Official: Robin Williams hanged himself with belt

Authorities on Tuesday detailed how Robin Williams' took his life, saying the actor and comedian hanged himself with a belt in a bedroom of his San Francisco Bay Area home.
Marin County Sheriff's Lt. Keith Boyd said Williams was last seen alive by his wife Sunday night when she went to bed. She woke up the next morning and left, thinking he was still asleep elsewhere in the home.
Shortly after that, Williams' personal assistant came to the Tiburon home and became concerned when Williams failed to respond to knocks at a door. The assistant found the 63-year-old actor clothed and dead in a bedroom.
Boyd said all evidence indicates Williams, star of "Good Will Hunting," ''Mrs. Doubtfire," ''Good Morning, Vietnam" and dozens of other films, committed suicide by hanging himself. But he said a final ruling will be made once toxicology reports and interviews with witnesses are complete.
The condition of the body indicated Williams had been dead for at least a few hours, Boyd said. Williams also had superficial cuts on his wrist, and a pocketknife was found nearby.

Williams had been seeking treatment for depression, Boyd said. He would not say whether the actor left a suicide note.
"We still have people we want to speak with so there is some information we're going to withhold," Boyd said. "We're not discussing the note or a note at this point as the investigation is ongoing."
The Oscar-winning actor for years dealt with bouts of substance abuse and depression and referenced his struggles in his comedy routines. Just last month, Williams announced he was returning to a 12-step treatment program.
The circumstances of the death — Williams cutting and then hanging himself at home — do not help explain what motivated him, suicide experts said. Understanding that would require a detailed "psychological autopsy" that includes the review of medical and other records, and interviews with family and friends.
These experts stressed that suicide rarely is triggered by a single factor, such as depression or substance abuse. Typically there are at least two such influences, often compounded by acute stress, such as from financial hardship or troubled personal relationships.
"We know from decades of research that there are numerous factors that contribute to suicide risk," said Michelle Cornette, executive director of the American Association of Suicidology.
Word that the actor had killed himself left neighbors in Tiburon stunned and sparked an outpouring of praise among his Hollywood colleagues. Williams had lived in the quiet, waterfront neighborhood for eight years, according to neighbors.
Noreen Nieder said Williams was a friendly neighbor who always said hello and engaged in small talk. Nieder said she wasn't close to Williams and his family, but she still felt comfortable enough to approach him and ask him about his latest stint in drug and alcohol rehabilitation.
"He was very open about it," Nieder said. "He told me he was doing well."
Makeshift memorials of flowers and notes popped up around the country including on his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, at his Tiburon home and outside the house where the '80s sitcom "Mork &Mindy" was set in Boulder, Colorado. People also gathered to remember Williams at a bench in Boston's Public Garden where he filmed a scene for "Good Will Hunting."
Ben Affleck, a co-star and co-writer on that movie, was among the legions of friends and fans who shared tributes online.
"Robin had a ton of love & did so much for so many," Affleck tweeted. "He made Matt & my dreams come true. What do you owe a guy who does that? Everything."
Actor and comedian Ricky Gervais wrote: "I am deeply saddened. He was a lovely man who would keep everyone laughing even if he wasn't feeling good himself."

Ebola survivor shunned by boyfriend, even school

(CONAKRY, Guinea)  The medical school professors no longer want Kadiatou Fanta in the classroom. Her boyfriend has broken up with her. Each day the 26-year-old eats alone and sleeps alone. Even her own family members are afraid to touch her months after she survived Ebola.
Long gone are the days when she was vomiting blood and wracked by fever. And even with a certificate of health declaring her as having recovered, she says it's still as though "Ebola survivor" is burned on her flesh.
"Ebola has ruined my life even though I am cured," she says. "No one wants to spend a minute in my company for fear of being contaminated."
The Ebola virus is only transmitted through direct contact with bodily fluids of the sick, such as blood, saliva, urine, sweat or semen. When the first cases emerged in Guinea back in March, no one had ever confronted such a virulent and gruesome disease in this corner of Africa.
The current outbreak now has killed more than 1,000 people, according to the latest figures from the World Health Organization. The fatality rate in previous Ebola outbreaks has been up to 90 percent, though health officials say this time up to half of victims are surviving.
While there is no specific treatment for Ebola, patients can be given supportive care such as intravenous fluids to keep them hydrated. If they can live long enough to develop antibodies to the virus they can survive, though they could still contract other strains of Ebola in the future, medical experts say.
Health workers hope that seeing living proof that people can survive Ebola will encourage fearful communities to get medical care instead of hiding the sick at home where they can infect relatives.
In Sierra Leone, Sulaiman Kemokai, 20, was released from an Ebola treatment center on Sunday after spending 25 days there. He still feels stiffness in his joints but says he is gaining strength each day.
"When I became sick, I was scared to go to hospital, I hid from my family, from health workers. After four days I couldn't hide anymore, I was too sick. An Ebola ambulance collected me and took me to the hospital," he recalls.
But some within his community are reluctant to have any physical contact with Kemokai. Those released from treatment centers are no longer contagious, though Ebola can still be present in men's semen for up to seven weeks.
Kemokai will have more family support than most: His older brother and sister also have survived Ebola, while the disease took their mother's life.
Fanta, the Guinean medical student, says she was working as an intern at a clinic in Conakry, the capital, when a patient came in from the provinces sick with what doctors initially thought was malaria. She took the man's vital signs — but as is common in Guinea — she had no protective gloves or face mask.
About two weeks later, in mid-March, she started having diarrhea and soon was vomiting blood. She says her lasting troubles began when doctors declared her cured and discharged her from the isolation ward at the hospital in early April.
Although she no longer had the virus in her bloodstream, she still was visibly unwell after nearly three weeks in the hospital. Word of her sickness and return spread quickly in the poor suburb of Tanene where she was staying with extended family.
The boyfriend she used to see every day disappeared when he heard she had Ebola. Now he won't take her calls, even months later.
She tried to re-enroll with her medical school courses at Gamal Abdel Nasser University. In a sign of just how entrenched misconceptions are of Ebola, though, even the instructors did not want her in the classrooms, even though she handed them her certificate of health.
"I still haven't taken my exams while my classmates have moved on to the next level," she laments. "The professors said they were going to grade me by telephone."
Now she's living off what money her parents can scrape together to send her from their village, and still dreaming of when she can resume her courses.
"I want to take care of patients," she says. "The reason I am alive today and speaking to you now is because doctors saved me."

