The 10 Most Important Things In The World Right Now

DINA SPECTO

 OCT. 20, 2014

Government of Canada

Scientists at the National Microbiology Lab prepare the experimental Ebola vaccine for shipment to the WHO.

Welcome back from the weekend! Here’s what you need to know for Monday. 

1. Two female Japanese ministers resigned on Monday. “Yuko Obuchi, trade and industry minister, resigned over allegations of improper use of political funds, and Justice Minister Midori Matsushima, 58, quit over claims she breached election laws,” Bloomberg reports. 

2. Dozens of people in Dallas who had contact with Thomas Eric Duncan, the patient from Liberia who died from Ebola, have been declared risk-free of contracting the virus, The New York Times reports. 

3. The 44-year-old Spanish nurse who was the first person to contract Ebola out of West Africa has also tested negative for the virus. 

4. The Carnival Magic cruise ship carrying a Dallas Health worker who reportedly handled specimens from Ebola victim Thomas Eric Duncan returned to its home port of Galveston, Texas, early Sunday morning,after the lab technician tested negative for the virus. 

5. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled major economic reforms on Sunday including “a deregulation of diesel prices and a hike in natural gas prices,” CNBC reports.

6. The pro-democracy protests that have gripped Hong Kong for roughly a month are becoming “increasingly violent,” according to the South China Morning Post, especially after attempts by police to clear the main Monk Kok demonstration site.  

7. The United States airdropped weapons and medical supplies to Kurdish forces in the Syrian town of Kobani on Sunday in an effort to help combat Islamic State militants. 

8. Lufthansa pilots announced a strike on Monday and lasting into Tuesday, leading to the cancellation of 1,450 flights. 

9. Canada is shipping 800 vials of an experimental Ebola vaccine to the World Health Organization in Geneva on Monday. 

10. Comet Siding Spring passed within 87,000 miles of Mars on Sunday, an event that won’t happen again for another one million years. 

And finally …

A team of kids from South Korea won $1 million for playing a video game.