IGIHE

Tag: InternationalNews

  • Death toll From new SARS-like virus climbs to 9

    {{There has been another confirmed case of a mysterious new SARS-like virus.}}

    The Saudi health ministry informed the World Health Organization that a 39-year-old man was hospitalized with the novel coronavirus on February 28 and died two days later.

    So far, WHO has recorded 15 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus, including nine deaths, since the fall.

    The Saudi patient did not appear to have had any contact with anyone who was already infected. As a result, WHO is investigating other potential exposure sources.

    {{Symptoms}}

    The novel coronavirus is in the same family as SARS.

    SARS, or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, virus sickened 8,000 people and killed 774 between 2002 and 2003.

    Symptoms of the novel coronavirus include an acute respiratory infection, fever and a cough. And it could lead potentially to pneumononia and kidney failure.

    The first cases were found to have occurred in an Amman, Jordan, hospital, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

    {{Cases}}

    Most of the people who’ve caught the virus have been in the Middle East.

    But there have been cases reported in the United Kingdom as well.
    One of the U.K. patients had traveled to Saudi Arabia. Upon return, he infected two other family members.

    “Once it gets you, it’s a very serious infection,” said Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville.

    Fortunately, he added, the virus is “very difficult to acquire.”

    While the SARS epidemic was going on, many of those caring for patients were infected too.

    The fact that this hasn’t been seen with these cases so far is a good sign, Schaffer said.

    {{Origin}}

    It’s suspected that, like SARS, the virus originated in animals.

    A study published in November found that genetically, the new coronavirus was most closely related to viruses found in bats.

    While no cases have popped up in the United States, doctors say they won’t be shocked if it did.

    “It could happen,” said Dr. Susan Gerber, a medical epidemiologist in the CDC’s Division of Viral Diseases.

    “That’s why the CDC is working closely with the World Health Organization and other international partners.”

    {{Spread}}

    WHO has asked member states to keep an eye out for severe acute respiratory infections and review them for unusual patterns.

    It did not recommend travel or trade restrictions for countries where the virus has been found.

    Dr. Susan Gerber, a medical epidemiologist in the CDC’s Division of Viral Diseases, agrees.

    There’s no evidence of sustained human-to-human transmission, she said, “where you see a chain of many cases going person to person to person.”

    “People shouldn’t freak out,” she added. “There’s no evidence that this virus is easily spread, say, across a room.”

    {Cablenews}

  • Census: Record 1 in 3 US Counties are Now Dying

    {{A record number of U.S. counties — more than 1 in 3 — are now dying off, hit by an aging population and weakened local economies that are spurring young adults to seek jobs and build families elsewhere.}}

    New 2012 census estimates released Thursday highlight the population shifts as the U.S. encounters its most sluggish growth levels since the Great Depression.

    The findings also reflect the increasing economic importance of foreign-born residents as the U.S. ponders an overhaul of a major 1965 federal immigration law.

    Without new immigrants, many metropolitan areas such as New York, Chicago, Detroit, Pittsburgh and St. Louis would have posted flat or negative population growth in the last year.

    “Immigrants are innovators, entrepreneurs, they’re making things happen.

    They create jobs,” said Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, a Republican, at an immigration conference in his state last week.

    Saying Michigan should be a top destination for legal immigrants to come and boost Detroit and other struggling areas, Snyder made a special appeal: “Please come here.”

    The growing attention on immigrants is coming mostly from areas of the Midwest and Northeast, which are seeing many of their residents leave after years of staying put during the downturn.

    With a slowly improving U.S. economy, young adults are now back on the move, departing traditional big cities to test the job market mostly in the South and West, which had sustained the biggest hits in the housing bust.

    Census data show that 1,135 of the nation’s 3,143 counties are now experiencing “natural decrease,” where deaths exceed births.

    That’s up from roughly 880 U.S. counties, or 1 in 4, in 2009.

    Already apparent in Japan and many European nations, natural decrease is now increasingly evident in large swaths of the U.S., much of it rural.

    Despite increasing deaths, the U.S. population as a whole continues to grow, boosted by immigration from abroad and relatively higher births among the mostly younger migrants from Mexico, Latin America and Asia.

    read more……..http://news.yahoo.com/census-record-1-3-us-counties-now-dying-040238347.html

  • New Pontiff Is Pope Francis of Argentina

    {{The name Francis – never before chosen as a papal moniker – harkens back to the tradition and culture of his Italian ancestry as well as the country he was born and lived in, Argentina. }}

    But his new name has significance, too.

