GENEVA: Monkeypox experts were discussing Thursday whether the World Health Organization (WHO) should classify the outbreak as a global health emergency — the highest alarm it can sound.
A second meeting of the WHO’s emergency committee on the virus was being held to examine the worsening situation, with nearly 15,400 cases reported from 71 countries, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
A surge in monkeypox infections has been reported since early May outside the West and Central African countries where the disease has long been endemic.
On June 23, the WHO convened an emergency committee of experts to decide if monkeypox constitutes a so-called Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) — the UN health agency’s highest alert level.
But a majority advised the WHO’s chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus that the situation, at that point, had not met the threshold.
The second meeting was called with case numbers rising and spreading to six more countries in the past week.
The WHO confirmed the meeting, held in private, was under way.
If the committee advises Tedros that the outbreak constitutes a PHEIC, it will propose temporary recommendations on how to better prevent and reduce the spread of the disease and manage the global public health response.
But there is no timetable for when the outcome will be made public.
Ninety-eight percent of reported cases “are among men who have sex with men and primarily those who have multiple recent anonymous or new partners,” Rosamund Lewis, the WHO’s technical lead for monkeypox, told a press conference on Wednesday.
They are typically of young age and chiefly in urban areas, according to the WHO.
The committee is looking at the latest trends and data, how effective the countermeasures are and make recommendations for what countries and communities should do to tackle the outbreak.
Regardless of the committee’s PHEIC decision, the “WHO will continue to do everything we can to support countries to stop transmission and save lives,” Tedros told the press conference.
He said the WHO was validating, procuring and shipping tests to multiple countries, but said one of the most powerful tools in the fight against monkeypox was information tailored to affected communities.
WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan said the LGBTQ community was one of the most engaged and responsible, having worked hard over decades to combat HIV, “so therefore we have full confidence that this community can, and will, and is, engaging very closely.”
A viral infection resembling smallpox and first detected in humans in 1970, monkeypox is less dangerous and contagious than smallpox, which was eradicated in 1980.
The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control said that as of Monday, 7,896 confirmed cases had been reported from 27 countries in the European Economic Area.
The worst affected were Spain (2,835), Germany (1,924), France (912), the Netherlands (656) and Portugal (515).
“Particular sexual practices are very likely to have facilitated and could further facilitate the transmission of monkeypox among MSM groups,” it said.
Danish company Bavarian Nordic is the lone laboratory manufacturing a licensed vaccine against monkeypox and jabs are currently in scarce supply.
New York, the epicenter of the US outbreak with more than 700 cases, had either administered or scheduled 21,500 vaccines by Sunday, with long lines of men aged 20 to 40 queueing to get a shot.
Loyce Pace, the assistant secretary for global affairs at the US Department of Health and Human Services, said it was “very hard” for the world to handle monkeypox on top of Covid-19 and other health crises.
“I know it can be scary... and, frankly, exhausting,” she told reporters at the US mission in Geneva.
However, “we know a lot more about this disease, we’ve been able to stop outbreaks previously and we, importantly, have medical counter-measures and other tools available.”
WHO deciding on sounding highest alarm on monkeypox
https://arab.news/wwq7s
WHO deciding on sounding highest alarm on monkeypox
- A second meeting of the WHO's emergency committee on the virus was being held to examine the worsening situation
- A surge in monkeypox infections has been reported since early May outside the West and Central African countries
Italian police say they disrupted migrant smuggling ring, 15 Egyptians arrested
According to an Italian police statement, the network facilitated the illegal entry into Italy of at least 3,000 migrants since 2021, earning more than $30 million by charging them $10,000 each.
The Italian police said the arrests were made simultaneously in multiple countries with the cooperation of Albanian, German, Turkish and Omani police, coordinated by Italian anti-mafia prosecutors in Sicily and relying on Interpol and Europol.
The smuggling network had been led by an Egyptian who ran operations from Istanbul, the Italian police said.
“The organization had set up a system that involved recruiting professional skippers, almost all Egyptian, providing logistical support in Turkiye while the migrants waited to leave, and transporting them in sailboats to the Greek and Italian coasts,” Italian police said in a statement.
Crossings departing from the Turkish ports of Bodrum, Izmir and Marmari took up to a week, with dozens of migrants crammed on board 12-15 meter sailboats with no life-saving equipment, the statement said.
Tens of thousands of migrants are believed to have died trying to cross the Mediterranean in recent years. The sea route from Turkiye to Italy has been particularly notorious since February 2023, when at least 94 people died off Cutro in southern Italy in one of the worst disasters of the crisis.
