Jersey, September 15, 1789. Educated at Yale for a time, he served in the American navy. His books about the colonial days in America and his novels about the sea, enjoyed great success but his habit of criticising the United States made him very unpopular with his fellow country-men. He was 61 when he died the day before his birthday in 1851.

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Kinshasa (AFP)

More than 500 people have died from the latest outbreak of Ebola in DR Congo, but a vaccination programme has prevented thousands more deaths, the country's health minister told AFP.

"In total, there have been 502 deaths and 271 people cured," said a health ministry bulletin published late on Friday, reporting on the outbreak in the east of the country.

But Health Minister Oly Ilunga Kalenga said that, for the first time, a vaccination programme had protected 76,425 people and prevented "thousands" of deaths.

"I believe we have prevented the spread of the epidemic in the big cities" in the region, he said.

"The teams also managed to contain its the spread of the epidemic to neighbouring countries," he added.

"The biggest problem is the high mobility of the population,"