A Doctors Without Borders letters just back from sierra leone is being held in isolation in a new jersey hospital despite showing no signs of having ebola. She says shes going to sue over her treatment. We will speak to a nurse just back from guinea and economist Jeffrey Sachs of the Earth Institute at Columbia University which has a team in guinea. We will also speak to John Hopkins University professor nancy kass about the use of experimental drugs to treat ebola patients. All that and more coming up. Welcome to democracy now, democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. The governors of new york and new jersey are facing federal pressure to reverse new quarantine rules on medical workers returning from west africa. Under the policy, arriving passengers with the risk of ebola exposure will be placed in a 21 day quarantine. Illinois hasnt limited a similar policy. White house officials lobbied new Jersey Governor Chris Christie and new York Governor Andrew Cuomo over the weekend, saying the rules would discourage workers from joining the Ebola Response in west africa. On sunday night, new york Governor Cuomo announced a slight easing of the restrictions, saying the workers can be quarantined at home. At a news conference, andrew cuomo said he is try to balance the need from containing the ebola with the protection of new yorkers. I understand some people may believe the 21 day home quarantine is a burden. I would ask for their cooperation and understanding. Remember what were trying to balance. Were trying to balance aid to protection and the Public Health of new yorkers , and addressing the fear and concern of new yorkers. Under name a nurse named kaci hickox became the first under care worker quarantine. She is then placed in an isolated tent inside a newark hospital, despite testing negative for ebola. She is brenda fighter 21 day quarantine in court, saying the order violates her constitutional rights. The World Health Organization says nearly 5000 people have now of 10,000ebola out known cases. But the actual death toll may be significantly higher in guinea and liberia, in sierra leone, the three worst hit countries. On sunday, the u. S. Abbasid or to the United NationsSamantha Power kicked off a visit to west africa in guinea. I want to say to the guinean people on behalf of president obama that we stand with you and we will be with you to the end until we have ended this horrible epidemic in your country. Together, we can beat this epidemic. We are beaten every ebola epidemic in history, and we will do so if we dramatically increase our involvement and our engagement. Virus is now threatening ivory coast, which shares a border with guinea and liberia. The World Health Organization has sent experts to ivory coast formali dapper care possible outbreak. More on the ebola crisis after the headlines. Kurdish and iraqi forces have made gains on the Islamic State with the backing of u. S. Airstrikes in iraq and syria. The strikes continued over the weekend with dozens of attacks in the crossborder area under isis control. The Iraqi Military regained control of a town south of baghdad while the Kurdish Peshmerga ousted isis fighters in the northern town of zumar. U. S. And British Forces have formally ended combat operations in Afghanistans Helmand province. On sunday, the nato occupation handed formal control of helmand over to the afghan military. British defense secretary Michael Fallon said afghanistan is poised for a more stable future. There is a better chance of a more stable future in afghanistan because we have the government there of National Unity and an army that is supported by the local population represents all parts of afghanistan. You dont have the sectarian divide that we have seen in iraq. And an army that has are ready proved itself over the last couple of years. That it is prepared to tackle the taliban and some of the more difficult areas of north helmand, therefore, theres a greater chance that afghanistan will be more secure. Helmand is the center of afghanistans drug trade, housing more than 80 of the poppy growth used for heroin. The New York Times reports the taliban have never been stronger in [helmand], claiming large areas around Government Centers and rural districts. The handover comes amidst the deadliest sixmonth period for Afghan Forces since the war began 13 years ago. The handover also marks the end of british combat operations inside afghanistan, while around 10,000 American Forces will remain. In egypt, 23 prodemocracy activists have been sentenced to three years in prison for rallying against the governments antiprotest law. The activists took part in a june demonstration calling for the release of Political Prisoners and the annulment of a law that only allows governmentapproved demonstration. The Group Includes yara sallam and sanaa seif, deemed by Amnesty International to be prisoners of conscience. A palestinianamerican has been killed in the latest shooting of a young teenager by Israeli Forces in the occupied west bank. The victim, 14year old orwah hammad, was shot in the head in the village of silwad. Hundreds of people marched saturday after his funeral. The killing comes days after a palestinian man slammed his car into a group of israelis in jerusalem, killing an infant and wounding eight others. That attack followed the running over and killing of a fiveyear old palestinian girl by an israeli settler in the west bank. The Israeli Military ruled the death an accident. Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff has won reelection in a runoff vote. It was very close. On sunday, rousseff defeated procorporate candidate aecio neves with just over 51 of the vote. Two people were killed and three severely wounded on friday when a student opened fire at his high school in washington state. The shooter was identified as 14year old jaylen fryberg, a freshman. He opened fire in the School Cafeteria before taking his own life. One girl died at the scene, while another girl succumbed to her wounds on sunday night. Three others remain hospitalized, two of them in critical condition. A female teacher has been credited for preventing more deaths as he tackled the gunman. There have been over 75 School Shootings since the newtown massacre that left 26 dead in december 2012. In california, two Sheriff Deputies were killed and another wounded friday by shooter wielding and ar15 assault rifle. The suspect was arrested after a police chase. New details have emerged on the captivity of several americans and other westerners by the Islamic State in syria. The New York Times reports the hostages were subjected to months of psychological and physical torture. According to freed survivors, the six american and british male hostages were subjected to the worst abuse, because of the militants political grievances and their governments refusal to negotiate a ransom. The american journalist james foley was subjected to the worst treatment, undergoing mock executions and repeated waterboarding. Foley was among four people another american and two brits executed in beheading videos since august. A number of european hostages have been released after their governments paid a ransom. The u. S. Says its policy of not paying ransoms ultimately protects more americans by making them less valuable targets. Amnesty international is calling for an investigation of potential human rights abuses in the Police Crackdown on protests in ferguson, missouri. In a new report, amnesty says police committed violations in the weeks that followed the killing of unarmed teenager michael brown. Amnesty researcher Justin Mazzola said the militarized crackdown raises major concerns. They came out in a presence that only served to intimidate. They used tactics such as these of tear gas, rubber bullets rubber bullets, oftentimes when it was not justified, concerning what was happening on the ground at that point in time. Then you had local officials imposing policies restricting peoples rights to actually go out and protest, whether it was the imposition of curfew, the imposition of Five Second Rule , people had to continue walking, designated Assembly Areas where there is a free speech zone within ferguson, but anywre else you have to keep walking. And these all go to show that basically, there needs to be a National Review both of use of force policies as well as policies of protests. Separate report, the Advocacy Group panamerican said their calling on the Justice Department to investigate the Police Crackdown on journalists covering the ferguson protests. They have compiled more than 50 cases of press freedom violations, culminating the arrest of 21 journalists. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now, democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with juan gonzalez. Welcome to all our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. The World Health Organization said saturday nearly 5,000 people have now died from ebola out of 10,000 known cases. But Health Officials say the actual death toll may be significantly higher in guinea, liberia and sierra leone, the three worst hit countries. The virus is now threatening ivory coast which shares a border with guinea and liberia. The World Health Organization has sent experts to ivory coast and mali to help prepare for a possible outbreak. On friday a twoyearold toddler in mali died after contracting the virus in guinea. Meanwhile here in the United States, hospital Officials Say the first ebola patient in new york, dr. Craig spencer, is in serious but stable condition. Spencer recently returned from treating ebola patients in guinea with Doctors Without Borders. As part of his treatment, spencer received a plasma transfusion from nancy writebol, an aid worker who contracted the deadly disease in africa and survived. On friday the states of new york and new jersey announced they would automatically quarantine medical workers returning from ebolahit west african countries. A nurse named kaci hickox became the first Health Worker isolated under the rules. She arrived at Newark Airport. She was placed in 21day quarantine in a new jersey hospital after returning from sierra leone. Hickox has threatened to fight her quarantine in court arguing the order violates her constitutional rights. During a phone interview on cnn, hickox disputed governor Chris Christies assertion that she was obviously ill. I heard from my mother last night come who called me, concerned, who said governor christie just said in an interview that you are obviously