Liberia’s President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has apologised for the high death toll among the country’s health workers, who have fought an ebola outbreak which has killed nearly 1,000 people in three countries.

Africans battling to contain the spread of ebola will have to wait for months until a potentially life-saving experimental drug used on two Americans infected with the dreaded disease would be manufactured, officials said.

The 2011 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded today to Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkul Karman of Yemen for their work on women’s rights.

Newly inaugurated President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf today unveiled her first nominations for Cabinet-level positions in Liberia’s post-war elected government, tapping a female international banker to be her economy minister.