Motorcycle taxi drivers in Congo rally for Ebola awareness as attacks hinder response

BUNIA, Congo (AP) — Dozens of motorcycle taxi drivers spread messages about Ebola in an awareness caravan Tuesday in eastern Congo where community skepticism has led to attacks on health workers who are trying to contain a spreading outbreak of the illness.

The drivers wore white “Stop Ebola” T-shirts and displayed public health messages and illustrations on how to prevent the disease as they rode through the streets of Bunia and Rwampara, two towns in Congo's eastern province of Ituri at the heart of the outbreak.

The province accounts for more than 90% of the cases. Cases have also been recorded in the North Kivu and South Kivu provinces, as well as a handful across the border in Uganda.

There have been 115 confirmed deaths from the disease, out of at least 598 cases confirmed so far, according to a report by Congolese authorities late Tuesday.

Still the outbreak has been met with skepticism and misinformation among communities where residents sometimes deny there is an outbreak or strongly oppose the strict measures imposed by health workers on burials of the bodies of victims to minimize the spread of the disease.

Residents in Ituri province have launched at least three attacks on health centers when demanding the bodies of deceased patients. Overall, more than 520 incidents impacting the work of health professionals have been reported, according to Marie Roseline Darnycka Belizaire, WHO’s emergency director for Africa.

Taxi drivers can help spread the word that medical workers are just trying to stop the spread, said Jacques Maliro, the World Health Organization’s Risk Communication and Community Engagement Officer, one of the organizers of the caravan.

“Response teams have been attacked in some areas, and that is one reason why we chose to involve motorcycle taxi drivers. They are an important group because they transport both sick and healthy people, so they too need to be informed and engaged,” Maliro said.

Misinformation spreading in the communities of Ituri have discouraged residents from adhering to health warnings or seeking medical help, health officials say. At the onset of the outbreak, some churches told their congregations that the outbreak is fake and that divine protection makes medical care unnecessary.

“Those who do not believe in it need to understand that it is real,” said Josue Mbabona, a motorcycle taxi driver from the caravan, adding that he has already lost three family members to Ebola.

Front-line health workers, who labor with little pay or rest, have also been unable to reach some communities cut off by conflict involving armed rebels.

Eastern Congo has for years seen attacks by dozens of separate rebel and militant groups, some of them with links to neighboring Rwanda or the extremist Islamic State group.

The response has also been hampered by shortages of essential supplies. Residents and local officials in Bunia on Wednesday cited a shortage of water needed for the frequent handwashing recommended to curb the spread of the virus.

The current Ebola outbreak is caused by the rare Bundibugyo virus, which does not have an approved vaccine or treatment unlike the “Zaire virus,” responsible for most of Congo’s past 16 outbreaks of the disease.

“The vaccine needs to be available so that we can protect ourselves, move forward, and return to normal life,” David Kasimwa, a student participating in the caravan said. “This disease has disrupted many activities: We are no longer able to travel freely because we are afraid,” he added.

Three vaccine candidates are currently in development. Africa’s top public health agency said last month it aims to have a vaccine and treatment against Bundibugyo virus available by the end of the year.

Meanwhile, several countries have imposed travel restrictions or enhanced screening measures for travelers arriving from Ebola-affected areas, though WHO have not recommended broad travel bans.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday urged European countries to tighten travel restrictions on people arriving from Ebola-affected countries in Africa, warning that failure to do so could lead to stricter U.S. travel measures for arrivals from Europe, including during the World Cup.

There are relatively few direct flights between Africa and the United State per day but more than 300 direct daily flights between Europe and the United States.

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Banchereau reported from Dakar, Senegal. Constant Same Bagalwa in Bunia, Congo contributed.

Motorcyclists join an awareness campaign organized by the World Health Organization (WHO) to combat Ebola in Bunia, Congo, Wednesday, June 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

Jolie Milete, a staff member of the World Health Organization (WHO), addresses a crowd during an awareness campaign to combat Ebola in Bunia, Congo, Wednesday, June 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

A drone view of motorcyclists as they join an awareness campaign organized by the World Health Organization (WHO) to combat Ebola in Bunia, Congo, Wednesday, June 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

Motorcyclists join an awareness campaign organized by the World Health Organization (WHO) to combat Ebola in Bunia, Congo, Wednesday, June 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

Motorcyclists join an awareness campaign organized by the World Health Organization (WHO) to combat Ebola in Bunia, Congo, Wednesday, June 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Moses Sawasawa)

NEW YORK (AP) — Another sell-off for artificial-intelligence stocks helped drag the U.S. market sharply lower Wednesday, as Wall Street’s former superstars continue to face heavy scrutiny for their success.