Dubai crown prince arrives in India on official visit
- With more than $3 billion in foreign direct investment, India was Dubai’s top investor in 2024
- Dubai crown prince will also take part in a business roundtable meeting in Mumbai
NEW DELHI: The crown prince of Dubai, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, arrived in New Delhi on Tuesday for his first official visit to India, where he met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and members of his Cabinet.
Sheikh Hamdan is on a two-day visit to New Delhi and Mumbai, leading a delegation of ministers, senior government officials and business leaders.
India’s economic ties with Dubai have been growing rapidly since the 2022 UAE-India Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, which has eliminated trade barriers, lowered tariffs and eased business operations, making it easier for companies in both countries to access each other’s markets.
“Dubai has played a key role in advancing the India-UAE Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. This special visit reaffirms our deep-rooted friendship and paves the way for even stronger collaboration in the future,” Modi said on X after the meeting.
Trade volume between Dubai and India was worth about $45.4 billion in 2023, up from $36.7 billion in 2019, data from the emirate’s media office showed.
India was Dubai’s top investor in 2024, with more than $3 billion in foreign direct investment in various sectors, such as business services, software and IT services, consumer products, food and beverages, and real estate.
As of last year, more than 70,000 Indian companies have joined the Dubai Chamber of Commerce.
Dubai, the most populous of the UAE’s seven emirates, is also home to the majority of India’s 4.3 million diaspora in the country.
“It was a pleasure meeting the Prime Minister Narendra Modi today in New Delhi,” Sheikh Hamdan wrote on X.
“Our conversations reaffirmed the strength of UAE-India ties, which are built on trust, shaped by history, and driven by a shared vision to create a future full of opportunity, innovation, and lasting prosperity.”
Sheikh Hamdan, who is also the UAE’s minister of defense, held meetings with his Indian counterpart Rajnath Singh and External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar.
On the sidelines of the visit, representatives of the Dubai Chamber of Commerce preside over a business forum in Mumbai to explore “new trade and investment prospects” with about 200 industry leaders, the Dubai Media Office said in a statement.
After Delhi, Sheikh Hamdan will visit Mumbai, where he will take part in a roundtable meeting with top business leaders from India and Dubai.
South Korean military fire warning shots after North Korean soldiers cross the border
- South Korea’s military said it is closely monitoring North Korean activities
- Bloodshed and violent confrontations have occasionally occurred at the Koreas’ heavily fortified border
SEOUL: South Korea’s military fired warning shots after North Korean soldiers crossed the rivals’ tense border on Tuesday, South Korean officials said.
South Korea’s military said in a statement that about 10 North Korean soldiers returned to the North after South Korea made warning broadcasts and fired warning shots. It said the North Korean soldiers violated the military demarcation line at the eastern section of the border at 5 p.m.
South Korea’s military said it is closely monitoring North Korean activities.
Bloodshed and violent confrontations have occasionally occurred at the Koreas’ heavily fortified border, called the Demilitarized Zone. But when North Korean troops briefly violated the border in June last year and prompted South Korea to fire warning shots, it didn’t escalate into a major source of tensions. South Korean officials assessed that the soldiers didn’t deliberately commit the border intrusion and the site was a wooded area and military demarcation line signs there weren’t clearly visible. South Korea said the North Koreans were carrying construction tools.
The motive for Tuesday’s border crossing by North Korean soldiers wasn’t immediately clear.
The 248-kilometer (155-mile) -long, 4-kilometer (2.5-mile) -wide DMZ is the world’s most heavily armed border. An estimated 2 million mines are peppered inside and near the border, which is also guarded by barbed wire fences, tank traps and combat troops on both sides. It’s a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.
Animosities between the Koreas are running high now as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un continues to flaunt his military nuclear capabilities and align with Russia over President Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine. Kim is also ignoring calls by Seoul and Washington to resume denuclearization negotiations.
Since his Jan. 20 inauguration, US President Donald Trump has said he would reach out to Kim again to revive diplomacy. North Korea has not responded to Trump’s remarks and says US hostilities against it have deepened since Trump’s inauguration.
South Korea, meanwhile, is experiencing a leadership vacuum after the ouster of President Yoon Suk Yeol last week over his ill-fated imposition of martial law.
Bangladesh police arrest former prosecutor for attempted murder
- The case is the latest in a string of detentions of people who had held senior positions during Hasina’s rule
- Tureen Afroz was arrested on Monday night on charges of attempted murder
DHAKA: Bangladeshi police said Tuesday they arrested a lawyer who served as a senior prosecutor at a court that sentenced Islamist leaders to death under the rule of ousted hard-line prime minister Sheikh Hasina.
The case is the latest in a string of detentions of people who had held senior positions during Hasina’s rule, who is herself wanted on charges of crimes against humanity for the killing of hundreds of protesters during the unrest that toppled her government last August.