    Traditionally, new popes are rechristened with previously used names. Pope Benedict chose the same name as his predecessor from 1914-1922, Benedict XV, who led the church through the turbulent times of WWI.

    There have been a total of 16 popes named Benedict.

    The fact that Pope Francis has chosen a name that has not been used for before may signal that he wants to lead the church into a new chapter, or at least embrace a new tone.

    In a notable gesture, Francis asked the multitudes assembled in St. Peter’s Square to bless him.

    In Catholic tradition, St. Francis of Assisi had a mystical vision of Jesus Christ, who told him to rebuild his church.

    In light of the scandals that have tarnished the Church, from its financial troubles to widespread allegations and cover-up of sex abuse, the name may carry special significance.

    Jorge Bergoglio: Who is the new pope?

    Pope Francis I: Cardinals chose 266th leader of the Roman Catholic Church

    Francis is also known for humility and a simple lifestyle. The Italian patron saint renounced his wealth and founded the Franciscan order of friars in 1290.

    The name comes as a surprise. According to data on betting odds collected by The Economist, the most likely names for the new pope to take on were Leo (42.1 percent) and Gregory (16.7 percent). Francis didn’t even make the list.

  • FIFA Bans Executive Committee Member Fernando for 90 Days

    {{FIFA executive committee member Vernon Manilal Fernando of Sri Lanka was provisionally banned from any football activity for 90 days on Monday, FIFA said in a statement.}}

    Fernando, 63, has been a member of the FIFA executive since 2011 and was banned following a request by Michael Garcia, the chairman of the investigatory chamber of the ethics committee and Hans-Joachim Eckert, the chairman of the adjudicatory chamber of the committee.

    Fernando is a former close ally of banned ex-FIFA executive committee member Mohamed Bin Hamman.

    In its statement, FIFA said the decision was taken “based on Article 83, Paragraph One of the FIFA Code of Ethics, in order to prevent interference with the establishment of the truth with respect to proceedings now in the adjudicatory chamber”.

    Bin Hamman was banned from football for life last year following his involvement in a bribery scandal surrounding the FIFA presidential election in 2011.

  • Eurozone Industrial Production dips 0.4%

    {{Official figures show that industrial production across the 17 European Union countries that use the euro fell by 0.4 % in January.}}

    Eurostat, the EU’s statistics office, added Tuesday that production for durable consumer goods in the eurozone fell by 1.4%, with capital good manufacturing dropping by 1.2%.

    Among the eurozone member countries that reported production figures, Germany registered a 0.4% decline, France a drop of 1.2% and Finland a fall of 4.1%.

    The 17-country eurozone is currently stuck in a recession and is not expected to recover until the latter part of this year.

    Unemployment in the region is at an all-time high of 11.9%.

    Industrial output across the wider 27-member EU also fell by 0.4% for January, Eurostat added.

    {Associated Press}

  • Cardinals Resume Vote on 2nd Day of Conclave

    {{Cardinals returned to the Sistine Chapel on Wednesday for a second day of voting to choose a new pope after a great plume of black smoke from the Sistine Chapel chimney indicated that their first vote the night before yielded no winner.}}

    The schedule for Wednesday’s voting included a brief prayer followed by two rounds of morning balloting from the 115 cardinals.

    If no one receives the necessary 77 votes, cardinals break for lunch and return for two more ballots in the afternoon.

    The drama — with stage sets by Michelangelo and an outcome that is anyone’s guess — is playing out against the backdrop of the turmoil unleashed by Benedict XVI’s surprise resignation and the exposure of deep divisions among cardinals.

    As a result, many analysts predict a long conclave — or at least longer than the four ballots it took to elect Benedict in 2005.

    As they did on Tuesday night, thousands of people braved a chilly rain on Wednesday morning to watch the 6-foot- (2-meter-) high copper chimney on the chapel roof for the smoke signals telling them whether a new pope has been elected.

    Nuns recited the rosary, while children splashed in puddles.

    Unlike the confusion that reigned during the 2005 conclave, the smoke Tuesday night was clearly black — thanks to special smoke flares akin to those used in soccer matches or protests that were lit in the chapel ovens to make the burned ballots black.

    {wirestory}

  • Hugo Chavez Tatoos on High Demand

    {{Hats and T-shirts of the late Venezuelan president are flying off the shelves at his street-side stand faster than he can keep them in stock.}}

    Ditto demand for Chavez tattoos, Chavez earrings, Chavez mugs and talking Chavez action figurines.