The S&P 500 dropped 1.6% for its first back-to-back drop in three weeks and is back to where it was in early May. The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 953 points, or 1.9%, and the Nasdaq composite led the market lower with a 2% slide.

Wall Street has been shaky since last week, when AI stocks went from roaring to records to suddenly turning lower. Among the worries is that their prices have simply shot too high, too fast because of AI mania. The question now is whether the break lower has cleared out excessive optimism that may have built into their stock prices, or if it’s the start of a longer downturn.

Super Micro Computer, which sells AI servers, tumbled 28% after saying late Tuesday that it plans to raise $7 billion in cash by selling shares of stock and convertible preferred stock. Such moves raise the most money for companies when their stock prices are high, and they can dilute the ownership stakes of existing shareholders.

Micron Technology swung from an early loss of nearly 4% to a modest gain and back to a loss of 4.7%. It’s coming off a wild stretch where it sank 7.7% last Thursday, then plunged another 13.3% Friday and rallied 9.9% Monday. Despite all the swings, the computer memory maker’s stock is still up 212.5% for the year so far.

Nvidia, the chip company that’s grown into a nearly $4.9 trillion behemoth because of the AI boom, was the heaviest weight on the S&P 500 after falling 3.7%. The second-heaviest was another AI winner, Broadcom, which fell 5.1%.

Some of the pressure on AI stocks could also be coming from investors pulling cash out to prepare for high-profile debuts on the U.S. stock market for several AI giants. SpaceX’s initial public offering could come later this week, for example.

Weakening stocks for companies with big fuel bills also pulled the market lower. United Airlines sank 6.2%, and cruise-operator Carnival fell 6.3% after oil prices rose due to the latest fighting in the war with Iran.

The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil rose 1.8% to $93.10 after President Donald Trump warned Iran would “pay the price” for stalled negotiations between the two on their war. The war has been keeping the Strait of Hormuz effectively shut to oil tankers, which has prevented the delivery of crude from the Persian Gulf to customers worldwide.

High oil prices have sent inflation higher, and a report on Wednesday showed that prices for U.S. consumers jumped in May at the highest speed in three years.

But Treasury yields nonetheless held relatively steady in the bond market because the figures were pretty much exactly what economists had forecast. The rise in an important underlying measure of inflation, meanwhile, was not as bad from April through May as economists expected.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury edged up to 4.54% from 4.53% late Tuesday. The two-year Treasury yield, which more closely tracks expectations for what the Federal Reserve will do with its overnight interest rates, held at 4.13%.

Traders have been building bets recently that the Fed will have to hike its main interest rate at least once this year, given how high inflation is and how strong the U.S. job market remains. Wednesday’s inflation update didn’t sway them much, according to data from CME Group.

High yields can slow entire economies and undercut prices for all kinds of investments, including stocks and cryptocurrencies. They hit investments seen as the most expensive in particular, and some critics are calling AI a bubble where investment inflated too far.

All told, the S&P 500 fell 119.66 points to 7,266.99. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 953.33 to 49,918.78, and the Nasdaq composite sank 509.32 to 25,169.50.

In stock markets abroad, indexes in Europe were mixed following sharper drops in Asia.

South Korea’s Kospi tumbled 4.5%, hurt by losses for tech giants Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 sank 1.9% after data showed Japan’s producer price index, a measure for prices at the wholesale level, rose in May at the fastest pace in more than three years. Shares of technology and telecommunications giant SoftBank Group, which has a strong AI focus, lost 8.3%.

AP Business Writers Chan Ho-him and Matt Ott contributed to this report.

Options traders Steven Rodriguez, left, and Marty Handler work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, June 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Options trader Ravi Bhandari works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, June 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Currency traders pass by a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, June 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

Currency traders work near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, June 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

A currency trader talks on the phone near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won at the foreign exchange dealing room of the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, June 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)