Tureen Afroz was arrested on Monday night on charges of attempted murder, in a case linked to the student-led uprising, said Muhidul Islam, police deputy commissioner in the capital Dhaka.
The case against Afroz was filed by Mohammed Jabbar, 21, who was shot last August as security forces sought to quash protests.
“She has several co-accused in this particular case, but none are as prominent as she is,” Muhidul told AFP.
Afroz was a prosecutor at Bangladesh’s domestic International Crimes Tribunal (ICT), which was set up by Hasina in 2010 to probe atrocities during the country’s 1971 war of independence against Pakistan.
The ICT sentenced numerous prominent political opponents to death over the following years and became widely seen as a means for Hasina to eliminate her rivals.
Afroz played a prominent role in the cases of at least six Islamist leaders, including several from the Jamaat-e-Islami party, who were sentenced to hang. All except Ghulam Azam were executed.
This is the first time a former ICT prosecutor has been arrested on such charges.
Hasina has defied extradition requests from Bangladesh to face charges — at the same ICT court she set up — after she fled to old ally India as crowds stormed her palace.
The court’s current chief prosecutor, Tajul Islam, previously served as a defense counsel representing several of those accused of 1971 war crimes.
South Korea sets snap presidential election for June 3, drawing out contenders
- President Yoon ousted last week after December martial law
- Multiple candidates emerge amid political turmoil
SEOUL: Leading contenders began to throw their hats in the ring on Tuesday as South Korea officially set June 3 for a snap presidential election triggered by last week’s removal from office of impeached leader Yoon Suk Yeol.
The power vacuum at the top of government has impeded Seoul’s efforts to negotiate with the administration of US President Donald Trump at a time of spiralling US tariffs and slowing growth in Asia’s fourth-largest economy.
Yoon was removed on Friday over his short-lived declaration of martial law in December that plunged the key US ally into crisis, triggering a new election that could reshape its foreign and domestic policy.
“The government intends to designate June 3 as the 21st presidential election day,” Acting President Han Duck-soo told a cabinet meeting, citing factors such as the time political parties need to prepare for the event.
Yoon’s labor minister Kim Moon-soo is among a handful of hopefuls who have signalled their intention to run, resigning his post on Tuesday and saying he would launch his campaign.
While not officially a member of Yoon’s People Power Party at the moment, Kim has been polling better than other conservative contenders.
“I tendered my resignation and decided to run because the people want it, people I know want it, and I feel a sense of responsibility to solve national difficulties,” Kim told reporters.
Economic conditions during a “severe national crisis” are hurting people’s livelihoods, he said.
“I thought that all politicians and people should unite to overcome the crisis and work together to help the country develop further,” Kim said.
Ahn Cheol-soo, a PPP lawmaker who was its first to vote for Yoon’s impeachment, also declared his intention to run on Tuesday, saying he was a “cleaner candidate than anyone else.”
He also vowed to secure new economic growth engines including artificial intelligence, to counter Trump’s trade policies.
Ahn fought the last three presidential elections, winning more than 21 percent of the popular vote in 2017, but dropping out and endorsing other candidates in the other two. He is not polling high enough to be included in most recent surveys.
Kim and Ahn will join a wide open field of conservative candidates trying to overcome their party’s second impeachment in as many presidencies.
Conservative Park Geun-hye was impeached, removed from office, and imprisoned in 2017 over a corruption scandal.
Lee Jae-myung, the populist leader of the liberal Democratic Party who lost to Yoon by a razor-thin margin in 2022, is a clear front-runner, but faces legal challenges of his own.
These include multiple trials for charges such as violating the election law and bribery.
Nevertheless, he is expected to step down as DP leader and declare his candidacy as soon as this week.
A Gallup poll published on Friday showed 34 percent of respondents supported Lee as the next leader, while 9 percent backed Kim, 5 percent opted for former PPP leader Han Dong-hoon, 4 percent chose Daegu mayor Hong Joon-pyo, and 2 percent plumped for Seoul mayor Oh Se-hoon.
Yoon was removed by the Constitutional Court for violating his official duty by issuing a martial law decree on December 3 and mobilizing troops in a bid to halt parliamentary proceedings.
The law requires a new presidential election to be held within 60 days if the position becomes vacant.
Yoon still faces criminal insurrection charges, with arguments in his trial to begin on April 14.
South Korea has faced months of political turmoil since Yoon stunned the country by declaring martial law, triggering his impeachment by parliament and the impeachment of acting leader Han.
Han’s impeachment was later overturned by the Constitutional Court and he will stay in the role of acting president until the election.
