Argentina’s Ministry of Health confirmed its first Zika case on Tuesday, according to Clarin, a local newspaper. The infected person is a 23-year-old Colombian woman living in Argentina’s capital Buenos Aires. She was suspected to be infected with Zika virus after she finished her travel to Columbia. She went to a private hospital to diagnose and her blood sample was then tested in Pergamino Virus Research Center. The confirmation of the first Zika case means […]
International
CELAC assembles its countries to deal with Zika virus
The Latin American and Caribbean States Community (CELAC) has decided to assemble all health departments of its member countries to deal with the outbreak of the Zika virus, which has been linked with birth defects and the paralysis-causing Guillain-Barre syndrome across many Latin American countries. The President of Colombia Juan Manuel Santos made the above remarks at a press conference at the CELAC summit in the Ecuadorian capital Quito on Wednesday. Santos said CELAC countries […]
Syria ignores most UN requests to deliver humanitarian aid in 2015: UN official
The Syrian government ignored most United Nations requests to deliver humanitarian aid to some of its 4.6 million people in hard-to-reach and besieged areas in 2015 and only 620,000 received help, according to Stephen O’Brien, UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, in a briefing on the humanitarian situation in Syria on Wednesday. It comes just two days before UN Special Envoy Staffan de Mistura is to facilitate intra-Syrian talks in Geneva. “The continued suffering of the Syrian […]
Severe storm causes flash flooding in Geelong
Buildings were damaged and cars submerged on Wednesday (January 27) as a severe storm caused flash flooding in the Victorian city of Geelong. Local media reported that the State Emergency Service (SES) received almost 500 calls for help with 18 people rescued and residential homes and commercial properties damaged. On Thursday (January 28) the clean up continued with home owners and restaurant workers returning to survey the damage. “It stopped raining, the streets start to […]
Santos, Rousseff call for regional meeting to combat Zika outbreak
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and his Brazilian counterpart, Dilma Rousseff, on Wednesday (January 27) called for a regional meeting next week to launch a joint battle against the mosquito-borne Zika virus. Brazil and Colombia, so far the worst-affected countries in Latin America, have been grappling with the virus which has been spreading at an alarming rate. Rousseff said a Mercosur meeting with other leaders in the region had been set to take place in […]
Fourth CELAC summit held in Quito, Ecuador
The fourth summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) was held Wednesday in Quito, capital of Ecuador. Leaders of the CELAC’s 33 member countries gathered at the headquarters of the Union of South American Nations to discuss plans for the region’s development over the next five years. Discussions were made on reducing poverty and inequality across the region during the one-day meeting. Other topics included education, innovation of science and technology, […]
Air strikes in Homs; rebels fight back in Sheikh Maskin
Amateur videos posted to social media websites purported to show air strikes on rebel positions in Homs province of Syria on Wednesday (January 27), as well as intense fighting for control of the strategic town of Sheikh Maskin. Fighting raged as plans to hold the first negotiations to end the civil war in Syria for two years were in doubt. The main Syrian opposition group said on Wednesday that they would not show up for […]
Brazil struggles to contain Zika outbreak
Hilda Venancio da Silva holds nurses her three-month-old son Matheus, born in October with microcephaly, a tragic neurological complication linked to Zika, the mosquito-borne virus sparking a health scare across the Americas. But she is not alone. In the hospital where he was born, dozens of other mothers also gave birth to infants with abnormally small heads. More than 1,000 cases of microcephaly have been reported in just a few months in Pernambuco state, the […]
French cabbies continue strike over “unfair competition” by Uber-like mobile apps
(Reuters) — French taxi drivers started a second day of strikes on Wednesday (January 27) over the competition from private car ride firms like Uber, saying the French government isn’t doing enough to protect their livelihoods. French Prime Minister Manuel Valls told taxi driver representatives in a meeting that more efforts would be made to ensure other car ride services respected rules limiting them to pre-booked trips and returning to base after each one. This […]
Authoritarian governments are running scared in the face of civil society – HRW
(Reuters) — Russia and China are imposing their biggest clampdown on civil society in a generation and Europe’s efforts to manage its migrant crisis risk undermining its core values, Human Rights Watch (HRW) says in its annual global review. The review of more than 90 countries’ human rights records, released in Istanbul on Wednesday (January 27), highlighted Russia and China but said rights crackdowns are also taking place in countries from Ethiopia to […]
Zika virus could be linked to 4,000 microcephaly cases in Brazil, WHO says
(Reuters) — The mosquito-borne Zika virus could be linked to 4,000 suspected cases of microcephaly in Brazil including 49 deaths, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday (January 26). “Now, associated with Zika right now in Brazil, we see close to 4,000 microcephaly cases. Microcephaly again, is the condition with abnormally small heads in infants, in babies born, which normally goes along with a smaller brain development as well. Many, quite some already […]
World Bank lowers 2016 outlook for oil to 37 U.S. dollars per barrel
THE World Bank cut its 2016 forecast for crude oil prices to 37 U.S. dollars per barrel and foresaw other commodity prices to shed further this year due to weak demands from emerging economies. In its latest Commodity Markets Outlook report, the bank said the lower forecast reflects sooner-than-anticipated resumption of exports by Iran, greater resilience in U.S. production and weak growth prospects in major emerging market economies. Oil prices fell by 47 percent […]