Ronaldo double clinches Super Cup for Real Madrid

Cristiano Ronaldo put a disappointing World Cup behind him by scoring twice to win the UEFA Super Cup for Real Madrid with a comfortable 2-0 victory over Spanish rival Sevilla on Tuesday.
The world player of the year netted just once as Portugal made an early exit from Brazil, but the goal-scoring swagger returned in Madrid's first competitive fixture since the Champions League final win in May.
Ronaldo swept the ball in at the far post in the 30th minute after racing onto Gareth Bale's cross, and the forward powered in another four minutes into the second half after being setup by Karim Benzema.
The victory over the Europa League winners secured the first of a possible six trophies for Madrid this season.

Man Utd beat Valencia 2-1 in van Gaal home debut

Substitute Marouane Fellaini scored in second-half stoppage time as Manchester United beat Valencia 2-1 in manager Louis van Gaal's first home game in charge of the English Premier League club.
Wayne Rooney had a first-half penalty saved in the 32nd minute having earlier been felled by defender Antonio Barragan.
United broke the deadlock early in the second half when Darren Fletcher slotted home from the edge of the area after Ashley Young's 49th minute corner.
The visitors pressed for an equalizer and were rewarded in the 71st when Rodrigo blazed a first-time volley into the roof of the net following a free-kick.
Substitute Pablo Piatti poked a shot wide from close range moments later and the La Liga side were left to rue that miss when Fellaini struck late on.

Ebola: Guinea, Sierra Leone qualifiers to be moved

Guinea said Tuesday that it had been told by Africa's top football body to move an important qualifier against Togo next month to another country because of the Ebola outbreak.
Guinea's neighbor Sierra Leone, which is also affected by the deadly virus, has asked to play its 'home' games in Ghana in the final round of qualifying for the 2015 African Cup. The Sierra Leone government has suspended all football because of Ebola.
The request is being considered by Ghanaian authorities.
Nearly 700 people have died in the Ebola outbreak in Guinea and Sierra Leone alone.
The Guinea Football Federation had initially insisted it was safe for football but said it had now been instructed by the Confederation of African Football to relocate the Sept. 5 qualifier against Togo. The Togo team had refused to play in Guinea.
Guinea is believed to have been the source of the outbreak that has swept through three West African countries, killing over 1,000 people in total. Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia have each had over 300 deaths, with Guinea the highest at 373, according to the World Health Organization's latest count.
A fourth country, Nigeria, has also reported Ebola cases.
Guinea Football Federation president Sherif Diallo said CAF had sent a letter instructing them to move the Togo game. CAF had not yet announced the decision.
"In this letter, CAF also noted that all members of the Guinean delegation who need to travel with the team will be tested to ensure they are not infected with the Ebola virus," Diallo said.
Guinea has not decided where it will move the game to, Diallo said, but was looking for a country with "a large number of Guinean nationals."
Earlier Tuesday, CAF said in a statement to The Associated Press that Sierra Leone had asked for permission to play the three games it was meant to host in the Ghana capital of Accra instead. Those will be against Ivory coast, Cameroon and Congo.
The Ghana Football Association said it was considering the request and would make a decision after a report by Ghana's health ministry.
"While the GFA is keen on helping out our brothers from Sierra Leone, we are uncertain about the health implications for our country," the Ghana Football Association said.