In brief: Ukraine leader initiates weeklong cease-fire

Kiev, Ukraine – Ukraine’s president ordered his forces to cease fire Friday and halt military operations for a week against pro-Russian separatists in the country’s east – the first step in a peace plan he hopes will end the fighting that has killed hundreds.

Petro Poroshenko, making his first trip to the east as Ukraine’s president, said that the cease-fire will run until Friday morning and that his troops reserve the right to fire back if separatists attack them or civilians.

Separatists in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions have declared independence from his government in Kiev, occupied public buildings and fought with heavy weapons against Ukrainian troops. Rebel leaders already have dismissed Poroshenko’s plan, and it remains to be seen whether they will comply.

National Park Service to outlaw use of drones

Washington – The National Park Service on Friday announced it was moving to ban drones on all its lands. The move comes amid growing concern about hobbyists using drones to create dramatic videos.

The ban would cover more than 84 million acres of public land. The director of the parks service cited safety concerns as well as potential harm to wildlife.

The move comes several months after Yosemite National Park banned unmanned aircraft in that park. There are numerous videos on YouTube in which drones are used to take videos of Yosemite’s scenic beauty. Officials are now drawing up the ban for the entire system.

Group says aid needed to stem Ebola outbreak

The Ebola outbreak is devastating West Africa and will spread to more countries unless more aid is provided, an official with the group Doctors Without Borders said Friday.

The outbreak has been linked to 337 deaths across Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia and is now the deadliest on record, according to numbers released by the World Health Organization.

International governments and aid organizations need to send more health experts to the area and step up education efforts to curb the outbreak, Bart Janssens, director of operations for Doctors Without Borders in Brussels, told the Associated Press on Friday.

“The reality is clear that the epidemic is now in a second wave,” Janssens said. “And, for me, it is totally out of control.”