    One can even buy Chavez boxer shorts and panties, part of a cult of personality that began while the former paratrooper was still alive but has exploded in the week since he succumbed to cancer.

    “It’s really a shame the president died, but the souvenir business is booming,” said the 42-year-old Carrillo, who says he is selling five times as much merchandise as when Chavez was alive.

    “It isn’t good to make money off the death of someone like the president, but what can we do? People are asking us for it.”

    Analysts say we are witnessing the supersizing of a myth — and an industry.

    “Chavez died in perfect condition to be mythologized and marketed,” said Luis Vicente Leon, president of the respected Datanalisis polling firm, who predicted the Chavez industry would only grow.

    “He was young, he died in power and he was recently re-elected. It’s like James Dean or Marilyn Monroe.”

    Leon said that even when he was alive Chavez embraced his brand, unlike historical figures such as Argentine revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara, who became a marketing phenomenon after his death — and contrary to his anti-capitalist ideals.

    “President Chavez was a stimulator of his own cult of personality,” said Leon. “He’d be all for it.”

    Yet others doubted Chavez would ever go global because his death from cancer wasn’t seen as heroic and didn’t coincide with an international movement

  • Rooney not For Sale

    {{Manchester United great Bobby Charlton has dismissed concerns about the future of striker Wayne Rooney by declaring there is “no way he will ever be allowed to move on”.}}

    Rooney was dropped from the United starting XI for last week’s Champions League loss to Real Madrid, which sparked media speculation about his future at Old Trafford.

    However, manager Alex Ferguson stated he had no interest in letting Rooney leave, and subsequently named the 27-year-old in his team for Sunday’s 2-2 draw with Chelsea in the FA Cup quarter-finals.

    And Charlton says he cannot foresee Rooney leaving the club.

    “I don’t worry about Wayne Rooney,” Charlton said. “There is no way he will ever be allowed to move on, because that is not the way Sir Alex Ferguson works.

    “Wayne has been our regular goalscorer, and he scores fantastic goals. If he scores a great goal, he’ll think, ‘Right, I’ll get another one’. Not only that, he has an influence on the rest of the team.

    “Just because he has some competition, I don’t think that is a problem.”

    British media reports in recent weeks have suggested that United could be tempted to make a shock move to bring former star Cristiano Ronaldo back to the club from Real Madrid.

    The 28-year-old received a rapturous reception on his return to Old Trafford last Tuesday but Charlton said there was no substance to the speculation that United were interesting in re-signing him.

    “Signing Ronaldo has never even been mentioned in any of our board meetings,” said Charlton, who made 758 appearances for United and remains the club’s leading goal-scorer.

    “But he did go beyond being just a great player for us. He was just the right sort of person Manchester United had been looking for.

    “But I once saw Real Madrid trying to get a player from another club and I didn’t think very highly of it. I didn’t think it was right then and I still don’t now.

    “Cristiano is a great player, who scores phenomenal goals and he loves the club but he is not our player.”

    {wirestory}

  • Frankfurt airport in Germany Closed

    {{Frankfurt airport in Germany – Europe’s third-busiest hub – has been shut down because of heavy snow.

    The Eurostar high-speed train service between London and Paris has also been suspended as snow blankets a swathe of northern Europe.

    In south-eastern England hundreds of people were stranded in their cars by the snow, as emergency services struggled with road chaos.

    There were huge traffic jams in Belgium and northern France too.}}

  • Ahmadinejad Criticised for Hugging Chavez’s Mother

    {{Senior Iranian clerics have criticized President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for consoling Hugo Chavez’s mother with a hug — a physical contact considered a sin under the country’s strict Islamic codes.}}

    The controversy follows a widely published photo showing Ahmadinejad embracing Chavez’s mother at the funeral of the late Venezuelan president.

    Iranian papers on Tuesday cited clerics from the religious center of Qom who described the contact as “forbidden,” inappropriate behavior and “clowning around.”

    Iran’s strict Islamic codes prohibit physical contact between unrelated members of the opposite sex.

    The conservative clerics also condemned Ahmadinejad’s condolence letter to Venezuelans in which he called Chavez a “martyr” who will be resurrected and who will return to Earth along with Jesus Christ and Imam Mahdi, a 9th century saint revered by Shiite Muslims.

    Wirestory