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Air France flight to US diverted to Montreal due to Ebola travel restrictions

TORONTO (AP) — An Air France flight bound for Detroit was diverted to Montreal after a passenger from the Congo boarded a flight in Paris “in error” amid flight restrictions tied to the Ebola outbreak, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Thursday.

A spokesperson for the agency says the passenger “should not have boarded” the plane Wednesday due to U.S. entry restrictions put in place to reduce the risk of Ebola spreading.

The spokesman said in an email officials “took decisive action and prohibited the flight carrying that traveler from landing at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, and instead, diverted to Montreal, Canada.”

Air France said the Congolese passenger was denied entry into the U.S. due to new regulations that travelers from certain countries, including the Congo, can enter only through Washington.

The Department of Homeland Security also said that as of Thursday all U.S.-bound American citizens and permanent residents who have been in Congo, Uganda or South Sudan in the previous 21 days must only enter through Washington Dulles International Airport for enhanced screening.

Craig Currie, spokesman for the Public Health Agency of Canada, said U.S. officials informed Canadian authorities that the plane was refused entry due to their temporary travel restrictions for anyone who traveled to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, and South Sudan within the previous 21 days.

Currie said a public health official in Montreal assessed the traveler as asymptomatic. He said the traveler has flown back to Paris.

“Air France flight AFR378, along with all other passengers, continued to its original destination of Detroit,” Currie said in an email.

The World Health Organization on Sunday declared the Ebola outbreak a public health emergency of international concern. The outbreak is linked to the Bundibugyo virus, which is rarer than others and there is no available vaccine or medicine for it.

Beijing bans 4 New Zealand lawmakers from entering China because they visited Taiwan

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Beijing banned four New Zealand lawmakers from traveling to China for a year and demanded they apologize because they visited Taiwan on a parliamentary trip, according to a message from the Chinese embassy conveyed via parliamentary officials and shown to The Associated Press on Thursday. China has hit lawmakers from other countries with sanctions related to contact with Taiwan before, but it's the first time for New Zealand parliamentarians, the government in Wellington said. Beijing has been increasing pressure in recent years on the democratically governed island that it claims as its own territory. Two lawmakers reached by the AP on Thursday rejected the demand for an apology, while the other two could not be immediately reached. New Zealand's government said it would express concern about the travel bans to Beijing. The elected officials visited Taipei in May, as New Zealand parliamentarians have done “for decades,” a spokesperson for Foreign Minister Winston Peters said in a statement.
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