asked to carry out background checks when Zehaf-Bibeau applied for the passport, but he had not been placed under surveillance.

A former friend who once lived with Zehaf-Bibeau at a Vancouver homeless shelter said the suspect had once tried unsuccessfully to get off drugs.

"We referred to him as Muslim Mike. He didn't seem like a bad guy," Steve Sikich told the Reuters news agency.

Mr Sikich said he last saw Zehaf-Bibeau "a month or two ago", adding that the suspect was rambling about wanting to travel to Libya and join Islamic State.

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