ill. Frustrating to me. First of all, i dont think he is a doctor and secondly, he is never relayed eyes on me. Really, i have been asymptomatic since i have been here. I feel physically, completely strong and emotionally completely exhausted. The for him to say im obviously ill, which is even a strange thing, what does that mean . Someone to find that for me because i dont the guy quite understand what obviously ill means. Im here to tell you that i am completely fine physically and eing held here is that was nurse kaci hickox on cnn. Public Health Officials and the white house have criticized the plan by new jersey and new york to quarantine Health Workers saying it could impede the ebola fight. On sunday new york gov. Andrew cuomo softened his stance and said people quarantined in the state who do not show symptoms of the disease would be allowed to remain at home. To talk more about ebola, we are joined by Carissa Guild is a nurse with Doctors Without Borders also known as msf. She just returned from guinea last week where she was helping to respond to the ebola crisis. In 2012, she worked with Doctors Without Borders in the congo to address an Ebola Outbreak there. Welcome to democracy now , Carissa Guild. Before we talk to you about your return from guinea, if you could talk about the treatment of your theow nurse, talk about whole issue of how kaci hickox is being dealt with right now. She arrived at Newark Airport and taken from there. Ultimately, against her will, placed in 21 day quarantine. She now says she is going to sue over her treatment. I think it was a decision that was made that was probably not well thought out. Like everyone has things saying, there is a lot of has been saying, there is no evidence she is at risk to anyone in the whole country. I obviously dont agree with her being in quarantine. I think monitoring your health, like we are told to do every ebolae cannot give anyone if you dont have symptoms. She does not have symptoms. It was not a well thought out or rational decision. We will see what happens. Could you talk about what happened he you when you came in the country, when you returned on your last trip from west africa . I just returned back last week and i came in and i went to jfk and they brought me into a room and monitored my temperature and i didnt have a temperature, so basically, i just went home. I follow the daily rules of Doctors Without Borders where i take my temperature every morning and send an email to the department of health and let them know i am feeling fine. I think this is less of a problem and what were talking about with expats returning and not treating them well in the United States and expats having ebola here in the United States is not really the issue. I think the issue is much more talking about those 10,000 people have contracted the virus. Talks can you talk about what you found in guinea . Talk about your time there. There a lot of problems in guinea right now. The first time i went was in april. I have seen the progression get worse and worse with the virus. Basically, reaching its capacity where i was where the whole outbreak began and we ended up having nearly 100 beds in our facility. Right before i was leaving, we were discussing about what we would have to do if we had to turn patients away. Patients were coming from long distances. We were worried we would not have enough capacity to treat and isolate the cases. There needs to be a lot more work and help going there to help get this under control. What do you think will be the impact of what has happened to kaci hickox on the other caregivers, thinking about going to west africa and doing their part to be able to stem the spread of ebola . I am hoping that not every state makes this decision. Hopefully, the decision gets reluctant oh it will not have too much of an impact. Its relook that so it will not have to much of an impact. Also known as plenty of other countries that would be happy to have me for 21 days after i came back and would let me hang out at home and not be in a hospital. Hopefully, the decision will get looked at in it wont have an impact. It would be really unfortunate it is unfortunate for her. She went to help for this ebola crisis. There is a lot of suffering over there. A lot of people who are really scared. Homeo have her welcomed like were welcoming her back is not the best face of america. How did you protect your self . How do people in guinea protect themselves, both in committed these were people have ebola and in the hospital where you worked . We were using the personal protective equipment. When we were in the center, the the Treatment Center, we were very well protected with the yellow jumpsuit on and two pairs of gloves and hoods and aprons everything you see on tv. We were very protected inside the Treatment Center. The Treatment Center is response to ebola. The part that is important is the training in the community and doing outreach and going into the villages and speaking with a lot of people and teaching Health Workers. We were protecting ourselves basically by keeping distance with patients or the population, keeping a distance and washing your hands. Chlorine is everywhere, everywhere, everywhere. Ofdoes not make the risk zero in their plenty of Health Workers